Preston McKee
Sul Ross State University
Graduate Research Assistant for Borderlands Research Institute/ Masters in Range and Wildlife Management/ Range and Wildlife Management
Habitat Selection of Desert Bighorn and Mule Deer in an Extreme Environment Across Release Methods.
My name is Preston McKee. I grew up hunting with my family in New Mexico. Hunting grew into a passion of mine. Since I gained this passion at a young age, I found myself outdoors every chance I could. I began learning and talking about the wildlife and managing these species at a young age with my family. These experiences helped me decide that I wanted to pursue something wildlife related as a career. This brought me to Sul Ross State University to study wildlife management. After I received my bachelor’s degree, I realized I wasn’t done learning about wildlife and management. Which lead me to now pursuing a master’s degree here at Sul Ross studying mule deer and desert bighorn. I am studying how these two species select habitat in an arid region of the Trans-Pecos, Texas. Within their selection, I am interested in seeing if and how human actions such as release method of translocated animals (hard vs soft) change their selection as well as how their selection changes across years. Understanding how release methods effect how these animals select habitat will allow translocations in the future to be more beneficial to the wildlife.
