Spatial responses of black vultures to resource pulses during white‐tailed deer hunting seasons

Abstract Pulsed resources can dramatically influence spatial ecology of wildlife. Black vulture ( Coragyps atratus ) movements depend on habitat structure and foraging opportunities, but their responses to pulsed resources are poorly understood. In contrast, changes to home ranges during large‐game hunting seasons are well documented in mammalian predators. Thus, we hypothesized that increased access to carrion would decrease black vulture space use. To test for changes in space use, we quantified home ranges using data from 12 GPS‐tagged black vultures during nonhunting, archery‐only, and firearms study periods in Indiana and Kentucky, USA. We compared estimated home range size, home range overlap, density of forest edge, and density of roads within each home range. Home range sizes decreased 52.9% from the nonhunting to archery‐only period ( t 35 = 2.77, P = 0.024), then remained stable (increased 9.98%, t 35 = −0.25, P = 0.967) throughout the firearms period. Home range overlaps decreased with greater resource pulse intensities. Estimated forest edge and road densities within home ranges did not change across study periods. Black vultures in our study area changed space use in response to pulsed resources associated with deer hunting. Thus, vultures may shift space use in response to other resource pulses, such as afterbirth and stillbirths from livestock. Pulsed resource locations can serve as targeted survey sites for estimating scavenger abundance and distribution. Integrating resource pulse dynamics into wildlife management strategies can improve efforts to monitor disease risks at aggregation sites and address ecological challenges arising from human activities.