Quantitative estimates of individual survival and population size are fundamentally important to population ecologists and wildlife biologists.  Pure statistical methods have been highly successful in estimating such parameters for single populations.  However, in cases where there is dispersal among multiple populations (multi-strata models), this approach is hampered by a lack of available data to parameterize models.  Here, I show how the incorporation of some basic biological assumptions allows for estimates of survival with a common amount of data and provides additional information on mortality occurring during dispersal not available from traditional methodology.