[Comments in brackets are by Jeannine and Duane]
——————————————————————–
From the Northern Crew:
Despite winter being officially over, we’ve actually seen an increase in trapping success these last few days. Even several of our long-untouched bait piles are starting to get hit again. Our trailer spent several days on the bench while we did a few repairs, but we were able to get it fixed and move several new traps out into the field. We have just one more doe collar to put out, and with these new traps we will hopefully have it out by the end of the week. We’re aware that things could start to green up any day now, so we’re pushing ahead with as many traps as we can set.
We’ve sat at our rocket nets a couple times this week, but no success yet. We’ve seen deer, but it always ends with them blowing at us and running off, even when they’re directly upwind from us. We’re moving our nets around to some new spots where the deer hopefully aren’t as all-knowing.
In other news, the roads are so much better now that things are truly melting. We did have a mishap where the foot-thick ice on the trail broke underneath a truck, and we had to tow it out of the hole. There’s always some new way to get stuck!
We’re keeping our eyes peeled for sheds, but so far none have been found on the job – the techs have found two during their off hours, so there’s hope.
-Amanda
Northern Field Crew Leader
Game Commission Deer and Elk Section
——————————————————————–
From the Southern Crew:
Hi all,
It’s been another slow week down here in the southern study area. Most of our Clover traps are being visited by squirrels, birds, and raccoons instead of deer. You’d be amazed how much corn a group of little dark-eyed juncos and chickadees can remove over a short period of time! They never seem to make it far though because you can see all the kernels of corn they drop in the bushes right beside our traps.
Since our clover traps aren’t producing, we are really focusing on our rocket net sites. We haven’t had a chance to capture deer with one yet, but with the help of our trail cameras we are able to really pattern the deer and attempt to put the odds in our favor. There are a few sites with tagged deer coming into them, but most appear to be adult females with a fawn or two.
Our goal as a crew was to capture 40 brand new deer for the 2021 trapping season and right now we are sitting at 33. Hopefully with a little more luck and some successful rocket nets in our future we’ll be able to hit our goal!
-Levi
Southern Field Crew Leader
Game Commission Deer and Elk Section
