[Comments in brackets are by Jeannine and Duane]
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From the Northern Crew:
Greetings from the North!
Well, we caught one more deer before removing all our traps and bait from the study area. Since then, we’ve moved on to FLIR surveys and have been able to complete 3 routes per night so far. We’ve seen a few deer here and there, but not as many as we would like. It seems there are a lot of people out and about in the evenings. Can you blame them?
Woodcock are a constant presence as they perform their courtship ritual at dusk each night. If you’ve never read Aldo Leopold’s essay entitled “Sky Dance,” I highly recommend it. We did see one large male bear standing on his hind legs marking a tree. Sorry, no picture. The nights have been cold lately, it was 14° this morning, and we’ve been peppered with snow, sleet, and rain a couple of times. We’re looking forward to some warmer evenings soon!
–Tom
Northern Crew Leader
PA Game Commission
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From the Southern Crew:
Hello all!
Just another week left of trapping before the bittersweet finale! Between the racoons and squirrels, it’s been a challenge to keep the Clover traps open. Fortunately, they leave some traps open for our target species.
Due to the warmer weather, we spent this past week focusing on passive Clover trapping and the start of FLIRs. We did have some success and even got an adult doe collar out!
We have about a week of FLIRs done and have already had some fun finds! Plenty of porcupines out and about, a fair number of timberdoodles, various owls, assorted small mammals, and of course, our white-tailed deer. Apart from the occasional technological difficulty, our FLIR routes have been coming along very nicely.
With a total of 35 routes and the need to complete them twice, we’ll have our hands full. But for now, one more week of potential deer captures before we’re on the home stretch.
Wish us luck,
–Michaela
Southern Crew Leader
PA Game Commission
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