[Comments in brackets are by Jeannine and Duane]
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From the Northern Crew:
Greetings from the North!
Last week brought us a mix of luck here in the Susquehannock. We caught four deer Tuesday and one Wednesday. Then our luck ran out and bad weather set in. I guess catching a bunch of fawns put the adult deer off our bait for the time being (or maybe it was the stormy weather). I’m hoping it’s the weather.
We were able to collar one adult doe in the southern part of the study area and we’ve continued to maintain our traps and bait sites but with little recent interest. It’s too early to start abandoning these sites, so we’ll keep them in place for now while we continue to add additional traps to the landscape and scout new areas.
We’ve had some interesting non-target visitors, including bobcats, fishers, coyotes, snowshoe hares, flying squirrels, turkeys, grouse, red and gray squirrels, and various songbirds. Hopefully things will pick up again soon.
Until next week, enjoy some pictures and wish us luck.
-Tom
Northern Crew Leader
PA Game Commission
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From the Southern Crew:
Hello all!
We’ve been so fortunate here in the southern region with our current combination of hungry deer and appropriate winter weather! After moving around several more batches of Clovers and maintaining the traps that we’ve had out, I’m happy to report that we’ve had another 3 captures this week!
And we’ve continued to have fascinating species show up on our cameras. This week there was a fisher, another gray fox, and a few turkeys.
Due to the ice event from winter storm Freya a few days ago, we did have to close our traps for a night before resetting. This made roads even more slippery than before but also made for a stunningly beautiful glaze over the landscape.
We are continuing to bait and set up rocket net sites, bait current and future/potential Clover trap sites, and prepare collars for deployment. Next week will be more of the same routine, with (hopefully) our first rocket net attempt by the end of the week.
Fingers crossed for our continuing streak of luck!
-Michaela
Southern Crew Leader
PA Game Commission