[Comments in brackets are by Jeannine and Duane]
———————————————————————————-
From the Northern Crew:
Greetings from the North!
This past week was slow again. The weather has gradually improved, but deer movement within the study area has not. We’ve been busy maintaining our current traps and bait sites and moving cameras from areas that haven’t had any deer activity to new sites. Some new sites look promising, but until the snow melts some, we can’t get reliably make it in and out without a high probability of getting stuck.
At some sites, the snow and ice are so deep we can’t get our traps anchored to solid ground without finding some longer stakes. Things are looking better though, as the temperatures have risen to the upper 20’s–low 30’s, and the snow has begun to melt. This may mean more ice, but hopefully that won’t last long. Our plan is to get more traps into new areas as access improves over large parts of the study area.
We were fortunate enough to catch two more deer, one male fawn and one adult male, which we collared. Enjoy a few pictures and wish us luck for the next week.
Til next week,
–Tom
Northern Crew Leader
PA Game Commission
———————————————————————————-
From the Southern Crew:
Hello all!
Fortune continues to favor us here in the south! We’ve had 4 successful captures this week including our first rocket net! A buck in Rothrock was collared, but it sent an alert a few days later. After looking with telemetry and a GPS, we found the collar which appears to have been kicked off and he left with no forwarding address. Kind of a bummer that we lost a collar that had only just entered onto the landscape, but at least that was the most pleasant outcome for both our crew and the deer in question. Our other captures included a few fawns and a doe in Bald Eagle that is now sporting a brand new collar.
There have been a few more unique creatures at our sites including two more bobcats! I don’t think we’ve ever had this many bobcats on our cameras, but it’s a treat to see them at these sites. One of our rocket net sites does have a coyote – not ideal for our trapping per say, but also kind of neat to see.
Our rocket nets are coming along very nicely! There are already some deer returning to the rocket net we fired on earlier this week, and we’ve been working to set up more sites this past week (and hopefully this coming week). At one of our sites with several antlered bucks, we even found a little surprise. Sheds are one of our very favorite field finds! Despite the anticipated warmer temperatures next week, I’m very hopeful we can continue to capture and collar deer between the Clover traps and rocket nets.
I hope everyone is doing well! We continue to keep our fingers crossed as the season progresses.
-Michaela
Southern Crew Leader
PA Game Commission
*If you are a first-time commenter on the blog, your post will not appear until it has been approved by the moderator. This is to prevent spam overwhelming us. If you do not see your post within 24 hours, please email us at deerforeststudy@gmail.com