[Comments in brackets are by Jeannine and Duane]
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From the Northern Crew:
Greetings from the North!
The weather continues to be relatively warm, and the deer are active at many of our current trapping and pre-baiting areas.
We managed to catch 6 more deer in the past week, unfortunately we haven’t collared any. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get some collars deployed this week.
Our plan is to continue setting new traps in the northern part of the study area and to continue to maintain active traps in the southern part wherever deer are still visiting. Mud is the new ice and snow, not ideal but preferable to drive on. After spending so much time on ice the past three weeks, it felt like we should carry hockey sticks. The warmer weather has the grouse and raccoons busy and soon they will be joined by bears.
Until next time wish us luck and enjoy the pictures.
–Tom
Northern Crew Leader
PA Game Commission
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From the Southern Crew:
Hello all!
For all those excited for spring weather, I believe it is now upon us! That’s not great news for our deer trapping efforts (the deer have certainly become more elusive as all of our snow has melted), but other creatures are making their presence known! We had our first bear on camera this past week and the bright moonlit nights seem to have encouraged timberdoodle activity.
Some porcupines have teamed up with our usual gangs of raccoons at trap sites. Maybe they can teach our racoons some manners on sharing. And we’ve been fortunate enough to see/hear some owl activity at rocket nets and even caught a picture of another bobcat in one of our fields.
Curiously enough, we’ve seen a strange uptick in deer interest in our Clover traps over the past few days. I’m cautiously optimistic that we may have a few walk into traps in the upcoming week in spite of our current rain and warm temperatures.
Amid our baiting and trapping efforts this week, we also managed to pick up another dropped collar. Everyone has been able to practice and become proficient in telemetry this year – a fantastic skill in the wildlife field!
This week we’ll continue to do our best trapping deer. Please keep your fingers crossed for us!
-Michaela
Southern Crew Leader
PA Game Commission
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