From the Northern Crew:
Dear deer people,
My winter trapping crewbies are back in action! All but one member from last year’s crew are returning (gluttons for punishment I guess ;-). I also got to see a few of my fawnsters at our orientation meeting this week in State College, as they have joined the southern forces this time around.
Unlike last year, we already have a good 6 inches of snow in some areas of the Susquehannock. That’s good news if it sticks around for trapping season, but not-so-good news when it comes to travel. First day of work this year and we were already strapping on the tire chains! 
In addition to re-foaming all 28 traps, we also checked on the remaining collared fawns–all still alive–and successfully blew off 1 doe collar this week so that Tess can download the data from it. That’s 1 collar down and 6 to go.
Our goal for this upcoming week is to drop the remaining 6 collars. However, 2 of those 6 collars are malfunctioning, I believe due to low battery; we tried finding those 2 deer on Friday and couldn’t even pick up a signal. So for now, we’re going to focus on the other 4 collars. We’re planning on opening traps next Monday night.
On Friday, we FINALLY got our third truck out of the shop which needed almost $1600 in repairs just to get it up to code for inspection this Wednesday (ouch!).
Aside from dropping collars this coming week, we also have Vaginal Implant Transmitter (VIT) training and CPR/1st-aid training to attend. Most of all, I’m looking forward to getting my computers back! The withdrawals have officially set in. There are also still a lot of supplies we need to gather prior to opening traps next week (collars, VIT applicators, immobilization kit, scissor jack, purse net, etc.). We will also be picking up the snowmobile trailer so that we can haul traps.
2017 is off to the races!
PGC Deer and Elk Section
From the Southern Crew:
Hi all,
Mostly a week dedicated to fixing the netting on the clover traps. The Penn Nursery crew generously fired up the wood burner for us to work in the table shop. 
The warm garage greatly increased our efficiency—no breaks needed to warm up and no cold hands! Words cannot express how grateful we were. We have some traps left to fix, but we are actually ahead of schedule (for now—It feels too good to be true, so it must be).
The crew also attended Immobilization Training, where we learned/relearned all about the drugs we will be working with, important deer capture techniques and complications. We received a good pile of equipment, too!
I trained the crew in the use of tire chains. I could already see the sparkle in their eyes as they laid on the cold, hard, wet ground while they hastily threw the chains over the tire…or maybe that was their cry for help? Ok, I am being a tad overdramatic.
Next week is packed full – rocket net training, conducting a rocket net/clover trap demonstration for the Penn State Mammology course, attending the VIT and First Aid/CPR Trainings.
Deer Trapping 2017 is underway. In the words of The Cars, “Let the Good Times Roll.”
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Field Crew Leader
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