From the Northern Crew:
Hi All,
Another week has come and gone for the Northern Crew. This week we had two fawn mortalities. One of those mortalities only resulted in finding two rib fragments, and the crew is fairly certain the other resulted from a domestic dog belonging to a private property owner. [But as we all know, final word comes after necropsies are preformed]
In addition to monitoring the fawns twice daily for survival and performing telemetry twice weekly, we finally got all new tires for the truck that had the epic blowout last week! The crew and I got a refresher on how to change a flat tire…twice. Needless-to-say we are more than happy with the new purchases. Next week bear trapping will resume so hopefully we have another successful round.
PGC Deer and Elk Section
From the Southern Crew:
Hello all,
Another uniform week here in the South. Nothing too out of the ordinary!
We experienced one fawn mortality this week—on the 4th of July. Nick and Amber conducted the investigation. They could not find anything that looked wrong on the exterior of the fawn. I also got the mort signal for one of the yearlings (2016 radio collared fawn) on Friday. Avery and Amber located the torn collar on Saturday. This collar was presumably worn out and fell off the fawn in just over a year’s time! It’s neat to see things come full circle for a collar before the battery dies. 
The crew has about 8 or 9 more superplot fences to complete, which contain four fenced subplots per plot. The superplot fences were given priority, so the crew will finish those up first before moving onto veg plots that only have one fence per plot. The crew enjoys all of the hiking they get to do. Some of the areas that we get to visit offer some of the nicest views of the valley and sport some of the clearest creeks.
The Southern Study Area bear trapping fires back up on Tuesday. The crew will be helping with bear trapping throughout the week. This will be the first week of trapping in Bald Eagle this year. We’re hoping for good results since the breeding season is beginning (no pressure, Nate)!
We’ve seen plenty ‘o large fawns over the past month. Many have grouped up with their siblings after the does take them to what Jeannine taught me was the “communal bed site.”
We know we don’t stand a chance against their quick hooves so it’s nice to just watch them play with one another. I watched one of our collared fawns’ siblings run towards its mom, jump up and kick all four hooves at her rear end. Talk about comical.
We had some ideal weather on Thursday—a slight drizzle and cool. Certainly my favorite weather to get locations in. With the cooler temps, the deer were out and about. I saw 9 fawns and 8 adults throughout the day in one area. 
I got actual locations for three of our collared fawns that day, as well! One collared fawn ran out from behind me, as I was getting a location for a different fawn. Talk about an easy work day.
Field Crew Leader
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