2017 Deer-Forest Year End Review

JTF:  As the Pointer Sisters lament in their version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town (don’t worry Duane, I inserted a link), another year has gone by.  This is the Deer-Forest blog’s fourth year.  Can you believe it!  I can’t believe I’ve been churning out posts for 4 years.  Let’s reminisce about the blog year that was…because we are old and that’s what old people do that at the end of the year.  So tell me Duane what posts stood out for you?

DRD: Well, I had 113 (might be 115 by the time we post this?) to choose from so it took a while. Plus, the older you get more time flies so some posts I thought were 2017 favorites were actually 2016 favorites! But before I divulge any of my top choices, I wanted to comment on the Deer Crew Diaries. We started this series for rather selfish reasons.  Two posts a week may not seem like a lot but trust me it is!  Those weekly updates sent to all those involved in the project (Penn State, Game Commission, and Bureau of Forestry) lightened the load and have turned out to be quite popular with our readers.  And it shows the not so fun side of research.  Let’s say it together – ENDLESS vehicle repairs!  

JTF:  You must be confused.  We are forward thinking here at the Deer Forest blog and those Diaries give our readers an all access pass to field research.  We would never use field crew weekly updates as fill in posts.  Geesh, Duane.  Don’t give away all our secrets!  I will admit those Diaries have given us inspiration for other posts and our hard working crews do a great job every season.  But let’s get back on topic.  

DRD: Ok, Ok! I’m going to start out on the serious side and invite readers to revisit Passing through Nature to Eternity. This post is a summary of harvest and survival rates from our research projects over the decades. Although I was intimately involved with all the research that went into these numbers, I had never put them all together in one place before. What is interesting is the variability, yet consistency, in deer harvest rates across Pennsylvania. Harvest rates (and hence, survival rates because hunting is the primary source of mortality for adult deer) are consistently higher in males than females. And the low harvest rates that we have observed so far in this study will explain my next blog post pick!

JTF:  The more things change, the more they stay the same.  While you marvel at the statistics of harvest rates, I marvel at the deer that create them!  One of my favorite posts from 2017 is Middle Aged…perhaps because I can relate more every day.  Doe 10772 was captured this year for the second time.  But there was a 6 YEAR span in between captures.  She knows firsthand about those low harvest rates.  That post is also an example of how the Deer Crew Diaries inspired a post!

DRD: That’s similar to my next story pick – Battle Scars. Here is a deer that we learned from local landowners was likely injured by a vehicle collision. When we study deer we are interested in summarizing information from as many deer as possible so that we can generalize about the population. As wildlife biologists it’s rarely about a single deer AND we rarely get to learn a whole lot about individual deer. Most of the time we collar them, follow their locations, and maybe learn when they die. That’s it.

So to get video of deer after they were captured is always exciting. Even better, with this deer we got a follow-up video (see He’s Back!!!) a year later showing little evidence of a limp and sporting a very nice symmetrical set of antlers! 

JTF:  Of course, we couldn’t get through a conversation about deer without mention of antlers (insert eye roll here).  Yes, it’s exciting to see “our” deer.  There are lots of deer out there but once they step into a Clover trap or under a rocket or drop net, our relationship begins and yes, they become special because they are known.  That’s why I love the What’s in a Name post.  Regardless of whether they are called Buck 12776 or Wisdom, my most favorite bird (BTW – she made it back to Midway Atoll for another breeding season at the ripe age of 67!), we feel a connection.  We are privileged to “know” their story.

DRD: Oops, I forgot about your antler aversion (I think you’ve written about that…)! But you’ll be pleased that my most favorite post from 2017 had nothing to do with antlers because it was the early muzzleloader season: Birds and Squirrels… and Sometimes Deer. Every once in a while a post writes itself, and for me this was one of those. I firmly believe there is more to hunting than hunting and I hope that came across in my story. And that more people enjoy the early muzzleloader season!

JTF:  That is one of my favorites posts too!  Being a biologist for the most popular game species in North America, I have been told countless hunting stories.  If I never hear another one, I will NOT be sad.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for successful hunters as evidenced by my Biology is Messy post but my most favorite “hunting” tales are those in which a deer is never mentioned.  It’s about rowdy sparrows and chattering squirrels.  About golden rays of sunlight and the rustle of leaves.  About forgetting your worries (if just for a little while) and remembering the beauty that surrounds us every day.

DRD: Agreed (but I like deer hunting stories!).

So readers, what was your favorite post from 2017?

-Duane and Jeannine

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Santa’s Little Helpers

We have long suspected that deer have a hand or hoof in helping Santa deliver all those presents on Christmas eve.  Our working theory is that Santa enlists some of the locals to increase efficiency.  Who can blame him. He’s got a big job, limited resources, and a tight schedule.  Nobody knows the neighborhood better AND keeps a secret like resident cervid! 

For 100’s of years, Santa has had magic on his side.  But hold onto your hat Santa, we here at the Deer-Forest study have technology.  So we decided to program our collars to collect several hundred locations every minute beginning at midnight Christmas Eve.  

Since Santa’s reindeer are all female, we suspected if anybody were helping the jolly ol’ fat man it would be a doe.  And if I may quote my very insightful co-author, “females tend to work harder and show greater empathy so it probably was a female.”  And he was right!  

We’ve downloaded and plotted the data for each of our collared deer and what to our wondering eyes did appear but one of our does assisting Santa and his reindeer! 

Check it out!

Doe 1225 is from the Northern study area.  With almost half of Pennsylvanians living in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, she spends most of her time there before making the trek across the remainder of the state.  Then she returns safely home.  This has never been documented before!  

Since Santa covers Pennsylvania in about 5.37 minutes, he likely enlists multiple does.  We only have a small number collared so we were lucky to find even one.

We hope Santa was good to you this year.  But if he wasn’t, we’d bet Doe 1225 had something to do with providing Santa that naughty or nice list too. 

Happy Ho-ho-holidays from the Deer-Forest blog!

-Jeannine Fleegle and Duane Diefenbach

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We Spied on Him for 3 Years

It was February 25, 2015 when we captured him in a Clover trap in Treaster Valley on the Bald Eagle State Forest. He was an “adult” meaning he had already survived at least 2 hunting seasons and would be at least 2.5 years old during the upcoming 2015-2016 deer seasons.

That’s the last we ever saw of him for nearly 3 years. But we were still able to follow his every move. We ended up spying on him in 2015, 2016, and 2017.

He was fitted with a GPS collar that we hoped would collect a location every 7 hours until the opening of archery season when a location was collected every 3 hours. If he survived archery season we would collect a location every 20 minutes during the rifle season. If he survived the rifle season the spying started all over again.

During 2015 we obtained 2,105 locations on Buck 8393. And it turns out, we captured him far outside his normal home range.

The red dot (western side of image, just north of Treaster Valley Rd) was the capture location. The yellow dot to the east was the first location we obtained from the collar (yellow = daytime, black = night time).

Movements immediately after capture (location marked by red dot) from 25 Feb through 11 March.

He appeared to make a beeline back to what was the northern edge of his home range. I think I’d run home too after being captured in a trap, tackled, and fitted with a radiocollar – although first I’d have to figure out how to explain to my wife why I had tags in my ears and a collar hanging around my neck!

Springtime Moves

In April he made a foray to the west. For 7 days (April 6-12, 2015) he traveled over the ridge to Havice Valley and returned, but never traveled that way again.

Summertime

By summer 2015, he settled down and spent most of his time in Treaster Valley, including a lot of time on the south-facing ridgetop between Treaster Valley and New Lancaster Valley. At the southern edge of his home range it is very steep – for every 2.5 feet you travel horizontally you go up or down a foot in elevation. Foresters call that a 40% slope.

The Rut

During the period when most breeding occurs (10/23 – 11/23), you can see that his home range expanded south of New Lancaster Valley Rd.

Rifle Season 2015

Buck 8393 survived his 3rd rifle season as well. As you look at where he spends his daytime hours you should notice several things:

  • During daytime hours he doesn’t move a lot (clusters of yellow dots)
  • His hiding spots during the day tend to be on steep topographic features
  • Some hiding spots are right next to the road!

Notice where I placed a circle in red. There are two locations just south of Knob Ridge Rd where he beds down on a very steep part of the ridge. The slope is about 50% (for every 2 feet you travel horizontal you go up 1 foot in elevation).

Another favorite hiding spot is just to the north on the highest part of the ridge. Even at the southern edge of his movements (where he traveled during the rut just a week or so before), he selected a resting spot near a ridge feature.

This buck is a little different from other bucks that we have shared on the blog. Most deer have a single hiding spot during the rifle season. This guy appears to have multiple hiding spots!

Here’s what all 2,105 locations from 2015 look like. Notice how ridges tend to be favored resting spots.

Year Two

His movements in 2016 were similar. No long-distance trips outside the home range but otherwise basically the same boundaries as 2015.

 

Rut 2016

His movements during the rut and the rifle season were similar. Unfortunately, during the rifle season the collar did not receive the commands from the satellite to collect intensive locations. However, here is a movie of his movements during the rut – notice how he does not really start making movements that traverse his home range until about November 8.

Year Three

Not much has changed. Basically the 2017 home range is the same home range as 2016. Unfortunately, the collar stopped collecting locations on November 2, 2017 – just before the rut kicked into high gear. But there is more to his story.

On December 2, 2017 (first Saturday of the rifle deer season), Buck 8393 was harvested on the southern end of his home range near New Lancaster Valley Rd. He apparently was a very nice 10-point buck at least 4.5 years old!

-Duane Diefenbach

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Deer Crew Diaries – Entry 97

 

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From the Northern Crew:

Dear Deer People,

It’s a winter wonderland in the northern study area.  We had about 5 inches of snow.  It is the most beautiful office I could ask for.

On Monday and Tuesday, I met up with Kyle and Dave to deer age. After going through the certification course for the Game Commission, I was excited to test out my skills. Kyle was a great teacher and observed me as I aged many of the heads myself while Dave recorded all of the data into the iPad. It was a lot of fun visiting the different processors and seeing all the nice deer that people had brought in over the gun-deer season.

Each day after deer aging, I went out for a late day mort run. Unfortunately, one of my fawns has gone missing. Over this last week, I have driven every road in her area, listening for any sign of a “beep.” After going on multiple missions to find her, I was left with only static. I am going to continue to look for this lost fawn through this week.

Deer tracks in snowOn Wednesday, I completed a round of locations. It was snowing all morning, but Bret made his way to the DCNR office to meet me. I gave him all of the adult and fawn collars that I have accrued over the rifle season. 

On Thursday after the mort run, I started to take apart all of the rockets for the rocket nets. Some of them I had to put in a vice and use a crowbar to get the ends to break free.  I used a wire brush and towels to get the threads all cleaned up and re-greased, in preparation for the soon approaching trapping season.

On Friday, I got another set of locations for all of the fawn then spent some time talking with my crew and getting the new crew member Brian all caught up on the buzz of deer trapping. I am very excited to meet my crew.

This week, I will be spending Monday and Tuesday helping April down in the Southern study area with some of her trapping preparations. I will also complete locations, look for the lost fawn, and do last minute preparations before Christmas.

-Nate
Field Crew Leader

PGC Deer and Elk Section

 

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From the Southern Crew:

Hello all,

My week flew by. I began with a mort run on Monday morning;  then finished the day scouting some of our old rocket net sites in Rothrock and found a few new clover trap sites, as well. Some sites had with heavy buck activity. I found countless scrapes and rubs throughout the afternoon. I dropped a second truck off at the mechanic’s too. It needs new brakes, ball joints, a bearing and the tailgate is broken.decorated tree in RR

Tuesday, I stopped at the mechanic’s to see how the trucks were coming along and then headed straight to Penn Nursery to pick up the old elk truck to take it for another test drive. The 4WD was much better; however, it felt like the brakes were going and the driver’s side power window was finicky. I’m also wondering if it needs an exhaust manifold. I scheduled another appointment for the truck to go in next week. 

I did a mort run and in the process, a landowner flagged me down to tell me he shot one of our tagged deer. I searched the doe’s tag number in my files and discovered that she was collared as a fawn in 2016. He said she was a nice size for a yearling and the processor told him he’d probably get 60 pounds of meat from her. He still had the head, so I took it from him to remove the lower mandible for the deer aging training. 

I finished looking at a few sites in Rothrock that I needed to check on and I submitted a list of Rothrock sites to be mowed to Mark (Rothrock Forester).

Between mort runs every day and two locations/fawn, the work week can fly by quickly. I do a decent amount of driving to navigate to the areas that my fawns reside each week which is the primary reason mort runs/locations can take so long. In addition, I stopped by the Pole Shed to pick up equipment for winter trapping. These totes full of equipment will take refuge in my house and my truck for the next few months.

trapping totes2

A snow storm came in overnight and I woke up to about 4 inches of snow on Thursday morning! I was excited to head out to see the fresh blanket of snow and fresh animal tracks in the state forests. I began the mort run and was stopped by two different landowners who wondered how the fawns made out after hunting season. I also completed locations.

Friday, I conducted a mort run and headed back to the office to go through trapping equipment and complete my supply list. I also updated a list of the supplies in each of my totes.

Next Monday and Tuesday, Nate will be traveling to the South so that I can show him how to set up a rocket net. He will also be helping me pull the rocket nets out and make any necessary repairs. I’ll continuing with fawn monitoring for the week and finalize my location file.

-April
Field Crew Leader

PGC Deer and Elk Section

 

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Deer Crew Diaries – Entry 96

 

From the Northern Crew:

Dear Deer People, 

Well, rifle deer season has come to a close after two busy weeks in the woods. I talked with many hunters over this week during my rounds. I always enjoy talking with folks and hearing about their experiences.

It was a fairly quiet week, surprisingly, with no fawn mortalities. I was definitely thankful for that even though I still had some adult mortalities to gather info from. 

With rain coming on Tuesday, I did my first round of telemetry on Monday. A couple of fawns have wandered to new areas of the countryside. It made this telemetry round more adventurous than the others. I got with some new hiding spots. 

I experimented a little bit with “spider wiring” on the clover traps. This method uses a thin length of rope, which you weave in and out of two sides of the netting along the edges on a clover trap to connect them along that edge. By doing this, it creates somewhat of a trampoline effect within the trap preventing the deer from hitting the external metal frame. We have used foam tubing in the past to create a cushion barrier for the bars, but this was a suggested alternative I learned in Wisconsin. 

On Tuesday, I did a mortality run and some scouting. Still using the trapline maps that Hannah gave me, I wanted to draw in some more details of the roads and add some logging roads that were created over the summer. I also marked where I plan to have rocket nets and which spots where large enough to put drop nets. 

On Wednesday, Chris and I retrieved another adult collar that had been harvested during gun season – a nice 8 Pointer. After another mort. run, I unearthed all of the clover traps from the Canada Golden rod patch back at the office. I also started creating excel sheets that will be filled out to log the activity on all of the baits sites that will be established for this trapping season. 

The preparations will continue this week as we get closer and closer to the crew start date and all of the winter trapping festivities. The forest is white with snow now which makes these preparations all the more real.

-Nate
Field Crew Leader
PGC Deer and Elk Section 


 

From the Southern Crew:

Hello all,

Both Monday and Tuesday were dedicated to deer aging activities. We collected heads to be tested for CWD this week as well. Between both days, we aged a total of 361 deer. Due to the rain coming on Tuesday, we tried to knock out the processors where we were required to age outdoors. I conducted a mort run Monday night, and spoke to the mechanic about our trucks and completed auto reports Tuesday night.

Wednesday, I conducted another mort run and began to round up a number of collars from deer that were harvested. I picked up a fawn collar from 2017 in Rothrock; buck collar from 2015 in Bald Eagle; fawn collar from 2016; and a doe collar from 2015 both in Rothrock. collar and harvested deer antlers

I began to look at rocket net sites in Rothrock. Mark, the Rothrock Forester, said he may be able to get some sites mowed for us. Winter is beginning to set in though, so I don’t expect him to be able to get this done. I appreciate the thought though! I was also able to check out a few rocket net sites that weren’t occupied by hunters on Wednesday. 

I began Thursday morning with a mort run. My first round in Rothrock turned out well, but when I reached my first Bald Eagle fawn, I instantly heard a weak mort signal come in over the omni antenna. This fawn has been tricky for the past few months. If she’s not spending time in the low spots in the ag land where the interference from electrical lines are high, she treks over a monstrous ridge in the middle of nowhere and hides out. Often, the only way I can get her signal is to travel 30 minutes down a bumpy drivable trail then hike 500 meters up to the top of the ridge and listen for her on the other side.

After speaking with a few landowners and gaining permission to hike on their property, I headed to a different part of the mountain. After I reached the top and just began to descend down the other side, I discovered what I had heard was a false mortality signal. Signal bounce was getting the best of me.

To end my work week, I picked up the final doe collar. This doe was initially tagged in 2016. We recaptured her in 2017 and she received a collar and a vaginal implant transmitter. We did not find any of her fawns though.

Next week, I will continue to monitor the fawns, finalize my spreadsheet of fawn locations, continue to look at rocket net sites, and finalize a supply list for trapping. 

-April
Field Crew Leader

PGC Deer and Elk Section

 

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Biology is Messy

Deer season.  It covers that gamut of emotions – anticipation, excitement, dread, misery.  Here in Pennsylvania another deer season has come to a close and I can’t say I’m sorry.  It is no secret that I dislike deer season and I’m a deer biologist!  

The hate and loathing I experience this time of year however has nothing to do with hunting.  I recently shared a photo of a happy pile of deer heads on our Twitter feed (@WTDresearch).  Someone commented that it was “NOT a good picture for non-hunters!” Another responded “Killing them IS protecting them…(Still could do without the picture).”  

Something about these comments just bugged me.  What’s so bad about seeing a pile of deer heads?  Is it really offensive to non-hunters?  

There is nothing bad about a pile of deer heads.  Why?  That pile represents a successful day afield; memories being made; meat in someone’s freezer; and one less deer on the landscape.  All of those are good things.  Deer are one of the few species that can alter the very habitat they live in just by eating.   If there are more deer than the landscape can support, bad things happen for all critters including deer.  Hunting deer is an act of conservation.  Forests (including those species that live there) and motorist are happy to see that pile.  

That pile of deer heads also represents valuable data.  Data needed to properly manage an important public resource.  Estimating the deer harvest is a key piece of the management puzzle.

And what of non-hunters?  Sorry, but a photograph of a pile of deer heads is not offensive to this group.   How can I make such a bold statement?  I am a non-hunter!  I have been slinging deer heads for over a decade.  Thousands of them!  Blood, brains, nasal bots, protruding eyeballs (now those are offensive!) – And that’s just the visual.  I cannot describe the unique and pungent odor that emanates from the bottom of a barrel full of deer heads.  Other than the smell and the occasional bulging eyeball, I have never been offended by a deer head.  

There is nothing glamorous about biology.  And while cuddling a fawn or wrestling a buck makes for better TV, the stress associated with live animal capture makes that pile of deer heads look pretty good.  And it is reality.  That burger on your plate didn’t just materialize in the grocery.  It came from a living breathing being.  If you like trees and flowers and birds, then be thankful for that pile of deer heads.

So while a pile of deer heads is not offensive, reaching the last head in the bottom of a 55-gal drum that’s 33.5 inches high when you are only 62 inches tall is. 

-Jeannine Fleegle
Wildlife Biologist
PGC Deer and Elk Section

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Deer Crew Diaries – Entry 95

[Comment in brackets are by Jeannine and Duane]

From the Northern Crew:

Dear Deer People, 

Another week has come to a close here in the deer world and more does and fawns have surrendered their collars. 

On Monday, I started off my day with a hike to the top of a mountain in search for a malfunctioning doe collar. This collar had not given us any locations or data of any kind since December of 2016!  Even though it had been offline for almost a year, it sent a mortality email last Sunday. Since we didn’t have any location data, it was up to me to find it given its last recorded location. 

I drove to the last known location to see if the VHF signal was transmitting.  It was!  It was hard to get a reading with steep mountain side and valley. I started my trek uphill in search for a stronger signal. The farther I went, the stronger the signal, so I tried to send out a drop signal.  I slowly followed the signal all the way to the summit and started to round the top when the lonely collar was discovered. There were no signs of mortality or a carcass and the collar lay on top of fresh deer tracks. The doe was most certainly still alive. 

After this morning workout, I continued a mortality check and headed to the office to stocked capture packs for this winter. 

On Tuesday, I completed my first round of locations on the remaining fawns. Earlier this last month, I had cleaned out all the trucks after they were all tuned up and out of the shop. Now, it was time to go get them all stocked up. Tire chains, extraction straps, fire extinguishers, and first aid kits. They are ready to roll! 

On Wednesday, I collected a doe collar from a successful hunter. After returning, I fitted all the trucks with tire chains and made sure they all fitted correctly. 

I got a mortality signal blaring across my receiver from a fawn collar, but upon investigation I found that it was only a ripped/slipped collar with no signs of mortality. It is always very interesting going in on these mortality signals, because you never know what you are going to find. I feel like a crime detective looking for every detail about the scene once the collar is discovered. 

Next week I will continue with fawn monitoring and mortality investigations through the end of rifle season. I will also be finishing up winter trapping prep. I have been working on making a detailed map of all my trapping and driving routes which should be almost finished by the end of this week. 

-Nate
Field Crew Leader

PGC Deer and Elk Section

 

From the Southern Crew:

Hello all, 

My week began on Sunday with a “pre-opening day of rifle” mort run. All signals were heard for the remaining fawns! 

I took Monday off, since PA’s woods are always full of enthusiastic hunters looking to harvest a deer on opening day! I normally head to my home to sit at least part of the day in the woods. However, this year, my sister had me at David’s Bridal trying on bridesmaids dresses for her wedding. Not quite the experience I had planned for on Nov 27th! 

Tuesday was a busy day between fawn monitoring, scouting Bald Eagle State Forest for new rocket net sites, and checking the status of the old sites. Pete, the Bald Eagle Forester, arranged to have some of my rocket net sites mowed this coming week! This will make the 2018 trapping crew’s life easier.new rocket net site

I didn’t discover any new areas large enough for a rocket net. I did find some new potential clover trapping sites though. Pete also mentioned one site that I never thought to use, mostly because grasses have grown up. Pete’s team is planning to mow it for us next week. I also had to whip out the ‘ol chainsaw while exploring some trails for trapping. Been a few months since I’ve said that! 

I received a phone call from a landowner who harvested a tagged 9-point buck! He was very surprised, excited, and willing to share all information. We tagged this buck on January 29, 2017. He was our very first capture of the 2017 trapping season. 

The same day, while in Bald Eagle, I ran into a man and his son who had shot one of our collared does opening day in Rothrock. I had just heard about this harvest from Tess that morning. The boy was all wound up and excited. Rightfully so! I looked the doe up and determined she was collared in 2015. They didn’t have the collar with them, so I’ll need to swing by and pick it up. 

I joined an official PGC deer aging crew this year. I worked with 2 foresters in mostly Huntingdon and Blair Counties. Between, Wednesday and Thursday, we aged around 410 deer. We also collected heads from Bedford/Blair Co for CWD testing. 

Thursday morning while I was aging, I received a call from a former crew member about one of my collared does hit on a busy roadway in the Southern Study Area. I obviously couldn’t do much about it from Blair County, but decided I better at least go look for her at the end of the day. By the time I arrived, it was dark, rainy and traffic was heavily flying by at a steady pace of 55 mph. The collar was gone already. I quickly looked over her, jotted down the tag numbers, and decided to return first thing in the morning. 

I returned around 0800. After about 5 minutes, I noticed a WCO vehicle pulled up behind me. Turns out he removed the collar from her neck. 

After talking to Bret and Justin on the phone, I removed the doe’s jaw and began dragging her up to the road to be taken to the ADL to be necropsied. She was hefty, and luckily for me, two men offered to help. After turning down help about 5 minutes earlier, I peered down at the deer, briefly pondered how I was going to get her into the bed of the truck all by myself and quickly responded with a “Well, if you’re up for it!” Both men were dressed up in nice button up shirts and khakis, but didn’t hesitate to get dirty and lend a hand. They even helped me get her in the bed of the truck! As a deer collared in 2014, you can imagine she was quite the nice sized doe! 

Next week, I’m deer aging until Tuesday. I’ll also conduct a few mort runs and pick up the Rothrock doe collar. Auto reports are also due this week. Otherwise, I hope to have time to continue to prep for winter trapping. 

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-April
Field Crew Leader

PGC Deer and Elk Section

 

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Deer Crew Diaries – Entry 94

 

From the Northern Crew:

Dear Deer People, 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and got some quality time with family. This last week was a whirlwind. 

On Monday, I spent the first part of the day getting fawn locations and checking on some problematic does. The woods were very busy with bear season in full swing. It was a pleasure talking with many of them how their season. 

After locations, I wanted to find that doe collar with the irregular VHF frequency and try to blow it off again. I replaced the batteries in the “blow-off” transmitter and followed the signal into the woods. I got to a point where I felt I was quite close to her location, so I armed the device and pressed “Fire”. Pressing the “Fire” button is kind of anticlimactic since there is no indication of a successful transmission. I continued to follow the signal along a deer trail and found some fresh tracks which led to some deer beds with even more fresh tracks leaving them. About ten meters from the three beds lay the collar. Success! [This what real happiness looks like]

Nate with blown collar2

After getting locations done and finding the doe collar, I headed over to the bear check station. I was informed that “business” was pretty slow so I headed home to get some office work done. When I returned at dusk, bears where flowing in quite steadily and the crowds began to gather. 

I talked with many people about bear ecology and research, and even got to see a couple bears with ear tags from this last summer. Brandon and I had caught quite a few bears over the summer for the fawn study and now the data was returning through hunter success. 

Tuesday and Wednesday, I did a mort check and another round of locations.  I am hoping they will all still be local and alive this next week with the start of gun deer season. 

April was able to send me much of the paperwork and protocol that was used last year for deer captures. She also sent me the equipment list.  I will start inventorying everything that I already have at the shop and see what I will need for this upcoming trapping season. 

This week, I will be concentrating on mortality checks and locations along with any adult mortalities that occur during this opening gun season week along with equipment inventory and Clover trap inspection. 

-Nate
Field Crew Leader

PGC Deer and Elk Section

 

From the Southern Crew:

Hello all,

Did someone say “four day weekend!?” A short week lead to a short agenda. Thanksgiving festivities followed!

My Monday morning began with a routine mort run to assure that everyone was still kickin’ after the weekend. I then headed out to assist at the Bear Check Station for the rest of the day.  Bret was in charge, so I thought I’d go bug him for the day!

I assisted at the check station until close. I believe we processed around 30 bears the entire day. We had a number of harvested bears with ear tags. Two of which had tattoos on the inside of their upper lip. Not only did we check for tags and tattoos, but we also sexed each bear, pulled a tooth for aging and obtained weight.

tattoo bear

Tuesday and Wednesday was dedicated to fawn monitoring. I obtained at least one location for each fawn this week. 

I will work on Sunday to conduct a mort check prior to the opening day of gun season. I will also complete a basic trap inventory to prep for repairs this January. Tuesday, I’ll conduct another mort run and obtain locations on as many fawns as possible. I am also hoping to swap trucks out at the garage. Otherwise, most of my week will be consumed with deer aging. Something a little different than I’m used to, but it’ll be fun to change things up a bit!

-April
Field Crew Leader

PGC Deer and Elk Section

 

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Deer Crew Diaries – Entry 93

 
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From the Northern Crew:

Dear Deer People,

The north has been pretty busy with scouting, deer duties, running trucks around, and a mortality this week.

On Monday, Hannah, the previous crew leader, was gracious enough to make and send me a map of all the trap lines that she established and where she caught most of her deer. I was very thankful for such information as I know she had to start from scratch originally. After receiving the maps, I ventured out since many of the trap lines don’t correspond to fawn locations. I started writing down where I would like to put traps on all the different lines and found some other spots for the drop nets. I am getting more and more excited for this winter.

I shuffled all the trucks on my inventory around to different shops to get them ready for the crew’s arrival and winter use. Truck 5773, which was in the shop for the EGR valve, finally passed its emissions test and was given an inspection sticker. I also took truck 5775 into the shop for a new steering shaft and a check engine light. I am hoping that it will also be totally finished up and ready by the end of next week.

Enough about truck stuff… On Wednesday, while on my last fawn, the dreadful sound of a mortality signal beeped over my receiver. Fawn 6651, that had been moving around quite a bit, had now not moved at all for over 4 hours. The signal led me a little over a quarter mile into the woods. I knew I was getting close and really started to look for any signs of a deer or kill site. All of a sudden the signal reversed so I knew I had just walked passed it.

I looked back and could barely see one of the back legs sticking out from under the leaves. Some critter had cached this guy very well, almost completely covering the fawn with leaves and surrounding vegetation. After taking some pictures of the cache, I uncovered the basically whole deer to find a small amount of consumption on one of it’s hindquarters. There weren’t any other signs of struggle of distinct kill wounds. I ended up tossing the whole deer up on my shoulders for the trek out.

The carcass will be sent to the lab for necropsy to properly determine the culprit.
After hauling that fawn back to the office, it was too large to fit into the freezer with the two others already in there. So, on Thursday I met Bret to deliver the carcass to be stored elsewhere until a necropsy could be scheduled.

On Friday, I performed a mort run on my remaining fawns and received an email from Tess about a problematic doe collar that needed to dropped from the deer. The doe collar was emitting an abnormal mortality signal that sounded more like the “lub dub” of a heartbeat compared to the more metronomic signal I am used to. I attempted 5 separate times to blow the collar off and knew that I was very close to her since I was following her fresh track through the snow. The abnormal signal was hard to track. After almost two hours, I noticed I had tracked her in a large circle with no collar to be found. The malfunctioning collar was not receiving the drop-off code and the deer was most certainly alive.

This week I will attempt again to drop the doe collar. It will be a very short week with Thanksgiving holiday Thursday and Friday. It will also go by quickly because I will be helping with the Coudersport bear check station on Monday. I am excited to be working with some bears again and to mix up the schedule a bit. In the meantime,

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

-Nate
Field Crew Leader
PGC Deer and Elk Section

——————————————————————–
From the Southern Crew:

Hello all,

It was a busy week with fawn monitoring, the trucks, and a mortality. Yes, that’s right, I said a mortality!

Bret and I trekked north on Tuesday morning to pick up a truck at the Loyalsock game farm. First, we made a quick pit stop in Selinsgrove to pick up a GPS collar from a deer that had been harvested in the Northern Study Area. I also had the oil changed in my truck on Wednesday morning. Otherwise, I spent my week monitoring the fawns. Collar 6650 made an appearance at her home base on Thursday.

After almost two tranquil months of being “mort-free,” I had a fawn mortality. I began to think that my fawns were off the hook, but I received a mort signal for collar 6596 late Friday morning. Luckily, it was only a 100m hike into a cornfield to the mort site. I seem to get endless biangulations for the fawns in this area, so I was pleased to report that it was a quick and simple search. I ended up having just enough time to complete the mortality investigation and make it to my dentist appointment on time!

At first glance through the cornstalks, I noticed a complete carcass, which seemed untouched; however, I observed more closely and saw that the hindquarters of the animal had been eaten and cached underneath flattened cornstalks and dead grass. I carefully proceeded to take photos of the carcass and mort site and look for predator tracks.

 

Imprints of small round pads and rounded toes with deer hair settled in the mud amongst the flattened cornstalks and dead grass. I studied the tracks and determined they were likely those of a bobcat. All that I observed on the carcass was a 4 inch bloodied scar down the back of the right ear, a healed puncture behind the right shoulder, eaten hindquarters and what appeared to be hemorrhaging at the eaten portion of the hindquarters. There were punctures in the hide at the hindquarters, but I couldn’t determine if they were inflicted in post mortem stages.

 

After I completed the mort investigation, I dragged the fawn out to my truck, bagged him and loaded him up to be dropped off later in the evening. The mort certainly did add more excitement to my work week!

Next week will be a much shorter work week. I’ll work at a bear check station on Monday then fawn monitoring which will be dedicated to locations!

-April
Field Crew Leader
PGC Deer and Elk Section

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Survival School

I fly several times a year.  I can’t really concentrate on a flight so reading is not an option for me.  I can’t even leaf through the SkyMall catalog anymore to browse for bug vacuums and NapAnywhere pillows.  Why?  Because Wi-Fi and inflight entertainment killed it.  That’s ok.  I find this an acceptable substitute and I don’t have to worry about a purchase I might later regret.  

Discovery is one of my preferred inflight entertainment channels and I can usually catch several episodes of whatever is on the menu.  My most recent inflight guilty pleasure was Dual Survival with Joe and Cody, two survival experts.  Each episode places them in a different survival scenario.  I found it entertaining and slightly educational.  I mean who knows when I might find myself stranded in the South African bush.  

Since my last inflight viewing, Joe and Cody had a major falling out and have since been replaced.  Hey, survival can be stressful.  Just ask deer!

Next week 750,000 people armed with rifles and shotguns will enter the woods…looking for them!  What’s a deer to do?  Luckily, we here at the Deer-Forest Study have tips, strategies, and advice for those looking to make it through the most dangerous 2-weeks of the year. 

Since 2013, we’ve been tracking adult deer with GPS collars every 20 minutes during the gun season.  Here are the basics:

  • Deer are still most active at sunrise and sunset
  • Deer don’t necessarily take retreat on private ground
  • Deer don’t leave their home range

So if this is the case, how do they survive the upcoming invasion?  Some don’t but many more do.  The secret to celebrating the new year for a deer is having a hiding place and knowing how and when to use it.

Case Study: Hillside Doe

You may remember Doe 8921.   Living though one hunting season is key to surviving subsequent seasons.  That’s because a good hiding spot has already been identified and the minute hunting season opens that’s where she goes.  And boy is it a good hiding spot – rocky, thick, and steep. Inaccessible from every direction!  

Case Study: Super Smart Bucks

Buck 8917 uses a hiding spot too but he likes to be king of the mountain.  Bucks use ridgetops with significant vantage points.  They, like hunters, play the wind.  Buck 8917’s hiding spot allowed him to survey the prevailing winds from the west and provided a barricade from the east.  A fortress, if you will, where he was protected in all directions.  

It turns out deer don’t need tips, strategies, and advice for surviving hunting season.  Deer have graduated from survival school with flying colors.  Instead, it’s hunters that need tips, strategies, and advice for a successful hunting season!  

So how can you outsmart the smartest deer in the woods?

  • Don’t give up on afternoon hunts – many deer begin moving after lunch
  • Reconsider the tree stand – the older, smarter deer are sitting still just like you
  • Hunt cooperatively – you’re never going to sneak up on their hiding place…or get there before them
  • Look at topography and habitat and identify potential hiding spots

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Deer make Cody and Joe look like amateurs.  So good luck next week.  You’re taking on a critter that wrote the book on survival.  

-Jeannine Fleegle and
Duane Dienfenbach

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Deer Crew Diaries – Entry 92

 

From the Northern Crew:

Dear Deer People, 

Preparations for trapping season are underway!  And I am happy to report that there were no mortalities of any kind and the fawns are running all over. With the rut in full swing, it was an adventure to find some of the fawns. Thankfully some have made it to locations that are easier to get to and I am now able to get more accurate locations. 

rub2On Tuesday, I was finally able to take truck 5773 into the shop for an emissions test (after it was in the shop for two different EGR valves). Unfortunately, I was told that I had not put enough miles on that truck between replacing the EGR valve and taking it for the test, so it failed. I will be taking it in again this week after driving it the next couple days. I will also be taking truck 5775 into the shop for a check engine light and bad power steering.  Hopefully by next week, all the trucks will be all tuned up for winter. 

I met up with Bret to look through tire chains and talk more about winter trapping. Also,  I was able to go though and organize all of the trapping and capture supplies in the shed and clean out and restock all the trucks. 

This week I will extract the Clover traps out of there grassy depths and start repairs and, take the trucks into the shop, and continue with daily mortality checks and telemetry. 

-Nate
Field Crew Leader
PGC Deer and Elk Section


 

From the Southern Crew:

Hello all,

I woke up refreshed on Monday morning (thanks to the end of Daylight Savings time) and headed out to conduct a mort run and begin biangulations for the week. I was able to pick up 17 of the 18 fawns. A fawn in Bald Eagle has been giving me trouble for the past month. I only found her signal once last week and not a single day this week. I conducted yet another search for her Monday morning. I found and drove a different logging path up the ridge and then went for an hour and a half long hike across the ridge and down over the opposite side. She hasn’t turned up. It’s not uncommon for her to disappear and come back to the ridge above where we captured her. immature red-tailed hawk

Another issue I was experiencing Monday were weak collar signals. At first, I was under the impression electricity use was high.  There are many power lines that run parallel to and intersect the roads.  They are hard to avoid and give off much interference. At certain times of the day and on weekends, interference can be through the roof! I switched between three receivers. At times, the collars sounded strong with the omni (roof antenna), but weak or nonexistent using the H antenna. I thought there was absolutely no way that my good antenna could be going bad! I had just replaced the wire two weeks prior and had just used the same antenna in the morning to obtain biangulations. I was feeling a little impatient and frustrated.  I pulled out a different H antenna, and low and behold, the signals were much clearer.  Mondays!

Tuesday, it snowed most of the day! It was slushy snow in the valley, but when I hit the mountains in Rothrock, I discovered a blanket of fresh snow! By Wednesday evening, I had completed most of the locations. 

I spoke with our mechanic who had to order a few parts for Truck 6087 to pass inspection. I also spent about an hour while I was coming through Rothrock searching for new trap sites. I found a promising one.  We’ll see. 

On another note, I saw at least one buck every day, except for Thursday! On Monday, I caught an 8-point and a 10-point squaring up in Bald Eagle, until I came in and ruined their fun! The larger buck did run the 8 point off at one point, but the 8-point came back for more. Tuesday, there was a wide 6-point that ran across the road in front of me. Wednesday, I saw a 4-point feeding with a fawn in a field.

buck running

Bret and I had to put off our trip to Loyalsock Game Farm to pick up a truck until next week. I’ll continue with monitoring and hopefully have a little time to search for new trap sites for January.

-April
Field Crew Leader

PGC Deer and Elk Section

 

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Chasing the Ladies

It’s the rut and love is in the air.

We’ve written about amorous deer many times. It’s a very popular topic.

We’ve focused on movements and distance traveled (or not traveled) by bucks and doesweather and weather eventscelestial body phases, and the like.

What we haven’t really talked about is speed. We all know bucks chase does but what does that really look like? We mentioned it in our last post about our favorite bachelor but let’s take a look at some of our other bucks.

Take Buck 12776 as an example. Over the course of almost a month (27 Oct – 23 Nov), he traveled over 93 miles, not including 9 miles in elevation!

Here’s a frequency chart of his speed over all the 1-hour intervals during that month
Deer-Forest Study
He’s not a real speedster. Half the time he traveled less than 0.06 miles per hour!

I can easily walk 4 mph down the sidewalk [that’s because Duane has long legs! –Jeannine]. And according to my hiking app, I regularly do 2-3 mph on a hiking trail (in August heat), and 1 mph in thick grouse coverts.

Buck 12776 never exceeded 0.8 mph. But when you’re on the road 24/7, you don’t have to.

If we look at the average hourly speed of Buck 12776 from November 3rd through November 12th – the two weeks leading up to when half the does are bred – there are no morning and evening bursts of activity.
Deer-Forest Study
It’s clear he puts in more effort from 5pm – 11pm but there is no daytime and midnight lull. If he ever took a rest it seemed to be at 4am.

If you’re plugging along at 0.06 mph for 24 hours, you’re going to cover 1.4 miles. Put in a “burst” of 0.3 mph for 4 hours and you can double that distance without breaking a sweat.

Despite the tremendous drain on energy reserves that occurs this time of year, these bucks are not setting any land speed records. Instead, they are pacing themselves.

By moving relatively slowly, but nearly all the time, they can maximize their opportunities to breed females.

And Buck 12776 isn’t an anomaly. Here are graphs of speeds traveled by some of our other collared bucks.
Deer-Forest Study

Deer-Forest Study

Deer-Forest Study

Deer-Forest Study

Deer-Forest Study

Very rarely do they exceed 0.5 mph – even more rarely do they exceed 1 mph.

These bucks seem more like the tortoise than the hare. And we all know who won that race.

-Duane Diefenbach

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