First Posted: 3/28/2015
At one time or another many of us who fish or hunt might think of ourselves as an amateur fish or game biologist.
Among amateurs opinions may vary widely. Thus, when you get an opportunity to participate in a wildlife survey, take advantage of it.
Researchers with the Pennsylvania Game Commission and in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences have invited people (including out-of-staters) to take a brief online survey on how they think deer respond to different weather conditions. Among those conditions are cold fronts and rain and wind. Opinions on how the moon’s phases change deer movements also are sought.
Many hunters have opinions on these. Who hasn’t heard some hunter proclaim, “Deer will only be moving at night since the moon is nearly full?”
One of the more popular theories among hunters is that deer will be out feeding right before a front moves through?
The survey will be online for another week or so, according to Duane Diefenbach, adjunct professor of wildlife ecology and leader of the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Penn State. Anyone interested in taking the brief online survey can go to http://ecosystems.psu.edu/deer/ and click the survey link.
“This is a great opportunity to find out. I’m certainly curious,” Diefenbach said about studying the validity of such common beliefs how deer respond to weather and moonlight.
“There are a lot of widely held beliefs about what causes deer to move, how far, and when they move,” he added. “In our current research project, we are collecting hundreds of thousands of locations from GPS-collared white-tailed deer. We thought it would be fun to see what people think about how deer move and see if that’s actually true.”
The deer-forest study is a collaborative research project studying how deer, soils and vegetation interact to affect Pennsylvania forests. The game commission is partnering with Penn State and the state Bureau of Forestry in the efforts.
“We hear hunters say that deer become nocturnal following the early muzzleloader and rifle season in October,” said Christopher Rosenberry, who supervises the game commission’s deer and elk section. “We now have access to technology to see if that is actually true.”
Both adult male and female deer have been captured and fitted with GPS collars that transmit the deer’s coordinates via satellite every three hours during October. Researchers chose October because it is the archery and early muzzleloader and rifle hunting seasons in Pennsylvania, and it’s before most of deer breeding occurs.
“The last week of October is when the rut begins in Pennsylvania,” noted Bret Wallingford, deer biologist with the game commission. However, compared to November, most deer still exhibit normal movements and likely are more influenced by weather conditions than breeding urges.”
After the survey is closed, the responses will be summarized and shared on the blog.
Two undergraduate students in the College of Agricultural Sciences, Kate Williams, a wildlife and fisheries science major, and Leah Giralico, a veterinary and biomedical sciences major, will be analyzing the data to see how deer actually respond to weather and other factors.
Diefenbach, who also has expertise in wild turkey, black bear and population estimation, said as of a week ago, there were nearly 1,000 responses to the survey.
“Taking a peak at the answers I would agree that opinions vary widely! Should be fun to figure this out,” he commented.
The first five questions of the survey deal with how the moon and hunting seasons affect deer movements. The next three deal with weather fronts and pressure changes. Warm fronts and cold fronts are explained before you answer this section. The third section offers four questions on wind and rain. The final part of the survey asks if you have any other ideas and give you room to state three ideas in 200 words or less.
Each question offers you some choices for an answer such as strongly agreeing, disagreeing, other thoughts, etc. with the question.
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Anglers who fish the annual spring walleye run in the Maumee River likely are aware of some severe damage ice did to a pair of popular spots for anglers.
The ice damage has forced the closure of Toledo’s Side Cut Metropark and Wood County’s Buttonwood Metropark.
Significant structural damage to roads, trails and parking lots have occurred in some areas.
The Ohio Division of Wildlife says the Fort Meigs fishing access and Orleans Park in Perrysburg and White Street access in Maumee remain open. Some areas off Harrison Street are accessible, but much of the tow path and access trails are closed on both sides of Conant Street. For boaters, the Maple Street and Cory Street boat ramps are open.
Anglers can check for updates on the Wood County and Toledo Metroparks’ pages at: woodcountyparkdistrict.org and metroparkstoledo.com.
Fish reports and river condition updates for the Maumee and Sandusky Rivers can be found at wildohio.gov.
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When the Crooked Creek Conservation Club in Hartsgrove holds its Women in the Outdoors event May 9, there is a special offer of a half-day turkey hunt for up to 10 women. This would be worth the travel since Ashtabula County is one of the top turkey counties in Ohio.
This course is on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants will be matched with a guide and a hunting location and will learn the basics of calling and hunting turkey. This is a one-to-one experience. Participants will be required to show a valid hunting license and proof of a hunter safety course, as well as basic shotgun experience. Participants are required to supply their own camo clothing, shotgun and shells. This course will replace the participants’ two morning sessions. Guides and participants will meet at 5 a.m. at Crooked Creek Conservation Club, hunt until noon, and return for lunch and two afternoon sessions. Since space is limited, be sure to list this as your top choice if you want to participate.
A plethora of sessions are being offered during the event from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m.
One can visit the group on Facebook at Facebook.com/GrandRiverWITO
For additional information, contact Leesa Lafferre-Thomas at (440) 968-0150 [email protected] or Terri Herbert at (440) 298-1636 [email protected].
