Deer Wars: Once A Spike--Always A Spike?

At one time it was commonly believed that a spike buck was never going to be anything but a spike, but this is not as widely accepted today.  In my experience it is not ordinarily so and in fact I have not seen one instance of this in a lifetime of watching and photographing whitetail deer.  Neither have I seen an old buck that declined to the point that he only grew a spike rack, although this does seem possible as I have seen this in Pennsylvania elk.

For today's photos, I will post a series of a whitetail buck that was taken from 2007 through September of 2010.  There is absolutely no doubt that this is the same animal.

Buck Whitetail Fawn-Summer 2007

This deer was born in late May or early June and soon came to my attention as it accompanied its' mother to feed in a meadow on most evenings. 

He  grew a modest set of spikes in 2008.  Although I saw him  almost daily, I took few photographs as he was so small.  Most bucks in this area grow antlers ranging from spikes to three or four points during their second summer ( 1 year of age)  with a rare animal growing a six or eight point rack. It seems that most bucks disperse from their home range during the summer or autumn that they have their first substantial rack (many points and decent spread), but many of the spikes and four points, etc. will remain until the following spring or in unusual cases until the rut begins the following fall.

Buck With Modest Spikes In 2008

As it turned out this buck didn't disperse in 2009 and I got to document him as he grew a decent eight-point rack of an estimated 12" in spread. A few years before this had I seen a buck such as this I would have estimated it to be a large  1 1/2 yr old instead of one of 2 1/2 years.

Buck With 8 point rack In 2009

Contrary to all expectations the buck did not disperse that autumn.  He was shot with a rifle in early October, but survived the wound.  Only bow season was in at the time, so this was the result of a failed poaching attempt.

Bullet Wound 2009

It seems likely that this injury prevented him from dispersing that fall as the wound did have a profound effect on him.  He appeared to be very stiff for a long time after this and his neck never became large and swollen for the rut as is normal for whitetail bucks.  He did chase does to a limited extent in November and was in a brief fight, which may be seen in "Running Wild In Pennsylvania Elk Country", but he lost that to a much smaller buck.  Whatever the case, for the first time, I got to see a buck remain in his home territory during his second year.

He did disperse the following May. I had given up all hope of seeing him again, but he returned one evening in early September of 2010.

Buck With 8 Point Rack 2010

He and a buck that was one year younger were traveling together (both had dispersed at the same time). The bucks were still at the meadows at dawn on the following morning, but they left soon after sunup to never be seen again in that area.

I have documented numerous other cases of small bucks eventually growing much larger racks over a period of years, but in the other cases these are bucks that dispersed into my area of operations when they left their home range and I have not been able to photograph another buck from the time he was a fawn until he was over three years old.

Eventually I hope to discuss what I consider to be the major factors in determining antler size and why I think drastic herd reduction is not  the panacea for growing larger bucks that many proclaim it to be.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Deer Wars: Do Antler Restrictions Work?

Dr. Gary Alt was responsible for a lot of changes in Pennsylvania's deer management program during his tenure as chief of the deer management program, but the two features that drew the most attention were his herd reduction program and antler restrictions.  Of the two ideas, antler restrictions was the one that gained the most approval by Pennsylvania's deer hunters, but one still hears some discontent about them at times.

First we must consider if they work.  In my experience they definitely do, as todays' photographs will illustrate, and I can show case after case of similar examples.  This is a buck that I first photographed after rifle deer season of 2011.  This particular photo was taken on the day after Christmas, which was also the first day of the flintlock deer season.

Yearling Spike Buck: Canon 7D-Canon 300mm f2.8- ISO 400 1/400 sec. f 3.5

Before antler restrictions were implemented it is likely this photo would not have been taken as there is a high possibility  he would have been shot during the traditional two week buck season as bucks with spikes 3" or more in length were legal.  As it happened he lived to grow a larger rack as the photo below illustrates.

Same Buck - 2 1/2 yrs. of age: Canon 5DMK II-Canon 500mm f 4- ISO 1000 1/1000 sec. f  4

Some agree that the buck is bigger, but say he is still not a trophy so what is the point?  I for one believe that anything that contributes to keeping a buck alive is a good thing.  While habitat quality and genetics are important to a certain extent--age of the animal is also extremely important.  I have documented one buck that was a small spike in his first year with antlers, a modest 8 point in his second, and an impressive 8 point in his last.

The fallacy of Alt's view of deer management was that he believed these deer should be growing larger racks sooner.  To a certain extent he is right, but only to a certain extent.  Drastically reducing the deer herd in the hopes that those that remain will be larger is absurd, but it is even more absurd to claim that we had better quality bucks before antler restrictions and that antler restrictions will damage the genetics of the herd.  Some are still so hung up on the concept of getting "their buck" each year that they would be perfectly happy to kill a spike and deeply resent having to pass up the little bucks.

Perhaps the poorest argument I ever heard against antler restrictions was penned by a well know outdoor writer who was upset because restrictions eliminated the surprise factor from buck hunting.  In his view one had to look at the deer so much to determine if it was legal that he knew exactly what he had gotten before he walked up to the deer if the shot was successful.  There is of course cases, perhaps many, where determining the legality of the buck does cost the hunter a shot, but in many if not most cases it is a shot that would have been better not taken anyway, and anyway as I see it the important thing is keeping as many bucks as possible alive to be at least one step closer to maturity.

I for one do not intend to ever kill another buck, but I would much rather see a deer herd in which a significant portion of the bucks live to reach maturity, which is the case at places like Shenandoah National Park.  That doesn't seem possible in hunting country, but it is much better to have a significant crop of 2 1/2 year old bucks coming on that is comprised of a large number of decent bucks of six to eight points or more, than for most of the bucks sighted to be spikes and four or six points.

Watch for more on deer management issues as we continue the "Deer Wars" segment from time to time. 

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

PA Deer Season: Recalling The Past

Mature Whitetail Buck

 As Thanksgiving week comes to an end, the human population of Pennsylvania's rural areas reaches a yearly high with a large influx of deer hunters anticipating the opening of rifle deer season on Monday.  The air resounds with rifle shots, as hunters sight their rifles in and at night spotlights flicker in the air and across the fields and woodlands as hunters scout for whitetails by use of artificial light.  Persons may spotlight for deer until 11:00 p.m., but may not posses firearms while doing so, may not cast the rays of lights on buildings or livestock, and may not attempt to kill a deer in such a manner.  They are not allowed to spotlight during rifle deer season.The taking of wildlife by use of artificial light is commonly known as "jacklighting"and is a common violation.

Deer Killed by "Jacklighters"

PGC Officer With Rifle Seized From Jacklighters

 During my years as a Deputy Conservation Officer for the PGC, this was the "busy" period of the year and Thanksgiving week usually brought a lot of law enforcement work dealing with persons who couldn't wait until deer season to kill a deer.  There was seldom a year went by that several violators were not apprehended killing deer while spotlighting during Thanksgiving week.  Once deer season came in, the most common offenses were failure to tag a harvested animal as required by law, hunting over bait, hunting by use of motorized vehicle, and various safety related violations.

Violator Prepares To Shoot Deer From Vehicle With Modern Rifle In Blackpowder  Season

Things have really changed since I began hunting in the mid-1960s.  At that time there was two weeks of bucks only season, followed by two or three days of artlessness deer season.  By the time I quit hunting in 1997 or 1998, the taking of antlerless deer had been liberalized to a certain extent, with bonus tags being issued in many years.

2000 saw the introduction of a three day flintlock season for antlerless deer , which was increased to a full week the following year. In addition a three day rifle antlerless season was established for junior and senior hunters. disabled persons, and active duty military.

Things really changed with the implementation of concurrent buck and doe season in 2001 and antler restrictions in 2002. The early flintlock season was expanded to include the use of in-line muzzle loaders that year as well.   Since then deer numbers have plummeted in many parts of the state as has the number of hunters, but even with that the yearly deer kill is quite large.

While the "deer wars" had been going on to a certain extent for years, this marked the period that they accelerated to the heights of the recent past.  The controversy continues to this day with some claiming the herd is still out of control and damaging the environment, while others firmly believe that deer numbers are too low and the lack of deer is leading to the death of the sport of hunting.

Whatever the truth of the matter, it seems The Pennsylvania Game Commission has lost the hearts and minds of a significant portion of the hunting public.

Pennsylvania Deer Wars: My First Close-up Whitetail Photograph

Today we continue with the series on "The Pennsylvania Deer Wars", but as I like to say, "with no fighting yet". That; however,  will soon follow if we continue to explore this subject.  This takes up where the post of  March 16, 2011 left off.

Until the spring of 1974 my primary interaction with whitetail deer was either hunting or observing them, although I did have a strong desire to photograph them.  Since I was operating on a shoe-string budget I got the Minolta SRT 101, with 50mm F1.7 normal lens in early May of that year and waited a few weeks until I had more funds before I purchased the Spiratone 400mm.  What a thrill it was to look through the view finder at distant subjects. Now birds and animals were no longer barely visible spots in the finder.  It is hard to describe the excitement I felt at this point--it was even difficult to sleep at night with thoughts of prospective encounters with wildlife running through my mind.

Minolta SRT 101 and Spiratone 400mm F 6.3: Photo by W.Hill

On one fine spring morning I left our family farm and walked to a remote mountain farm where an old barn was still standing.  This was ideal whitetail habitat with excellent prospects for photo opportunities during the entire trip, but I saw no deer until I got to the barn.  When I came around one corner of the barn, a young whitetail doe ran out of the barnyard into the nearby woods, then turned and paused to look at me for a few seconds.  With heart pounding, I brought the camera to eye level and fired a few frames before she bounded away.

Young Whitetail Doe-The First Close-up Photograph: Photo by W.Hill

I was using Ektachrome 100 slide film and the 400mm lens without a tripod, which required an exposure of 1/125 sec. at f6.3, and it is difficult to hand-hold a 400mm steady enough to get acceptably sharp photos at 1/125 sec., especially in the days before image stabilization, Needless to say the photographs were not all that great, but I was so thrilled to finally have a close-up photo of a deer that I didn't even notice that they were not very sharp.  It would not be until the DSLR age that I would become obsessed with sharpness and the use of premium lenses and tripods. 


This was the first of thousands of photos I would take with SLR/DSLR cameras and telephoto lenses.  The photo below shows a mature doe and was taken this past winter with a Canon 7D and 300mm F2.8 telephoto, and what a world of difference there is. She was photographed less than 75 yards from where I took the photo in 1974 and there is a fair probability that she is a descendant of the young doe that I captured on film that day.

Adult Doe Photographed In Same Area Almost 37 years Later: Canon 7D 300mm F2.8

It would be interesting to mount the 400mm Spiratone on the 7D and see how it performs with this camera while mounted on a high end tripod.  This can be done quite cheaply as those lenses utilized a screw on T mount that adapted it to any interchangeably lens SLR and these adapters are still available.  I am certain that the results would not begin to compare with modern professional equipment, but one must consider the price of the lens and high end lenses such as the Canon L series are forbiddingly expensive and like the price of gasoline seem to become more so by the day.

So at this point, any involvement in deer wars was simply struggling to learn how to hunt and photograph them, but these interests would lead my brother Coy and I to become involved in the fight to protect the whitetail deer and other wildlife.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill

Pennsylvania Deer Wars: Should The Cougar Be Re-introduced?

Fawn Nursing, July 2005

 I have mentioned the Pennsylvania Deer Wars in several posts, but have not actually given a definition of them to date, as I assume that most readers are aware as to the issues involved, but for those that are not I will explain in a grossly oversimplified manner. (I hope to expound on this in much greater detail in the future)

One camp contends that there are too many deer in Pennsylvania for the natural habitat to support. This results in over-browsing by deer, which destroys many species of trees, wildflowers and other plants that are essential for food and cover for both deer and many other species of wildlife. In short, too many deer destroys the habitat and causes populations of competing species to decline.

The other camp insists that the deer herd has been reduced too much by a herd reduction program which began with the appointment of Dr. Gary Alt as head of Pennsylvania's deer program in 1999. Alt's program featured concurrent buck and doe seasons, an October blackpowder and Jr., Sr. citizens antlerless deer season, along with antler restrictions. Some contend that the program has impacted deer numbers so severely that Pennsylvania deer hunting has been destroyed.

In light of this, it was interesting to read a letter to the editor In the April 2, 2011 edition of "Endeavor News" (the full article is available to be read by the general public in two weeks) .  Entitled "Nature Out Of Balance", it is by Christopher Spatz, President of the Cougar Rewilding Foundation. This was in reference to a recent announcement by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the Eastern Cougar is officially extinct. (To see the NFWS release in its' entirety, click Here.)

Spatz makes the case that,"the extinction of the cougar has tolled a death-knell for eastern ecosystems". He goes on to say, "The cougar’s extermination in the East imperils the habitat of animals such as the endangered Karner Blue butterfly and the declining New England cottontail rabbit because of overbrowsing by superabundant whitetailed deer. Many plant species, including trilliums, lady’s slippers and wild American ginseng, are at risk from uncontrolled deer herbivory that threatens forest regeneration, rare plants and habitat for wildlife.

The potential collapse of our restored deciduous forests is the biggest underreported ecological crisis developing in the eastern third of the country. Step into your nearest woodlot, state or national forest. Notice the deer browse-line five-feet high, the missing seedlings and saplings, the carpets of ferns and invasive weeds that suppress tree-growth. Our forests are standing graveyards."

From there he goes on to make a case for the re-introduction of the cougar in the east. I can't help but wonder how the deer oriented members of the outdoor community are going to react to this one, if this letter is widely disseminated, and he has likely sent it to a lot of newspapers.

From reading this letter, it sounds as though the woods is over ran with deer and no one is doing anything about it, yet according to the Pennsylvania Game Commissions figures, 316,240 deer were harvested in the 2010-11 seasons (PGC News Release #031-11).  There is also no mention of the toll that black bears and coyotes have on fawn populations,or the impact of animals killed illegaly yet the re-introduction of the cougar is needed to save the forest!

Coyotes Impact Whitetail Deer Populations

Black Bears Also Contribute To Fawn Mortality

Illegal Killing Of Deer Further Decimates Populations

 It is likely that the letter is of necessity a greatly condensed version of the organization's position, but after reading it I can't help but wonder if they have any comprehension of the politics of wildlife management in Pennsylvania, or the attitude of many if not most rural residents toward a cougar reintroduction.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill

Pennsylvania Deer Wars: A Different Perspective-A Life Changing Event

Today we continue our discussion of the "Pennsylvania Deer Wars".  As of yet I have written little about any war, which led one reader to ask just what the "Deer Wars" are.  This will become clear as I continue the series, but for now I continue with exploring the factors that led my brother Coy and I to develop a strong lifelong interest in the outdoors in general and whitetail deer in particular.  Along the way, both of us experienced a sea change in attitude about wildlife, with the progression being gradual at times and abrupt at others.

Coy and I were ideally positioned to become totally immersed in the outdoors as we lived in one of the remotest areas of Fulton County, Pennsylvania.  The nearest neighbors were a farmer and a hunting club, both of which were at least one-half mile away. Other than that it was fields and undeveloped mountain land from our farm to the east side of Meadow Grounds Mountain near McConnellsburg, which is a distance of many miles.

Typical Fulton County Backwoods Farmland In Early 1950s: Photo by Alma Hill

One of my earliest memories was when the farmhouse was connected to the electric grid sometime before I started school,  but we didn't have telephone service or TV while I lived there.  Our family and my grandparents on my father's side shared the same house, and my grandmother had strong religious beliefs about television and would not allow a TV set  in the house, as she believed that television was a bad moral influence and led to a lot  of "sinnin".  One felt inferior and left out of things when you went to school and your classmates discussed the latest episodes of their favorite TV shows, but the plus side to this was that one tended to to become involved in activities  that required intellectual and physical effort as one could not come home at the end of the school day and watch television for entertainment, but rather you were forced to provide your own entertainment. As a result I became a voracious reader, hunter, fisherman, and student of traditional Appalachian music.

My initial interest in whitetails came from hearing the deer hunting stories and seeing the deer that the hunters brought in, but things really took off in 1964 when I somehow came into possession of an old, ragged copy of "The Deer Hunter's Bible" by George Laycock. I read it from cover to cover and then re-read certain sections, and then read them again and again! This book really fired my interested in deer hunting and sparked an interest in deer watching.  When weather and chores permitted, it was common to come home from school, and head out for a walk through deer country in the last hour of so of the day when deer activity was at its' peak.  When I got back to the house, I usually settled down with a snack and scanned the pages of "The Deer Hunter's Bible", dreaming about the coming deer season.  In time one wanted more reading material (we also read the outdoor magazines of the day), and we came across an advertisement that was to eventually change the focus of my life, but like many life altering things, it didn't seem significant at the time and was initially very inexpensive.

It seemed so innocuous!  For the sum of 25 cents one could receive "The World Of The Whitetail Deer" by Leonard Lee Rue III, if they would only agree to join the Outdoor Life Book Club, and buy a few more selections during the year at the regular club price.  In time the book arrived, and I was fascinated by Mr. Rue's photographs and writing.  The photographs were all in black and white and some were taken in deer pens, but I was in awe!  How did one do this?  There was little or no information easily available about photographing wildlife at that time and he did not describe what equipment he used.  I may be wrong, but I feel certain that the photographs for this book were taken before 35mm SLR cameras and telephoto lenses were easily available.  From this point on it seemed a given to me that anyone would want to photograph deer "like Leonard did", but I was amazed to find that this was not the case when several years later I excitedly stuck one of my first b&w prints of a deer in my grandfather's face and excitedly informed him that here was an actual deer photograph, but he just said something like "yeah" in a distracted way and went on with what he was doing.  Obviously, deer and deer photography did not rank very high on his list of priorities.

Whitetail Doe Portrait-Grandfather Could Not Have Cared Less!: Photo by W. Hill

The book dealt with the life cycle of the deer and introduced me to the concept that deer were capable of damaging their habitat.  It had photographs of browse lines and of starving deer in winter---something of which I was not aware until that time.  I do not recall if it was in this book or in a later magazine article that Mr. Rue told about giving a presentation in this time period, and after it was over a man approached him and whispered something to the effect that Rue had to admit that he took a lot of his photographs in deer pens.  As I recall, Rue responded in a whisper, "yeah, don't tell anybody".  The point he was making was that he never tried to hide this and pointed it out plainly, yet the gentleman missed that entirely, so he had a bit of fun at his expense.  If Rue had to photograph a deer in a pen to show certain physical characteristics, or behavior he would do so, but he was going to be up front about it.  Mr. Rue almost certainly has to be considered the founding father of modern wildlife photography and has had an impact on it equivalent to that which Elvis Presley had on popular music or Bill Monroe had on traditional music.  During that period, it appeared that a high percentage of all wildlife photographs published in American outdoor magazines were taken by him.  Eventually this changed as he inspired an entire generation of followers, which to a certain extent turned into competitors, but he continued to be the leader in the field for many years.

As for me, I was on fire to photograph deer, but I didn't know what equipment one needed, didn't know how to find out, and didn't have the financial resources to purchase equipment anyway.  Out of desperation I tried to work with the equipment at hand, which was an Ansco 120mm roll film camera and a small point and shoot camera of unknown name, which took 127 roll film.  Both had a fixed shutter speed and aperture, and wide angle lens.  I knew up front that one had to get close and the results were disappointing to say the least as the wide angle actually made the subject appear to be further away.  In the next two photos we see just how impossible, with the first being a deer some distance away.  The photo is severely cropped, but the deer is just a small speck at the tip of the white arrow. (It had its' tail up as it prepared to run).

Deer At Distance With 127 Roll Film Camera

I tried to get closer and spent some time stalking deer along the edges of cornfields and meadows in late evening, but soon found that this didn't work either. This camera took flash bulbs, which plugged into a socket on the front of the camera and one only got one shot before the deer exploded in flight.

Doe And Fawn In 1969: 127 Camera with flash

The fingerprints and scratching in the print above was done when the film was commercially processed, which says something for the quality control of that particular lab. (after scanning I did crop and enhance the photo, but the damage is still there.) At any rate, it was now clear that these cameras were not an option and my interest in photography was put on hold for a time.

Today in the information age, if is hard to comprehend how difficult it was to attain certain types of information at that point in time.  None of the outdoor magazines had any information about photography that I could find until about 1973 when I read an article in Outdoor Life where someone explained the concept of film speed, which was then known as ASA instead of ISO, as it is called today. I began working at Central Fulton School District in late winter of 1973 and at one point noticed one of the teachers reading a magazine which turned out to be "Modern Photography".  I soon learned there was another called, "Popular Photography" and in no time at all I was devouring everything I could find in these magazines.  The magazines provided the long sought after information and it became clear that one needed a 35mm single lens reflex camera known as an SLR and an assortment of telephoto lenses to get those long sought after portraits of whitetails. Now I did have funds to purchase equipment, but at the munificent salary of $4,200 per year one had to buy the most economical lenses and cameras possible, and one didn't buy an entire outfit, but rather bought it one piece at a time.  The story of how I built my initial outfit is mostly for another day as it is quite interesting in and of itself, but for now suffice it to say that I acquired a Minolta SRT101 35mm camera in the spring of 1974. The camera with normal lens sold for about $250 and I also bought a Spiratone 400mm f6.3 telephoto lens (a store brand lens sold by Spiratone of Flushing, NY., which I believe was actually made by Sigma), which cost $50 for the standard version and somewhat more for a multi-coated version.

Minolta SRT 101 & 400mm Spiratone F6.3 Telephoto(37 years Old): Photo by W.Hill 2011

This rig could not begin to compete with the equipment that we use today, but it finally gave me the means to photograph wildlife, which in turn  led to a complete change in my view of wildlife and wildlife related issues, but at the time I had no idea as to where this interest in photography would lead. I had not yet heard of  any great controversy about deer or "Deer Wars".  Little did I realize that in a few years I would be a foot soldier, so as to speak, for the Pennsylvania Game Commission and as such would be involved with deer and deer issues for the remainder of my working life.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Pennsylvania Deer Wars: A Sea Change In Attitude Begins For Me

I briefly mentioned my father-in-law in the February 11, 2011 post, "Pennsylvania Deer Wars: A Different Perspective-The Early Years" ,and will expand a bit more on his ideas today.

Father-In-Law John McQuade, An avid hunter and fisherman

He was an avid hunter and fisherman, but was not someone who enjoyed killing for the sake of killing, although he was a deadly marksman and unsurpassed woodsman who had the capability and opportunity to kill large numbers of animals, yet he chose not to do so. He spent every day afield in rifle buck season, yet only killed one buck in the time that I knew him, although he had the opportunity to kill several each year.  He did this simply because he enjoyed being afield, and hunting for a buck was his excuse for doing so.  He said he was looking for a trophy buck, but he set his standards so impossibly high that he only killed one in the time that I knew him, which was the last year that we hunted at the camp where he was caretaker. He shot a five-point on the first day, which was completely out of character for him, but the camp was sold sometime after season and that chapter in life came to a close. I think he knew this was coming and wanted to kill one final buck there, so for once he did not hold out for the unattainable trophy.  The bottom line was that he did more deer hunting than most people, but killed very few and enjoyed his hunting more than anyone I knew.  His favorite sport was hunting mature Eastern Wild Turkey Gobblers and no one I knew was better at bagging one than he, yet he always stopped hunting when he took the one gobbler that the law allowed.  He grew up when all turkey hunting was done in the fall and hated spring gobbler hunting with a passion and called it, "hunting turkeys in the summertime".  He thought that hunting turkeys during the mating season was too easy.

The point of telling this is that I soon realized that he was seeing a lot more wildlife than I was, and my attitude slowly began to shift as I pondered on the situation, realized part of the reason why this was, and eventually found myself approaching some things in a different manner.

I was a dedicated woodchuck or "groundhog" hunter from the time I began hunting, until the time I stopped somewhere in the mid-1990s.  Like hunting deer, I thought I would hunt groundhogs as long as I was physically able.  There was nothing I liked better than getting on a stand overlooking meadows with large woodchuck populations and spending an evening shooting groundhogs.  One shot at the first groundhog that appeared, and in areas with good clover or alfalfa hay, which is prime woodchuck habitat, it was common to shoot several animals during the course of an evening or morning.  In most cases, other chucks would emerge to feed within fifteen minutes or so and one would have another chance.  We were taught from an early age that shooting this animals was a good thing as they made holes in the fields that caused injury to livestock, damaged farm equipment, and cut into the farmer's profits, by consuming forage that he could otherwise use for feed. (For more on this subject read Coy Hill's post "Groundhogs And Mid-Winter Thoughts" at Country Captures)

Woodchuck Hunting Habitat

 I remember an evening hunt which took place in the area pictured above, in which I decided to not shoot the first groundhog that appeared, but rather wait for awhile and see what appeared if I didn't fire my rifle. ( In the interest of full disclosure I must state that the color photos used to illustrate most of this post were not taken at that time, but rather in 2005-2006, after I was using a DSLR and good quality lenses, but they are representative of the wildlife that I saw that evening, and on many other occasions, when I didn't start firing at the first legal animal that appeared."

Eastern Woodchuck In A Marksman's Favorite Position

Soon after getting on stand on this particular evening, a woodchuck emerged to feed, but I held my fire and soon it was joined by several others.  Before long a turkey appeared, picking through the meadow for food.

Turkey Feeding In A Summer Meadow

As it grew later, deer also arrived  to feed in the cool of the evening, and I sat there absorbing the beauty of the surroundings and the wildlife, but I was there to hunt groundhogs and soon it was time to get down to business and all of the wildlife fled at the blast of my rifle.

Whitetail Doe And Fawn At Meadow's Edge

This evening still stands out  vividly to me over 30 years later. I don't recall  how many groundhogs I shot that evening, but I will never forget that by exercising restraint,  I saw a lot of wildlife I would not have  otherwise seen.  This was only the beginning of my attitude shift and in time I came to realize more and more, the lesson learned that evening, and to take it to heart.  At this point you are asking, "what does this have to do with deer and deer wars", but hopefully this will become clear as I pursue this subject further in the months to come.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill

Pennsylvania Deer Wars: A Different Perspective-The Early Years

It seems there are almost as many points of view about whitetail deer and deer management as there are people who are interested in deer, and most are quite passionate about their point of view.  I am somewhat unusual in the sense that I have been involved with whitetail deer throughout my life and during that time have seen almost every type of situation involving deer that one can imagine.

I was born in 1950,and grew up in Fulton County, Pennsylvania, which at the time was a remote farming oriented community in the mountains of southcentral Pennsylvania, only a short distance from the Maryland border.  This was before the influx of commuters and retirees from the Baltimore, Washington, D.C. area, or the establishment of factories to provide employment, so most residents were small farmers, worked in agricultural related jobs, or at the Letterkenny Ordnance Depot, in Franklin County.  Deer and deer hunting were one of the major subjects of conversation among the men in the community, and some of my earliest recollections are of these stories.  My grandfather could recall when he saw his first deer track, and as deer season was in, he and some companions tracked the deer to a nearby mountain, where they flushed a deer or two and killed one of them.  At the time deer were so rare that few owned deer rifles, but rather hunted with shotguns and rifled slugs, which they called "pumpkin" balls.

Fulton County Deer Hunting: Circa late 1950s, early 1960s

Deer were more common by the time I became aware of them, but they were very wild and shy.  If they were feeding in a distant field, they usually ran if they saw you traveling between buildings, or even slammed a door. Most men hunted deer, there was little posted ground, and hunting pressure was intense.  There was usually heavy gunfire, when dawn broke on the first day of deer season, which was bucks only at that time. Perhaps the best deer hunter I knew said that one's best chance of killing a buck was before 10:00 am on the first day and after that the probability decreased rapidly.  There was still a fair chance of getting a buck on the second day of the season, but if one had not killed one by the end of the third day, there was little chance of bagging a buck that year.

Bucks only needed 3" spikes or longer to be legal, and the vast majority of the bucks were killed during their first year with antlers, which in most cases were small indeed.

A Legal Buck Before Antler Restrictions

A Better Than Average 6 Point For This Time Period

At times one did see respectable bucks and this was usually before season, during the rut when they would bee seen chasing does or emerge from the woods to eat in late evening.  Bucks such as the one pictured below were very rare and a serious deer hunter could only hope to take one or two of this size during a lifetime of hunting.

A Large Buck For Fulton County At This Time Period

 I realize many will say that this is not a large buck and it is not compared to those from certain areas, but it was exceptional for that area at that time. (Fulton County has always been known for small, thin antlered deer, in comparison to states such as Iowa, etc.)

Many of the locals had little to no respect for wildlife laws, and believed that the government had no right to tell one when they could shoot deer, or how many they could kill (They conveniently forgot that deer were almost eliminated from Pennsylvania because of a lack of hunting regulations).This attitude was not quite as bad as it sounds in some cases, as many persons actually acted in a fairly restrained manner and did not kill unlimited amounts of deer, but rather decided how many deer the family  "needed"  for a year's supply of deer meat.   Another method commonly used in "gang" hunting, where large numbers of hunters co-operated in driving and shooting deer, was for hunters to divide the meat among all participants at the end of the hunt regardless as to who had shot the animal.  In this type of hunting, it was also common for one hunter to shoot multiple deer if a herd was pushed past him.  Some were quite proud of how they could "pile them up", and it was common to hear stories of one person shooting four or more deer in such situations.  Often it was a doe with her twins fawns from the past spring and if the hunter shot the doe first, the fawns were basically clueless and stood around while the shooter took care of business.  Ironically I can well recall an individual who vehemently opposed  shooting deer out of season, but saw nothing wrong with putting down as many does as possible in doe season even though the limit was one deer.

I never participated in a large gang hunt of any type, but did help drive the woodlot on the family farm, where one or two people waited on stand, while one or two did the driving.  I never shot a deer while heading a drive, or while driving, and soon drifted completely away from this type of activity, preferring to hunt alone, either by sitting on watch or by still hunting.

I began reading the Pennsylvania Game News in the mid-1960s and soon learned there were, "too many" deer, which was a refrain I was doomed to hear for many years.  In a few years, I met my future father-in-law and was amazed to learn from him that the Game Commission had killed all of the deer off, the big bucks were all killed off, and people were down to killing "the little tittie suckers".  He was caretaker for an  estate, which bordered a large hunting club and he took me with him on the first day of season in 1969.  Shortly after dawn several does arrived followed by a six-point buck and I killed him.  Before we could get out of the tree stand to check on the deer another herd with two medium-sized bucks arrived and I could not believe it when he would not shoot one(he refused to shoot a small buck and would shoot one yearling doe each year to provide meat for his family).  We started down the ladder once they left and he suddenly froze and said there goes a peach of a buck (he got a glimpse of it as it ran along the top of the ridge below us).

The point in telling this is that I thought there were a lot of deer, and deer numbers were about right, while he was disillusioned and thought the deer herd was all but eradicated, and the PGC was saying there were too many deer, yet  we had both  taken part in a situation, which was by far the greatest deer hunting experience I had experienced until that point, and in fact may have equaled but never surpassed by the time I quit hunting almost thirty years later.

This then was the background that I came from, and the perspective from which I would view deer and deer management issues for the remainder of my life.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill