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| Great Horned Owl |
I see Eastern Wild Turkeys frequently, but seldom have a photo opportunity such as the following.
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| Mature Eastern Wild Turkey Gobblers |
For more Camera Critters photographs, Click Here!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Camera Critters: Rare Winter Wildlife Encounters
For today we feature two photographs of winter wildlife. The first one is of the Great Horned Owl, a species that I seldom see and have not photographed successfully until now. I was driving a backcountry road on the way to my favorite wildlife observation spot, when I noticed the owl flying from tree to tree. When he landed in a relatively open spot I took several photographs with the Canon 7D and the 300mm F2.8. with 2x Extender. The image is cropped severely, and would have been better had I been closer. I would also have preferred to not have the intervening limbs in the photograph, but from one point of view they may actually add to the photograph, as it tends to illustrate how elusive the species can be and helps create a mysterious, wild atmosphere..
A flock of gobblers was feeding, when a young whitetail deer that is just out of the frame to the left, jumped at the turkeys and momentarily startled one, causing it to leap high into the air. I have observed this behavior before, and in most cases it is a young deer that gets involved with the turkeys, most likely because they are more curious and playful than the adult animals. I have even seen deer chase turkeys around in circles. Turkeys are not actually afraid of deer and seldom leave the area when this happens.
For more Camera Critters photographs, Click Here!
Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill
For more Camera Critters photographs, Click Here!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Whitetail Deer Management In Pennsylvania and The Deer Wars
Most blogs listed in my favorite blogs list are outdoor photography oriented, and I have endeavored to keep photography as a major part of my effort, but I have recently added two issues oriented blogs to my favorites list and intend to add more of this type in the future.
It is no secret that the main purpose of launching this blog was to advocate ideas and present points of view about elk management that were not being openly discussed at the time, and as such it has been focused on elk perhaps more than any other species. With that being said, I would find it hard to choose between elk and whitetail deer, as to which is my favorite wild animal, but at the end of the day I suppose I would have to pick the whitetails. Perhaps it is because I grew up around them and they were those mysterious, elusive creatures that made the wild places seem wilder. Whatever the reason, there are few sights in nature that thrill me more than seeing a whitetail buck during the rut as he postures and chases does, or spotting a monster buck in velvet as he feeds at the edge of a lush summer meadow as dawn arrives or darkness falls, or simply watching a herd of does and fawns feeding in a meadow or browsing in the woodlands.
I first participated in deer hunting by helping drive the woodlot on the family farm, and I began hunting at about thirteen years of age with a Model 92 Winchester 38/40,which I used for one or two years , but I never shot a deer with it. My parents bought me a Winchester Model 88 .308 in 1965 and I turned into an extremely serious deer hunter. Between hunting, scouting, and year around deer watching, my initial attraction quickly turned into an addiction, which became even more pronounced when I purchased my first 35mm camera with telephoto lenses in 1974. Deer hunting was so important to me that I was absolutely sure I would be out there hunting as long as I was able to get one foot in front of the other. To the surprise of most of my friends, I abruptly quit hunting completely in 1998, but that is a story for another day.
I went to work for the Pennsylvania Game Commission as a maintenance worker in October of 1980 and I was very excited to be working for the agency. Now I was no longer just a sportsman, but the outdoors was my life's work. Within a short time I met a charismatic young officer, who had recently graduated from Ross Leffler School of Conservation, and was assigned to Fulton County as what was then referred to as a "Game Protector", This was the great Mark Crowder, who was in the process of recruiting a large force of Deputy Game Protectors, which he built into one of the largest and most effective deputy forces in the state. I went to work as a Deputy in May of 1982, and for a time my life revolved around the Pennsylvania Game Commission, as I did game lands maintenance work during the day and law enforcement on the weekends and sometimes during weekday evenings.
The vast majority of our law enforcement work was related to the whitetail deer as most of the illegal activity we encountered was people killing deer out of season, exceeding the lawful limit, or hunting by unlawful methods such as killing them at night by "spotlighting", which involves locating the deer with a light and then shooting it, hunting over bait, hunting by use of motorized vehicle, or failure to tag the animal after killing it. We also dealt with removing road-killed deer from the highways and were constantly fielding crop damage complaints from farmers. On the whole life was exciting and professionally rewarding. We were told our deer management program was the envy of the nation and our agency was second to none.
Things began to change sometime in the 1990s as I recall attending a meeting at the Southcentral Region Office in Huntingdon, where John Dzemyan, a Land Management Officer from The Northcentral Region, presented a program about deer management issues and the potential that deer had to damage their habitat. This was followed sometime later, by the appointment of Dr. Gary Alt as PGC deer biologist and in time (either 1999 or 2000) we were summoned to Huntingdon where he presented his thoughts on deer management to us. At that time he advanced the point of view that deer were "the biggest problem facing the forest today". I recall him making a statement to the effect that the deer overpopulation problem began in the northwoods of Pennsylvania and spread through the state like a raging forest fire.
Things never seemed the same after that day. In effect we were working day and night to protect the deer, and doing habitat work to benefit them, but it seemed we had done our jobs too well and instead had contributed to the creation of a serious problem, at least if one believed the situation was as Dr. Alt. portrayed it.
This time period marked the escalation of the discussion over deer management in Pennsylvania into what would become know as "The Deer Wars", with one side saying that deer had wrecked the habitat and numbers needed to be drastically reduced and maintained at lower levels, while those opposed to this accused Alt's supporters of wanting to kill all of the deer to please farmers, foresters, The Audubon Society, and auto insurance companies. This controversy continues to this day, with each side saying the deer wars must end, but that doesn't seem likely anytime soon as neither side seems inclined to give up the fight.
This brings us to the point of today's post, which is to draw your attention to a blog co-authored by former PGC board member Roxane Palone, her husband Vince, and Bob Frye, The Tribune- Review outdoor editor. The blog, titled "Skunk In The Woodpile", is so named because one staunch opponent of Dr. Alt's deer management program was a radio personality and news paper columnist, who constantly berated the PGC about their deer management policy, and claimed, "there is a skunk in the woodpile somewhere".
Mrs. Palone served eight and one half years as a member and of the PGC board of Commissioners, during which she served a term as president of the board. During her tenure she was best known for her support of Dr. Alt's policies, and for advocating the legalization of hunting with the Atlatl (a stick used to launch a 7-8' spear). As such Mrs. Palone has been a lightning rod of controversy for those who oppose the herd reduction program instituted by Dr. Alt. It seems this blog is mostly a combination of a defense of her position on deer management issues during her time as Commissioner, and a platform for Palone and her associates to speak out against the current move to rescind many aspects of Alt's policies, but this may be because deer management is currently at the center of attention once again. It is not a blog to read simply for pleasure, or just to gaze at beautiful photographs, but it is one of the best reads around if you are seriously interested in whitetail deer management in Pennsylvania, and want to gain an understanding of the point of view of an ardent supporter of Dr. Gary Alt and the deer herd reduction program.
Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill
It is no secret that the main purpose of launching this blog was to advocate ideas and present points of view about elk management that were not being openly discussed at the time, and as such it has been focused on elk perhaps more than any other species. With that being said, I would find it hard to choose between elk and whitetail deer, as to which is my favorite wild animal, but at the end of the day I suppose I would have to pick the whitetails. Perhaps it is because I grew up around them and they were those mysterious, elusive creatures that made the wild places seem wilder. Whatever the reason, there are few sights in nature that thrill me more than seeing a whitetail buck during the rut as he postures and chases does, or spotting a monster buck in velvet as he feeds at the edge of a lush summer meadow as dawn arrives or darkness falls, or simply watching a herd of does and fawns feeding in a meadow or browsing in the woodlands.
 | ||
| Mature Whitetail Buck During The Rut |
I went to work for the Pennsylvania Game Commission as a maintenance worker in October of 1980 and I was very excited to be working for the agency. Now I was no longer just a sportsman, but the outdoors was my life's work. Within a short time I met a charismatic young officer, who had recently graduated from Ross Leffler School of Conservation, and was assigned to Fulton County as what was then referred to as a "Game Protector", This was the great Mark Crowder, who was in the process of recruiting a large force of Deputy Game Protectors, which he built into one of the largest and most effective deputy forces in the state. I went to work as a Deputy in May of 1982, and for a time my life revolved around the Pennsylvania Game Commission, as I did game lands maintenance work during the day and law enforcement on the weekends and sometimes during weekday evenings.
The vast majority of our law enforcement work was related to the whitetail deer as most of the illegal activity we encountered was people killing deer out of season, exceeding the lawful limit, or hunting by unlawful methods such as killing them at night by "spotlighting", which involves locating the deer with a light and then shooting it, hunting over bait, hunting by use of motorized vehicle, or failure to tag the animal after killing it. We also dealt with removing road-killed deer from the highways and were constantly fielding crop damage complaints from farmers. On the whole life was exciting and professionally rewarding. We were told our deer management program was the envy of the nation and our agency was second to none.
Things began to change sometime in the 1990s as I recall attending a meeting at the Southcentral Region Office in Huntingdon, where John Dzemyan, a Land Management Officer from The Northcentral Region, presented a program about deer management issues and the potential that deer had to damage their habitat. This was followed sometime later, by the appointment of Dr. Gary Alt as PGC deer biologist and in time (either 1999 or 2000) we were summoned to Huntingdon where he presented his thoughts on deer management to us. At that time he advanced the point of view that deer were "the biggest problem facing the forest today". I recall him making a statement to the effect that the deer overpopulation problem began in the northwoods of Pennsylvania and spread through the state like a raging forest fire.
 |
| The Greatest Problem Facing The Forest Today according to Dr. Gary Alt |
This time period marked the escalation of the discussion over deer management in Pennsylvania into what would become know as "The Deer Wars", with one side saying that deer had wrecked the habitat and numbers needed to be drastically reduced and maintained at lower levels, while those opposed to this accused Alt's supporters of wanting to kill all of the deer to please farmers, foresters, The Audubon Society, and auto insurance companies. This controversy continues to this day, with each side saying the deer wars must end, but that doesn't seem likely anytime soon as neither side seems inclined to give up the fight.
This brings us to the point of today's post, which is to draw your attention to a blog co-authored by former PGC board member Roxane Palone, her husband Vince, and Bob Frye, The Tribune- Review outdoor editor. The blog, titled "Skunk In The Woodpile", is so named because one staunch opponent of Dr. Alt's deer management program was a radio personality and news paper columnist, who constantly berated the PGC about their deer management policy, and claimed, "there is a skunk in the woodpile somewhere".
Mrs. Palone served eight and one half years as a member and of the PGC board of Commissioners, during which she served a term as president of the board. During her tenure she was best known for her support of Dr. Alt's policies, and for advocating the legalization of hunting with the Atlatl (a stick used to launch a 7-8' spear). As such Mrs. Palone has been a lightning rod of controversy for those who oppose the herd reduction program instituted by Dr. Alt. It seems this blog is mostly a combination of a defense of her position on deer management issues during her time as Commissioner, and a platform for Palone and her associates to speak out against the current move to rescind many aspects of Alt's policies, but this may be because deer management is currently at the center of attention once again. It is not a blog to read simply for pleasure, or just to gaze at beautiful photographs, but it is one of the best reads around if you are seriously interested in whitetail deer management in Pennsylvania, and want to gain an understanding of the point of view of an ardent supporter of Dr. Gary Alt and the deer herd reduction program.
Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Camera Critters: Wildlife In The Snow
Here, the ground has been bare most of the winter, with only short periods of light snow cover, but this changed when about 5" of snow fell this week.
With snow on the ground, and more flakes falling from lake effect snow squalls, winter wildlife photography becomes very interesting. I especially like to film wildlife in falling snow, as video makes the falling snowflakes look very natural and lends a wild exciting look to the footage, but it is harder to portray the falling snow well with still images. These are two of the better images that I was able to capture during a heavy snow squall yesterday morning.
Hopefully there will be more opportunities to pursue this type of photography as more snow is forecast for next week.
Photos taken with Canon 40-D and 100-400mm L lens.
For more Camera Critters photos, Click Here!
Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard C. Hill
With snow on the ground, and more flakes falling from lake effect snow squalls, winter wildlife photography becomes very interesting. I especially like to film wildlife in falling snow, as video makes the falling snowflakes look very natural and lends a wild exciting look to the footage, but it is harder to portray the falling snow well with still images. These are two of the better images that I was able to capture during a heavy snow squall yesterday morning.
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| Whitetail Doe In Falling Snow |
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| Mature Eastern Wild Turkey Gobbler |
Photos taken with Canon 40-D and 100-400mm L lens.
For more Camera Critters photos, Click Here!
Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard C. Hill
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Pennsylvania Elk And Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism! If one reads the outdoor press, it is not hard to gather the impression that it must be a very bad thing, but what exactly is it? It turns out that it is assigning human or personal characteristics to something that is not human. The most common form of anthropomorphism is the naming of animals. Two events that have sparked recent discussions are the killing of "Bozo" the bear in the Poconos and the death of Bull 36, also commonly known as "Fred " "Fred Jr.", or "Freddy".
One argument against naming wild animals advocates that it is demeaning to a noble big game animal to give it a human name. That may sound reasonable, but in many if not most cases, the same person who objects to naming, will have no problem with seeing the same animal fitted with a bright yellow numbered radio collar and metal ear tags and referring to them as Bull 36, 8A, etc. True they are not assigning human attributes to the animal, but is this not destroying the wild, natural appearance of the animal and detracting from the experience of interacting with it, whether it be by observation, photography, or hunting?
We will concentrate on Pennsylvania Elk in this discussion as certain individual animals are seen repeatedly by large numbers of humans, which quite naturally leads to naming the animal. There really isn't a lot of alternatives. Describing a sighting of an animal with a numbered collar is simple, but in other cases it can get quite complicated in a hurry. Some animals are also easily described by certain physical characteristics such as the bull that was known as "Long Royal", because he had exceptionally long royal points, which made him instantly recognizable to the experienced elk watcher, or "Clubhorn" because of a deformed antler, which was caused by a damaged pedicel in his younger years.
Others have been named for spots that they frequent during certain times of year, such as "The Test Hill Bull", which favored Test Hill as his range during the rut, but when we get past these options, there is not much left except to got into a detailed description of the animal, or to take the simple expedient of giving it a human name. The following is an example: "Say, did you see that big 7x7 that has them extra white flanks an one horn that kinda comes out to the side a bit further than the other, (I think it's on his right side, jist wait till I see him again to be sure), and he walks like he owns the whole hill." Somebody else speaks up and says, "lets make it simple, Bill took the first good picture I saw of him, so let's call him "Bill" So Bill it is and the name may stick or that group may run into another group that has another name for the animal and decide that they like it better, but in the end the animal has a name that most veteran elk enthusiasts recognize and use.
What could be objectionable about this, other than prejudice against giving wild animals human names ? The biggest problem for the hunting community is that a large number of people have identified this animal and in many cases feel a strong bond with it. It is no longer just "another elk", but it is "Fred", etc, and as such there is the potential for a lot of strong feelings if the animal is killed or otherwise meets with misfortune. It is no secret that the PGC prefers that wildlife are not named or singled out for attention, and that every elk or deer is just another animal in the woods that no one is particularly concerned about, except when considering the welfare of the species as a whole.
This may be a logical position, but is it realistic? I recall reading several years ago, about a research project that involved close contact with whitetail deer by the researchers. They were specifically forbidden to name any of the animals, but ended up doing so in spite of the written policy. The researchers felt a great sense of loss when the project ended, and some agonized over how the animals would survive in the future. In the case of Pennsylvania elk, some advocate eliminating close contact between humans and elk as much as possible, so that naming and bonding does not occur. This may all be good and well, but do we want our elk watching experience to be limited to sitting at areas like the Dent's Run Viewing Area, and viewing elk so far away in most cases that one needs binoculars or spotting scopes to see significant detail and even the most powerful camera lenses are not adequate.
Which is more beneficial to society as a whole, a limited hunt where only a few persons can participate each year, or a viable elk tourism industry, which has the potential to provide a significant boost to the area economy and could provide a world class experience to thousands upon thousands of people? Fortunately the powers that be need not choose between one or the other, but can improve the situation to a great extent by increasing the size of the No Hunt Zone.
As the situation now stands, it doesn't seem likely that another bull will replace ""Freddy" as the town icon anytime soon. Some like to think that he was so cunning that he remained in the No Kill Zone to purposefully evade hunters, but it seems more likely that his physical condition contributed more to his survival than any awareness that he was in danger if he entered certain areas. He still ventured into the back country in the Saddle area in 2001, and according to reports he spent a lot of time in Blue Sky Campground. This was at the time of the first hunt, and there were rumors of plots to drive him from the No Hunt Zone into areas open to hunting, but this never happened. Either no one attempted this strategy, or if they did they may have found it to be impossible to drive an animal that was totally trusting of humans. I never saw him in the Saddle area again after 2001 and in fact did not seem him during the rut of 2002 or 2003, if I remember correctly. This seems to be the period in which he started to spend much of his time in Benezette. I had only a limited amount of time to spend in elk country during the rut, and he had already returned to the lawns in town by the time I arrived. At that point I never drove through the part of Benezette that lies to the left of Winslow Hill Road as one is going up the hill. I did find him on the Hill, during the rut, from 2004 on, and while he still seemed to be healthy, he was likely feeling the early tinges of the arthritis that was to plague him in his later years and was not traveling as far, and as I never saw him outside the No Hunt Zone after 2001. It is entirely possible that the arthritis actually enabled him to live a longer life by confining his travels to the No Hunt Zone.
"Kisser", his heir apparent, was his sidekick for several years, but gravitated more and more toward the Devil's Elbow area as he reached maturity. He usually could be found somewhere from the area of the Elk Country Visitor Center to Devil's Elbow during the rut, and was often found in the area of the P&N Coal Company building near the intersection of Winslow Hill Road and Summersun Road. He began spending more time in the Devil's Elbow area after the rut, and during the winter and spring, rather than returning to Benezette, and that lead to his downfall during this year's elk season.
Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard C. Hill
One argument against naming wild animals advocates that it is demeaning to a noble big game animal to give it a human name. That may sound reasonable, but in many if not most cases, the same person who objects to naming, will have no problem with seeing the same animal fitted with a bright yellow numbered radio collar and metal ear tags and referring to them as Bull 36, 8A, etc. True they are not assigning human attributes to the animal, but is this not destroying the wild, natural appearance of the animal and detracting from the experience of interacting with it, whether it be by observation, photography, or hunting?
We will concentrate on Pennsylvania Elk in this discussion as certain individual animals are seen repeatedly by large numbers of humans, which quite naturally leads to naming the animal. There really isn't a lot of alternatives. Describing a sighting of an animal with a numbered collar is simple, but in other cases it can get quite complicated in a hurry. Some animals are also easily described by certain physical characteristics such as the bull that was known as "Long Royal", because he had exceptionally long royal points, which made him instantly recognizable to the experienced elk watcher, or "Clubhorn" because of a deformed antler, which was caused by a damaged pedicel in his younger years.
 |
| "Long Royal": Named because of his unusually long royal points |
 |
| Club Horn In 2005: Instantly identifiable by his deformed left antler |
What could be objectionable about this, other than prejudice against giving wild animals human names ? The biggest problem for the hunting community is that a large number of people have identified this animal and in many cases feel a strong bond with it. It is no longer just "another elk", but it is "Fred", etc, and as such there is the potential for a lot of strong feelings if the animal is killed or otherwise meets with misfortune. It is no secret that the PGC prefers that wildlife are not named or singled out for attention, and that every elk or deer is just another animal in the woods that no one is particularly concerned about, except when considering the welfare of the species as a whole.
This may be a logical position, but is it realistic? I recall reading several years ago, about a research project that involved close contact with whitetail deer by the researchers. They were specifically forbidden to name any of the animals, but ended up doing so in spite of the written policy. The researchers felt a great sense of loss when the project ended, and some agonized over how the animals would survive in the future. In the case of Pennsylvania elk, some advocate eliminating close contact between humans and elk as much as possible, so that naming and bonding does not occur. This may all be good and well, but do we want our elk watching experience to be limited to sitting at areas like the Dent's Run Viewing Area, and viewing elk so far away in most cases that one needs binoculars or spotting scopes to see significant detail and even the most powerful camera lenses are not adequate.
Which is more beneficial to society as a whole, a limited hunt where only a few persons can participate each year, or a viable elk tourism industry, which has the potential to provide a significant boost to the area economy and could provide a world class experience to thousands upon thousands of people? Fortunately the powers that be need not choose between one or the other, but can improve the situation to a great extent by increasing the size of the No Hunt Zone.
As the situation now stands, it doesn't seem likely that another bull will replace ""Freddy" as the town icon anytime soon. Some like to think that he was so cunning that he remained in the No Kill Zone to purposefully evade hunters, but it seems more likely that his physical condition contributed more to his survival than any awareness that he was in danger if he entered certain areas. He still ventured into the back country in the Saddle area in 2001, and according to reports he spent a lot of time in Blue Sky Campground. This was at the time of the first hunt, and there were rumors of plots to drive him from the No Hunt Zone into areas open to hunting, but this never happened. Either no one attempted this strategy, or if they did they may have found it to be impossible to drive an animal that was totally trusting of humans. I never saw him in the Saddle area again after 2001 and in fact did not seem him during the rut of 2002 or 2003, if I remember correctly. This seems to be the period in which he started to spend much of his time in Benezette. I had only a limited amount of time to spend in elk country during the rut, and he had already returned to the lawns in town by the time I arrived. At that point I never drove through the part of Benezette that lies to the left of Winslow Hill Road as one is going up the hill. I did find him on the Hill, during the rut, from 2004 on, and while he still seemed to be healthy, he was likely feeling the early tinges of the arthritis that was to plague him in his later years and was not traveling as far, and as I never saw him outside the No Hunt Zone after 2001. It is entirely possible that the arthritis actually enabled him to live a longer life by confining his travels to the No Hunt Zone.
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| "Kisser" a.k.a. "Odie"-Freddy's Heir Apparent, Killed In 2010 Elk Season |
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| "Kisser" -Devil's Elbow March 2010-A Fatal Attraction To Hunt Zone 2 Led To His Death |
Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard C. Hill
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