Shenandoah National Park Whitetails: The Dream--The Reality

Whitetail photography and deer watching in the Big Meadows Area of Shenandoah National park was destroyed in 2012 by the implementation of a whitetail deer study which resulted in the mature bucks at Big Meadows being fitted with radio collars or ear tags and seems to have resulted in a significant reduction in the whitetail population. I had not been to SNP since November of that year after I left in disgust on the first morning of what was scheduled to be a multi-day trip.

After  almost two years of avoiding the park, I decided to check in on the whitetail situation at SNP once again.  As a result, on a late July morning I left home in the wee hours of the morning so I would arrive in the central district of the park at dawn. As I traveled down I-81 my thoughts wandered back through the years and I recalled the countless times I made this trip with visions of herds of deer and large rack bucks grazing in the beautiful summer morning running through my head and how that  more often than not the trip met or exceeded my expectations.  I knew things would be different this year, but it was nice to pretend that the events of the last few years had not taken place.  If one had any doubts as to whether the situation was not as bad as expected, it did not take long to dispel them.  I saw not one deer by the roadside as I traveled  Skyline Drive from Thornton Gap to Big Meadows as dawn was breaking.   I arrived at Big Meadows to be greeted by a beautiful but unusual sunrise.

Big Meadows Sunrise

Only a handful of deer were scattered about in the meadow, none of which were bucks, so I made the loop to below Milam Gap.  An eight-point was grazing along the road before the Milam Gap parking lot, and it was fitted with a collar that had worn most of the hair from the neck.

Collared Buck At Milam Gap

After taking a few photographs, I returned to the meadow where a small herd of deer was now visible in the distance. Three were respectable bucks, but all were wearing collars.  I decided to work these animals and walked into the meadow and took position in a spot it seemed likely they would pass through.  In a few minutes the herd arrived minus one of the bucks, which evidently split off to go elsewhere.  Two bucks were in the lead and for a few moments it seemed like the old days as one could see the tips of the velvet covered antlers bobbing above the bushes and grasses. One almost expected a buck such as this to appear and he did, but there was one big problem.

The Dream

The photograph below shows what he really looks like. 

Harsh Reality

Photographers will argue the ethics of such matters, but it is easy to remove collars and ear tags in Photoshop or similar programs if the collars are relatively small and the neck hair is undamaged, but this is not the case with the Shenandoah deer where the collars are huge in proportion to the animal and the hair is usually damaged.  In this situation there was not enough hair available to clone over the collar so a neck was used from another buck in  photographed in 2011, which was standing in a somewhat similar position.  It would be unethical to enhance the damage to a deer's neck, but  I see nothing wrong with  removing something that should not be there in the first place. However, at this point in life, I have little interest in doing so as it is difficult and one still is left with the unpleasant memory of how the situation actually was.

The second buck was worse yet, as most of the hair was missing from the neck.

Collared Buck With Significant Hair Loss

A mature doe was feeding with the bucks and she too was wearing a collar.

Mature Doe

Each of the deer that was collared also had a small tag in the right ear, which is visible in the last two pictures.

It seems at this point that the battle is lost with little hope for the future.  The National Park Service has been granted a finding of FONSI (Finding Of No Significant Impact), which as I understand it, gives them the go ahead to implement their plans.  http://www.nps.gov/shen/parknews/shenandoah-national-park-completes-cwd-detection-and-assessment-plan.htm .  I found a good definition of "FONSI" on a Department of Energy Page: "Findings of No Significant Impact are public documents issued by a Federal agency briefly presenting the reasons why an action for which the agency has prepared an environmental assessment will not have a significant effect on the human environment and, therefore, will not require preparation of an environmental impact statement. http://energy.gov/nepa/findings-no-significant-impact-fonsi  They are perhaps right that the collars, ear tags, neck injury, and herd reductions means nothing to the average visitor to SNP,  but to the whitetail deer and those that are interested in them, the impact is significant and severe.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

More Thoughts About SNP Whitetail Study

Today I would like to thank those who made comments on the blog and on Facebook about the last blog post", "Whitetail Photography at Shenandoah National Park -Destroyed For Now".

Most seemed to agree that the collars are unsightly and are likely to cause the animals a lot of distress, while one reader wants to know if the condition of the animal was reported to SNP officials.

Buck Was Standing Near Visitor Center When Photographed by Billie G. Cromwell

My Response: I spoke with Billie Cromwell who took the photographs and he said he felt no need to report this as the animal was in the lawn right beside the visitor center and was easily visible to maintenance workers and rangers.  As much time as this buck spends between there and the Big Meadows campground makes it extremely unlikely that officials are not  aware of the situation.

Fellow wildlife photographer, Dan Gomola raised the question:"Is there a any way people could band together against animal cruelty of these herds".

My Response:  I have no good answer to this question.  All I know to do is contribute what little I can by trying to draw awareness to the problem.  One should also write letters to officials and attend public meetings.  It would be nice if a large organization with a lot of political clout would take this up but it never seems to happen.  As it is, it seems that the National Park Service has its' way regardless of public input.

Bill, who is an avid hunter and photographer, said, "Those appear to be the most intrusive tacking devices I've ever seen. Monitoring animals for study is fine I suppose but do it in a way that isn't a burden on the animal. With the technology available today those are a little more than over-the-top and ridiculous."

My Response: I agree completely.

Over-The-Top and Ridiculous Collar

Alyssa Johnson who is involved with big game management (as a student in New York State) wrote, " I feel like there must be more to this story than we, and possibly you know. I feel for the animal, of course, because I'm human. But, perhaps there would be more damage done than good to try and remedy this defunct collar. Unfortunately, many people seem to suggest "with today's technology... _________" fill in the blank. Why can't there be a smaller collar, something less obtrusive, microchip, nothing at all, etc. I would like to believe, as someone who is involved with the big game management in my state, that the managers in charge WOULD utilize something less obtrusive, if it was available. I just attended the 2013 TWS National Conference, and was able to handle and examine all kinds of remote-monitoring equipment at the trade show. You lose battery life, distance of signal transmission, type of transmission, and amount of stored data when you make the device smaller. The severity and scope of CWD, for example, is so large and potentially dangerous to our deer herds, that these measures of using hardcore collars, with big packs on them, is so necessary. Without this monitoring, "we" wouldn't be able to manage the deer herds for hunters, photographers, and other wildlife enthusiasts. I'm glad I got to see this pictures, thanks for sharing."

My Response: I will approach the issue by first discussing the Pennsylvania elk herd which I am quite familiar with.  I do not like to see collars on these animals either.  It seems possible that some elk have had problems because of wearing collars, but I have never personally seen an elk's neck severely damaged by a collar.  At one time many of the elk were fitted with brown collars with large yellow side plates attached on which the number of the animal was displayed.  This is shown in the photo of bull 2D below.

Bull 2D-Old Style Collar

This type of collar really became a problem once Pennsylvania elk  became hunted animals again in 2001, as the bright yellow collar made the animal stand out to hunters.  As a result the PGC discontinued their use, but  they did not remove the collars from elk already fitted with them.  From a certain point going forward elk were fitted with brown radio collars. These collars are not numbered like the yellow ones.  The PGC gave up the ability to easily identify individual animals by visual means and must now rely on radio tracking-GPS equipment to do so. I do not like to see these collars on elk any more than I like to see them on deer, but at least they are not causing problems for the animal in most cases.

Brown Collar Currently Used by PGC

In comparing the use of collars on elk and deer one must realize that a deer is a much smaller animal and as such has less space to fit a collar.  This may be part of the problem but it is not all of it. If one looks at the old elk collars closely the numbered panels were not larger than the collar band, but the number panels on the deer collars extend well beyond the collar band.

Numbered Tag Is Larger Than Collar

In addition they appear to be made of a hard material.  It seems likely that this is at least partially responsible for the damage.  Also the brown part of the collar is broken in the photo above, which would contribute to the chafing on this particular animal.  I suspect that these collars were designed so that animals could be visually  identified from a distance without relying entirely on radio transmitters, but if this is the case, does the supposed benefit of this outweigh the damage done to the animal?  Speaking off the record, a  wildlife professional employed by a state conservation agency, said that it could be as simple as the NPS already having that type of collar on hands and using them without giving the matter further thought.

At this point I would like to take a closer look at two portions of Ms. Johnson's comments and respond to them.

Ms Johnson, " I would like to believe, as someone who is involved with the big game management in my state, that the managers in charge WOULD utilize something less ,if it was available."

My response: " I would like to think that too, but unfortunately after working most of my adult life for a state conservation agency,  I wouldn't put too much stock in this. What is proposed and implemented  can be mind boggling at times, in spite of the competence and good intentions of most agency personnel.

Ms Johnson, "The severity and scope of CWD, for example, is so large and potentially dangerous to our deer herds, that these measures of using hardcore collars, with big packs on them, is so necessary. Without this monitoring, "we" wouldn't be able to manage the deer herds for hunters, photographers, and other wildlife enthusiasts."

My response:  I am aware of the statistics on the severity and scope of CWD, but it is not in the least bit clear to me how that measures such as this or drastic herd reduction are going to save the day.  I may live to see the day that I regret this statement, but at this point I think that conservation agency and NPS reaction to the disease has the potential to have a far worse impact on the herd than the disease itself.

In closing, I will mention that I still list a blog or two in my side bar that are no longer updated on a regular basis.  One of these is Larry Thorngren's . "The Wild Photographer".   His last post about radio collars was "Abused Radio-Collared Bison-Yellowstone National Park" on Nov. 6, 2011.  If you are interested in reading more about this type of thing, it may be worth your while to browse through his older posts.

Also check the comments section of this post to read more input from Larry W. Brown and follow the links to see photos of deer in winter that show severe hair loss from the collars.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Deer Photography and Herd Reduction Update

Full Moon At Dawn- August 21st: Panasonic  GH3-Canon 500mm F4 IS-ISO 400-1/160sec. f ?

 It seems that everyone was posting full moon photos recently, so above is my version of the moon, which I captured as I was waiting by the edge of a large expanse of crop fields for enough light to film whitetail deer on the morning of August 21st .

Since the whitetail photography at Shenandoah National Park has been ruined because most  bucks in the Big Meadows area are wearing huge numbered  collars due to the deer study, I have had to do most of my deer photography close to home this summer.  One can see some decent bucks, but they are usually at very long range and are quite shy.  It is possible to see a buck on occasion that compares favorably with the large mature bucks at SNP, but it is rare and then there is a big difference between seeing them and being able to successfully photograph them. Most regular readers of this blog are aware that I usually concentrate on video with the Pennsylvania bucks because of the ability of certain video cameras to film them at very long range.  I do sometimes try some stills with my current favorite long range video rig, which is the Panasonic GH3 and the Canon 500mm F4 IS.  The Panasonic is not as good of a still camera as the Canon 5D MK III, but this is outweighed for long range shooting by the 2X crop factor of the GH3's micro four thirds sensor (M4/3), which gives the 500mm a 35mm equivalent focal length of 1000mm.  In addition the photo below is severely cropped and it is doubtful that it would print well at 8x12 or 8x10, but it is good for smaller sizes and for internet posting.

 Long Range Pennsylvania Bucks  (250 yards):Panasonic  GH3-Canon 500mm F4 IS-ISO 200-1/25sec. f ?

At this time it is not clear if there will ever be world class whitetail photography at SNP again as the specter of herd reduction looms on the horizon.  Herd reduction has already taken place at Gettysburg and Valley Forge Military Parks in Pennsylvania and is now planned for Antietam, Manassas, and Monocacy Battlefields in Maryland.

Whitetails Viewed As Problem By National Park Service: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 70-200mm IS II-ISO 1600-1/250 sec. f 3.2

 Here are some good links for further reading about this.

 First is a post by Larry W. Brown on Flickr with a photo featuring some superb Photoshop work by Jim Fields, What's Next Shenandoah? Birds?  Before anyone gets too excited Larry and Jim are not really complaining about the birds in Shenandoah National Park, they are just using this mechanism to point out the absurdity of the NPS proposals for whitetail deer management.

Next is a post by Steve Ferendo on his Natural World"Through My Camera" blog, "Mature Whitetail Bucks Should Not Be Shot Just To Reduce Herd Numbers"  The post features photos of mature bucks on the Monocacy Battlefield.  Mr Ferendo is concerned that these bucks will be shot as well as the does in the looming herd reduction.

Last is a link to an article on Herald Mail.com, "Sharpshooters eyed to thin deer at Antietam National Battlefield",which gives a brief description of the herd reduction planned for these battlefields. 

It certainly isn't a good time to be a serious whitetail deer photographer.  Until now the National Parks were the one place that  anyone could go to observe and photograph mature whitetail bucks, but with the ascendency of the population reduction faction in the NPS it s very possible that these days area over.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

2012 In Retrospect-Part III: Shenanodah Whitetails Under Assault

Perhaps the biggest story of 2012,  for those who love to photograph whitetail deer in the Mid-Atlantic area, was the destruction of quality deer photography at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, when most of the mature bucks and many of the does at the prime visitor areas such as Big Meadows were fitted with radio collars.  Some times one can see something bad coming a long way off and have time to mount an offensive against it, or in the worst case scenario accept that it is about to happen and change plans accordingly,  but this happened so quickly that there was no chance for objection before it was an accomplished fact.

Whitetail Buck Before Collaring Craze Began

Young 8 Point Performs Lip-Curl

Little did I realize when my brother Coy and I encountered these bucks in velvet during an August trip to SNP, that things were about to change drastically in the next few weeks.  I will admit that I should have seen this coming as whitetail deer have become a controversial species during the past several years, which has resulted in drastic moves to reduce deer populations in many areas.

Here in Pennsylvania we fist heard of the controversy about too many deer on National Park land when a herd reduction program was proposed and eventually implemented at Gettysburg Military Park. The same situation later happened at Valley Forge National Historical Park near Philadelphia.  Both programs are ongoing.  I have not photographed deer at Gettysburg or Valley Forge, but from what I have heard and read it is no longer worthwhile to pursue this activity there.

We first learned about the problem at SNP from Jim Borden, a wildlife photographer from Pennsylvania, who e-mailed us a link to a post on Flickr by Virginia wildlife photographer, Larry W. Brown.  Mr. Brown went on to publish more posts on the subject.  You may find these posts here:

Public Input Is Important
This Assessment Cannot Be Just About CWD
National Park Toys

The upshot of the situation was that we found Larry Brown's description of the impact on the Big Meadows herd to be extremely accurate when we traveled there to photograph the rut in early November.

Collared Buck At SNP

As one read more about the controversy, it seemed more and more likely that the study was not just about dealing with CWD, but that it was actually much broader in scope.  This concern seems to be validated by a Natural Resource Fact Sheet, "White-tailed Deer Issues and Management" published by the National Park Service. The document states it was last updated on October 24, 2008. 

In the post of October 25, 2012, "Shenandoah Whitetails Under Assault" on this blog, I wrote, "They state on the facebook page (SNP's current Facebook page at the time),  "this research is being done to protect the deer herd from a horrible and fatal disease--Chronic Wasting Disease", but they fail to point out that there are basically only two forms of response to the presence of CWD--either do nothing or kill as many deer as possible in a designated containment area in hopes of eliminating all infected animals."

The Natural Resource Fact Sheet, serves to validate the claim that the deer study is really not about CWD.

It  addresses CWD to a certain extent at the end of the fact sheet as quoted below:

"• In 2006, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries implemented Statewide chronic wasting disease (CWD) deer movement restrictions. This effectively ended all capture / relocation of beggar deer in the Park developed areas.
• CWD is discovered in Slainsville, WV in free- ranging deer. This location is less than 35 miles from Front Royal and the Northern end of the park.
• In December 2007 a CDW positive deer is discovered in Yellow Spring , WV. This location is less than 25 miles from Front Royal and the Northern end of the park.
• Since 2007 the park has been in the process of developing an Environmental Assessment Plan for CWD detection and initial response."

This serves to partially validate their claim that the study is about CWD, but a close perusal of the rest of the Fact Sheet  reveals that the main concern in 2008 was really about herd reduction. Again I quote from the Fact Sheet: (Note: BMA is Big Meadows Area, and LMA is Loft Mountain Area.)

"Park staff is currently attempting to secure funding for a deer population dynamics study at the BMA and LMA. This study will help us determine the cultural carrying capacity for the BMA and LMA deer herds which in turn will help us maintain more natural deer populations, prevent further landscape degradation, and prevent historical scene degradation. Ultimately, more natural deer populations in park developed areas will help preserve the natural landscape features (rare wildflowers, etc.) that visitors have come to expect in places like the unique highelevation Big Meadow. The findings of this study will generate tangible deer management recommendations. These recommendations along with the results from future studies will be used to update the park’s Deer Management Plan and to formulate an Environmental Impact Statement. This will allow park managers to better manage the park’s deer populations in developed areas."

So we find that CWD is not the foremost concern at all in 2008, but it seems that with CWD being found in more and more areas that the NPS latched on this as a means of convincing the public of the need for a study in SNP. (Note: As best as I can tell no CWD cases have been found closer to SNP than had been discovered in 2008.)

Stay tuned as we pursue this subject from time to time as more information becomes available,  Hopefully this will have only a short term impact on whitetail photography at SNP, but I would not hold my breath waiting for the good old days to return.

A special thanks to Jim Borden, Larry W. Brown, Jim Fields,Todd Mann, Tom  and others who shared their insights on the situation, either through e-mails or in comments on previous posts in the series.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Whitetail Photographers--Avoid Shenandoah National Park!

As I write this post, I originally planned to be in a motel room in Virginia, savoring the memories of a day s afield photographing  the whitetails of Shenandoah National Park and anticipating another full day and Friday morning doing likewise.  Instead I find myself  at home in Pennsylvania, sitting at the computer and pondering how easily whitetail photography at Shenandoah National Park was destroyed.

Let's face it--I knew conditions were less than ideal at the park based on information received from many sources such as Larry Brown, Billie Cromwell, Jim Fields, and Todd Mann, along with my own experience from a brief morning visit in late October.  I did not realize: however, that things were as bad as they turned out to be.

My brother Coy and I left for SNP in the early morning hours and saw not one whitetail as we drove from the Thornton Gap Entrance to Big Meadows before dawn.  Shortly after dawn we found this superb buck at the Tanner's Ridge overlook.  This did not seem all that bad as the tags could easily be removed with Photoshop, but unfortunately this proved to be the best encounter of the day.

Buck 91--One of the few that has only ear tags

Most of the does that we sighted had either ear tags or collars.  We did see one mature buck without a collar or tags, but he was shy and we did not get good photographs.  I think this buck is a bit too wild for the tagging team to dart him, but in hopes of protecting him, I will not reveal where he was sighted.  With the exception of this buck--every buck that we saw from medium size to mature rack bucks were fitted with the ridiculously large numbered collars.

Buck With Damaged Collar that is damaging the hair on the neck.

In late morning we saw a group walking toward the Visitor Center carrying equipment, with a least two of the party wearing uniforms and we realized too late to take photographs that this was most likely the deer tagging crew returning from a mornings' work in the field.  We talked to Billie Cromwell in the early afternoon and he said that every mature buck that he had seen had a collar, including a large 12 point that was collar free just two weeks ago.  We did see some yearling bucks that were not collared or tagged, but it seems likely that this is because they are concentrating on mature deer--likely in hopes of studying the movement patterns of mature bucks in particular.

Another Victim

I could perhaps understand it if a modest percentage of the bucks and does in the Big Meadows area were marked for study, but it appears that the vast majority of the animals are so marked and that the tagging crew is still at work trying to process those that have escaped so far.

We originally planned to stay for 2 1/2 days, but this was so frustrating that I called the motel where we planned to stay and cancelled our reservations--telling the owner why we were doing so.  The management was aware of the situation at the park, was very understanding, and did not penalize us for cancelling on such short notice. This was one of the few bright spots of the day.  In the future, I may visit the park on rare occasion to observe the effects of the study, but my frequent trips to SNP are over--at least until the study has run its' course.

While this is distressing for the photographer/wildlife watcher, the worst aspect of the situation is the undue stress and discomfort that this places on the deer.  The negative aspects of this study could perhaps be justified if it would significantly benefit the well-being of the deer or combat the spread of CWD, but at this point many are not convinced that it will do so.  With that being said, even if the study proved to be fully justified and extremely necessary, there seems no reason to use such a large sample size, which negatively impacts both the animals and the wildlife viewing/photography experience at Shenandoah National Park.

If you have not already done so, be sure to check out the links in previous poss to other writing on this issue by Larry W. Brown, and Todd Mann.  Also be sure to check Country Captures for Coy's take on this situation.  If his post is not up already--it should be soon.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Twilight Buck and More Thoughts on SNP Whitetail Management

Pennsylvania Buck At Twilight: Canon 5D MK III -Canon 500mmf4-ISO 6400 1/40sec. f4

The rut is picking up here in southcentral Pennsylvania, but many of the bucks are seen either very early or extremely late.  These conditions put the low light capability of the MK III to the test.  Even the larger bucks in our area cannot ordinarily compete with those in Shenandoah National Park when it comes to antler mass and they are definitely a lot harder to see.  With that being said, it is possible that I will be spending less time than ever in Shenandoah National Park since many of the bucks at Big Meadows have been fitted with radio collars.

My last two posts have dealt with this in depth and Todd Mann, another wildlife photographer from Pennsylvania recently wrote an excellent post about the situation titled, "Deer contraception, politics, and the future of deer in the US".  Be sure to visit Todd's blog and read this timely article.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Shenandoah Whitetails Under Assault Part 2

While I appreciate most wildlife and spend countless hours afield in pursuit of it with a camera, I am more fascinated by whitetail deer and elk than any of the other species.  Even though I am primarily noted for my interest in Pennsylvania Elk, if it came right down to it I would have to choose deer over elk, if I had to pick one favorite species.  Whitetails have always been a heavily hunted species in Pennsylvania and there are no areas of public land that I know of where one can easily observe whitetails going about their daily life without fleeing at the sight of humans.  It is my understanding that one could see this at one time at Gettysburg National Military Park, or at Valley Forge, but both have utilized sharpshooters to reduce the herd.  I cannot speak from personal experience, but I am told that neither area is what it once was for seeing deer.

Shenandoah National Park has been a special place to so many of us because of its' easily visible deer herd. Since I worked for the Pennsylvania Game Commission for many years, I have always been finely attuned to deer management issues, which translated into concern that in time the herd reduction people would focus their attention on the deer of SNP and attempt to manage its' deer herd.. As I mentioned in the previous post, a study is now underway which is being portrayed as part of a plan to protect the deer from CWD, but many are concerned that it is more than this.

As a result of the study, several of the deer in the big meadows area have been fitted with radio collars, and/ or ear tags. Billie Cromwell was at the park last week and photographed three bucks fitted with the radio collars.  He stopped by yesterday and dropped off 4x6 prints of them, so the photos for today are scans of the photos.  They do not do justice to the originals, but they effectively show the problem and will give those who follow the SNP deer herd a look at three of the bucks that had collars as of early last week and may still be found in the Big Meadows area. I wish to thank Billie for sharing these photographs with us and granting permission to use them on the blog.

Mature Buck With Collar Big Meadows Campground: Photo by Billie G. Cromwell

Buck Near Tanners Ridge Overlook: Photo by Billie G. Cromwell

Ten Point Buck With Collar SNP: Photo by Billie G. Cromwell

I was pleased to receive a comment on the previous post from well known wildlife photographer, Jim Fields, who lives in the area and has spent countless hours afield in the park observing and photographing the deer.  Here is what Jim has to say about the situation.

"The secretive way this assessment was handled and the fact they have concentrated their efforts in an area with a high habituated deer concentration instead of distributing the test throughout the entire park certainly leads us to believe there is more to this than a CWD assessment. There are SNP documents from past years that elude to other purposes for 38 deer being captured in Big Meadows out of the 70 being tested in total.

The SNP site does not have up to date information on current status of Big meadows. To date I have found (7) collared bucks in the Greater Big Meadows area. Park officials have informed me that “bucks collared in the Big Meadows area will likely be nine (plus one ear-tagged buck)”. Thus (18) collared deer and (20) deer with ear tags just in the greater Big Meadows area. The parks estimate is 20-25 bucks reside in this area so this give you an idea of the percentage of bucks remaining. I can tell you that in the past 5 weeks I have seen very few bucks without collars in Big Meadows. I am sure there will be less habituated bucks showing up during the November rut, but it will not be like years past. This has been a tuff hit for wildlife photography in the park." --Jim Fields 10/29/2012.

Also be sure to read the full comment by professional wildlife photographer, Tom  who expresses concerns that the National Park Service may be doing this to discourage photographers.  I will post a bit of it below, but be sure and visit the comments on the previous post to read it in its entirety.

"I suspect that the purpose may be that they want to discourage photographers from constantly hanging around the deer with their cameras. They may just think that if they put huge, obtrusive collars on the biggest bucks, then photographers will not pursue the deer so persistently. If that is the reason, or part of the reason, they the NPS should be ashamed of themselves."

Tom goes on to say, " I will get every image I possibly can, fully documenting the collared bucks and the impacts of the "study".

Whatever the reason for the study, it is sad to see so many of the Big Meadows herd fitted with the collars and tags.  The next few weeks will tell what the short term impact on deer watching and photography will be.  I for one hope that this is not the beginning of a program to drastically reduce the SNP deer herd as was done at Gettysburg and Valley Forge.  This would effectively destroy SNP as a haven for wildlife enthusiasts and photographers.

Originally published by Willard Hill at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer.

Shenandoah Whitetails Under Assault

Some time ago I received an e-mail from fellow wildlife photographer, Jim Borden, which directed my attention to a post on Flickr by Larry W. Brown.  Mr. Brown specializes in  photographing the wildlife of Shenandoah National Park.  In a post titled, "Public Input is Important?", Brown informed us that a large number of whitetail deer in the Big Meadows area had recently been fitted with either radio collars or ear tags.

Will Bucks Without Radio Collars Or Ear Tags Be A Rarity At Big Meadows?

This program is ostensibly about studying and controlling  Chronic Wasting Disease  (CWD), but many think it has to be more than this and I am inclined to agree.  There is no cure for CWD and no way to effectively control it.  Shenandoah Park has posted a photo of a doe with ear tags on their facebook page and linked to their page on CWD, which may be found by clicking Here.  They state on the facebook page' "this research is being done to protect the deer herd from a horrible and fatal disease--Chronic Wasting Disease", but they fail to point out that there are basically only two forms of response to the presence of CWD--either do nothing or kill as many deer as possible in a designated containment area in hopes of eliminating all infected animals.

Also in a real puzzler, they state on this page that 50-70 deer will be tested for the disease and then tracked through ear tags and radio collars, yet according to many sources-- there is no effective test for chronic wasting disease on living animals.  I just heard Pennsylvania Game Commission personnel who are involved with the CWD program make this statement at a meeting last evening.  This is also stated in the October 26th  issue of "Pennsylvania Outdoor News"  in the article, "Expert: Outlaw the feeding of deer, mineral, salt licks" This article by editor Jeff Mulhollem quotes  David Wolfgang, a veterinarian in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences and  past president of the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association as saying, "The only certified test for CWD requires killing an animal and examining its brain-stem" 

The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection;  however, sayst hat it has been possible since 2008 to test living animals.  This excerpt from their web page on CWD:

"How is CWD diagnosed? Prior to 2008, the only method to definitively diagnose CWD was to examine the brain, tonsils, or lymph nodes in a laboratory. No live-animal test, vaccine, or treatment for CWD existed. In 2008, researchers from the USDA-APHIS and Colorado State University evaluated and validated the first live rectal-tissue biopsy method for detecting chronic wasting disease (CWD) in captive and wild elk. The live rectal biopsy test appears to be nearly as accurate as a post-mortem diagnostic test. The key advantage to the rectal biopsy test is that it can be performed on live animals. With this technique, managers can detect CWD in animals not showing any signs of the disease and, thus, remove them to decrease the likelihood of infecting other individuals. This new live test will improve management and control of the disease, especially in captive settings."

So what is the real scoop on this--I do not know, but whatever the case there is no solution to the problem and the best that can be hoped is to slow the spread of the disease once it is found and that involves killing a lot of deer.  At least at this point Pennsylvania officials have said they will not pursue this path as Wisconsin did, but it remains to be seen what Park Officials will do if the disease is found there.


It is highly recommended that all readers who are traveling to Shenandoah National Park this autumn read Larry's post in detail.  He has done an excellent job of compiling links to information about why this has been done and numerous people have responded with their thoughts on the situation.  He also has written at least two more detailed posts about this as he has learned more about the situation.  He has links to these on the page I linked to above, but I will now list all three links directly below for your ease in locating the material..

Public Input Is Important
This Assessment Cannot Be Just About CWD
National Park Toys

I traveled to the park on Monday morning ,October  22nd, and found few deer using the meadow.  Of the small number of does and fawns present about 1/2 or more had either radio collars or ear tags.  I saw a nice buck without tags or collar, but he left the meadow pursuing a doe which had ear tags, before I could get  photographs.  I saw two small bucks along the drive that did not have collars or tags and a small group of does and fawns by the campground that were tag and collar free. I cannot show you any photos of deer with the tags and collars as a Park Police Helicopter landed in the Meadow shortly after sunrise to transfer a stretcher to the ranger on duty and at that point all of the deer left the meadow.  I soon departed for home after one of the poorest trips to Shenandoah Park in memory.

Helicopter Taking Off From Big Meadows

 Billie Cromwell, who many readers of this blog are familiar with, spent a few days there this week and confirms that there is little whitetail activity in the meadow.  There are mostly feeding on acorns in the wooded areas and a lot of them have either collars or ear tags.

According to the SNP CWD Page," Up to 70 deer will be tagged and/or collared. As of mid-October, 15 were radio collared (six bucks and nine does) and 20 were ear tagged (one buck and 19 does".

"Because we need to test and monitor deer in high density areas, visitors may see them in the areas of Big Meadows, Mathew's Arm Campground, Skyland, Rapidan Fire Road, Elkwallow Wayside, and Dickey Ridge."

It is plain to see that this targets the areas where one has the best opportunity to see whitetails and it seems likely that an inordinate amount of attention was directed at Big Meadows and at the mature bucks.

Whatever the reason or reasons for this study, there seems little doubt that it will negatively impact the whitetail viewing and photography experience at Shenandoah National Park for years to come.

A special thanks to Larry W. Brown for his intensive work in gathering information on this problem and making us aware of it.

If you are unhappy with this study, please voice your displeasure to the appropriate officials:

Tweet them at twitter.com/ShenandoahNPS

Comment on their facebook page at www.facebook.com/shenandoahnps

 By Mail

Shenandoah National Park
3655 Hwy 211 East
Luray, VA 22835

By Phone (540) 999-3500

By Email www.nps.gov/shen/contacts.htm 

Rolf Gubler Biologist
Division of Natural and Cultural Resources
Shenandoah National Park 540-999-3500 x3291

Karen Beck-Herzog
Management Assistant and Public Information Specialist
Shenandoah National Park 540-999-3500 x3300

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Pennsylvania Flintlock Deer Season Approaches

Rifle deer season closed this past Saturday giving the deer a short break from hunting pressure.  Archery season began on October 1st and continued until mid-November so the deer have faced two solid months of hunting pressure.  As a result, the survivors are quite skittish--especially the bucks.  The rut still continues at a very low level and will do so for quite some time yet, as a few does come in heat late.  Few get to observe this as the surviving bucks are nearly impossible to see.

Whitetail Buck Chasing Doe

Flintlock and late archery season begins on December 26th and continues through January 16th in our area.  It is in for a longer period in certain areas so consult the 2011-12 Hunting And Trapping Digest for further details before hunting.  Both antlered and antlerless deer are legal game for those that have not yet filled their tags, but only one buck may be taken per license year so those that have already taken a buck in archery or rifle season may not hunt for bucks in this season.

Hunters May Kill Only One Pennsylvania Buck Per License Year

Most Deer Killed In Late Flintlock/Archery Season Will Be Antlerless

Hunters should obey all game laws and regulations and conduct themselves in an ethical manner, remembering that everything that is legal is not necessarily ethical.  But how can that be you might ask?  I intend to address this issue and more in the near future.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Time For PGC To Reach Out

Mature Doe Looks For Danger

 At this point the Pennsylvania rifle deer season is one-half over.  Both antlered and antlerless deer are legal game in our area, but except for opening day and Saturday, there seems to be little hunting--at least away from the state game lands.  This was not the case in the old days, when opening day sounded almost like a battle and hunting pressure was heavy at least through Wednesday of the first week, and picked up again on Saturdays.

Doe season was traditionally held on the Monday and Tuesday immediately following buck season and at times was extended if bad weather caused a low doe kill.  Eventually the PGC settled on a three day doe season which ran from Monday through Wednesday and a flintlock season for both buck and doe was implemented, which ran for two or three weeks after Christmas.

The three day doe season continued until  buck and doe season were combined under Dr. Gary Alt's deer management plan, which also included antler restrictions. an early black powder antlerless deer season and an early rifle doe season open only to Jr. and Sr. Hunters. (Note that there are a growing number of wildlife management units where both weeks of rifle season are not concurrent buck and doe, be sure to check regulations before hunting).

The first day of doe season was often a blood bath under the old system as everyone that had a doe tag had to try and fill it in the two or three day season.  With a multitude of seasons to choose from the modern hunter has much less incentive to hunt on a particular day.  Many have grown discouraged with deer hunting because of a scarcity of deer either real or perceived,  lack of a suitable place to hunt, or a host of other factors including a lessening of the desire to hunt with increasing age. These factors combined with fewer youth taking up hunting has led to an impending crisis.

Hunter Tags Fawn Killed In Concurrent Season

It is now hard to believe that in my early years with the PGC, some thought that hunting pressure would increase to the point that one would have to select which type of weapon they wanted to hunt with in a given year and hunt only in that particular season, or that perhaps buck tags would have to be restricted in availability in some manner.  Few worried about subjects like hunter recruitment and retention, but today these are important topics to conservation agencies throughout the nation and none seem to be able to come up with suitable answers to these problems--perhaps because ultimately there are none that will work.

In the meantime, the PGC and most if not all conservation agencies, consistently fails to address the  needs and desires of growing numbers of wildlife watchers, and photographers, or include them in the management of our wildlife. Instead of ignoring or reacting to this growing, potential constituency with hostility, it is time to reach out to the non-consumptive user and find ways to incorporate them into the funding base and the decision making process. 

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

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.

Mature Whitetail Buck During The Rut

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.

The Greatest Problem Facing The Forest Today according to Dr. Gary Alt

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