EHZs Realigned!-No Hunt Zone Eliminated?

At this point things have become somewhat more clear about the realignment of the Elk Hunt Zones (EHZ), which we discussed in some depth in the last post. In  this I used the rough sketched map below, which shows the way the EHZs have been aligned for the past several years. From this it seemed reasonable to assume that they would remain reasonably the same, with EHZ 11 and 12 added to the mix.  If one looks at the map, they simply started with Zone 1 in the northwest corner of the elk management area and then numbered the units in a clockwise circle, coming back to EHZ 10 meeting EHZ 1 in the east, with the No Hunt Zone being in about the center of the western half of the elk management area, which corresponds to the core of the traditional core elk range on Winslow Hill.

Approximate Map of Hunt Zones In Recent Years-2 More Zones Added This Year--Source: W. Hill-"The Truth About Pennsylvania's Elk Herd

When pondering the license allocations for 2013, there were some things that just didn't add up though unless the EHZs were changed substantially in some areas as zones 5&6 were in the eastern part of the elk range where there is little controversy about elk/vehicle collisions and other elk related problems at this time. The new allocations really slammed the pressure on the elk in these zones with  a total of 7 bull tags and 23 antlerless tags being issued for these two zones, but the elk/human conflict problem area was centered in the Medix Run--Weedville corridor.

Things became more clear when the April 27th issue of Endeavor News arrived.  Well known elk writer, Carol Mulvihill's article, "Spring brings new life to Pennsylvania elk population" featured a small map of the new hunt zones.  Paid subscribers to the online edition may read the article in its' entirety by clicking the link, while others must wait 3 weeks until it is available to the general public.

2013 Elk Hunt Zone Map: Created by W.Hill based on map published in Endeavor News

I created a map of the new zones by drawing in Photoshop.  I emphasize that this is a a very rough drawing and county lines, and EHZ lines are only very general in nature. Do not try to analyze it closely and try to figure the exact location of anything.  In fact the map used by Ms. Mulvihill as best as I can tell does not show  route 255, or 555, or Winslow Hill Road, which the maps in the Hunting and Trapping Digest never do either. This makes it impossible to tell from the maps where the boundaries are, but the digests do have detailed written descriptions of the boundaries, so we will likely have to wait for the 2013-14 Digest to be published to be sure of things.

From this map though, it becomes clear why zones 5&6 have the high allocations.  These EHZs now appear to be in the area from beyond Weedville to the west to possibly well past Benezette on the south side of RT 555 to the east.  In addition EHZ 10 has been moved from the western edge to the east.

It is very clear that the PGC and a very vocal portion of the public do not want elk in town, or have to deal with them on the highways.  While at present the majority of the complaints about elk seem to be centered around the Medix Run to Weedville  and the Rt 255 corridors, the photo below, taken in Benezett, shows the type of situation that many are unhappy about.

Large Herd In Benezette

There is no mention in Carol's article of a No Hunt Zone nor is there one on the map, but there is an  EHZ 7, which is a very small area on the map, in what seems to be the location of the present No Hunt Zone.  It has an allocation of 0 Bulls and 0 Antlerless so if this is the replacement for the No Hunt Zone it makes no difference at this point. Assuming the boundaries remain the same, it is simply playing with semantics, but it does make it much easier to begin shooting elk everywhere on Winslow Hill in the future.  If this move is accepted with little or no public reaction, it will be very easy to start allocating tags for the area. The acceptance of the term EHZ 7 for  No Hunt Zone, removes a psychological barrier to elk hunting in the center of elk tourism on Winslow Hill.

I emphasize at this point that I will not guarantee the accuracy of any of this, but as more information becomes available it seems that things are going to change and the change will likely be very significant. Assuming that EHZ 7 with its' 0 allocation is the replacement for the No Hunt Zone, it will not surprise me at all if the size of area  is drastically reduced.  The bottom line is that time will tell and it should become clear by the time the Hunting/Trapping Digest is published, but I would not even assume that this is a given, as there seems to have been much tighter control on the release of information pertaining to elk management and the elk hunt in the past few years.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Pennsylvania 2013 Elk License Allocations Announced

26 Bull Tags Issued For 2013 Season

In News Release 026-13  dated April 15, 2013, the Pennsylvania Game Commission announced the 2013-14 hunting license year, seasons and bag limits.  We will consider only the elk license allocations in today's post.  Click the above link to read the full details on the PGC Website.

Elk season will be from Nov. 4-9 in 201, with an extended season running from Nov. 11-16. This season is for both antlered and antlerless elk and is held in designated areas only for elk license holders who did not kill an elk during the regular season. A special Conservation Tag hunt will be held from Sept. 2-Nov. 9 for the successful bidder for the tag, which was auctioned this year by The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

86 tags were issued for 2013, which includes 26 bull tags and 60 antlerless tags. The allocation does not include the Conservation Elk Tag.  Since it is almost certain that the successful bidder will kill a bull, this effectively means 27 bull tags and a total of 87 tags. This is a marked increase from 2012 when 19 Bull tags and 46 antlerless tags were  issued for a total of 65 licenses.Also, compare this with the 2011 total of 56 tags which included tags for 18 bulls and 38 cows  (Considering the Conservation Elk Tag this was in actuality 19 bull tags and a total of 57 licenses) and we notice a continuing upward trend in licenses issued, which corresponds to the steady increase in the  elk population.

Approximate Map of Hunt Zones In Recent Years-2 More Zones Added This Year--Source: W. Hill-"The Truth About Pennsylvania's Elk Herd

This year also saw the addition of two more hunt zones.  In recent years there have been 10  Elk Hunt Zones (EHZ) with EHZ 1 being open to anyone with an elk license.  This has also been the case with an area known as the open zone.  At this point it is unclear just what the boundaries of EHZs 11 and 12 are, but it is likely that it has something to do with the realignment of EHZs around Weedville where there are  ongoing problems with elk in town and elk/vehicle collisions on Routes 255 and 555. WCO Doty McDowell reports in the March 22, 2013 edition of the Courier Express that the area around Weedville is no longer in the corner of three separate EHZs, but is now mainly in one EHZ.  He goes on to note in the article that the allocation has been increased in the Weedville area.

Hunt Zone Realignment-Allocations Designed To Address Elk/Human Conflict Weedville Area

Elk Cross Quehanna Highway At Medix Run

Below is a chart, which lists the allocations for each EHZ in 2013 and 2012.  The Conservation tag is not taken into account in this chart. Areas with 0 allocations are considered closed to elk hunting this year.  As of yet I have no map of the revised EHZs so one can only speculate about the location of Zone 11 and 12.  It seems reasonably safe to assume that the other EHZs will be at least in the same general area as in the past, but this is by no means guaranteed and it is very possible that the EHZ boundaries may be changed to a certain extent even if they remain the same overall.

	2013			2012
Zone	Antlered	Antlerless		Antlered	Antlerless
2	3	10		3	12
3	2	6		1	2
4	3	2		1	1
5	4	11		0	0
6	3	12		0	0
7	0	0		4	10
8	1	1		2	7
9	1	4		4	10
10	3	5		4	4
11	1	1
12	5	8

Source: Prepared by W. Hill from the 2012-13 Hunting and Trapping Digest and PGC News Release 026-13.


Assuming that the zones remain much the same, it appears that the herd on Winslow Hill will receive about the same amount of hunting pressure as last year, with two less antlerless elk being targeted.  Zones 5&6, which are located on the eastern edge of the elk range were closed last year, but are open this year, with 15 tags issued for each, while EHZ 7 which is directly west of EHZ 6 is closed this year, but had 14 tags issued last year.  At this point it is not clear just what this all means and it will be interesting to see the 2013 EHZ map, which should make the situation more clear and aid in analyzing the impact these changes will have on elk related tourism.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Photographing Eastern Wild Turkey With The 5D MK III and The GH3

Mature Eastern Wild Turkey Gobbler: Canon 5D MKIII-300mm f2.8 L IS+2x Extender ISO 400-1/500 sec. f8

Eastern Wild Turkey courtship has picked up somewhat recently, but it is still lackluster compared to the best  years I have recorded.  Encounters such as this are all too rare this year.  In this case a mature gobbler was with several hens in a remote mountain meadow and periodically strutted and went through the courtship ritual.

I seldom use either my 1.4x or 2x extenders with my 500mm F4, as it seems the sharpness just isn't there--even when the lens is micro-adjusted with each one.  I do use the 1.4x quite often on the 300mm f2.8, but seldom use the 2x.  Several of us have been discussing the extenders lately and are not sure whether one actually gets better results at long range by using them, or by not using them and cropping the image more severely. (for the record, the image above is cropped substantially even with using the 2X extender.)  At some point I am going to have to get serious and shoot some detailed tests under controlled circumstances and come up with a definitive answer to this question. At any rate I did use the 2X extensively in this encounter and was quite pleased with the results.

I did quite a bit of the shooting in this encounter with the Panasonic GH3 and the Canon 500mm F4.  The GH3 has a 2X crop factor compared to the 5D MK III, so the lens has a 1,000mm equivalent focal length  on this camera, compared to the 600mm focal length of the 300mm+2X extender on the MK III.

Eastern Wild Turkey Gobbler and Hens: Panasonic GH3-Canon 500mm f4L IS-ISO 200-1/1000 sec. f?

This photo is cropped only a small amount, compared to the significant crop on the first one. Based on my limited amount of use so far it seems that the GH3 compares favorably to the Canon 7D  for still photography, when similar quality lenses are used, while the 5D MK III does somewhat better--especially at the higher ISO settings.  In most cases, I do prefer the GH3 over either when it comes to taking video and I will try to go into this in depth in a future post.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Eastern Wild Turkey Mating Season Is Underway

My wildlife photography is primarily focused on photographing the Eastern Wild Turkey mating season from the time it begins in late March until it  dies down in late May.  This has been the poorest year in recent memory with many mornings being brutally cold, and windy, which is very poor conditions in which to see turkeys.  So far, turkey sightings have been very sporadic, and gobbling activity is even more difficult to find.  I often photography deer or song birds while waiting for the gobblers to appear and the other evening I had a good encounter with a Carolina Wren while doing so.

Carolina Wren: Panasonic GH3 Lumix G 100-300mm f4-5.6 -ISO 200 1/60 sec.@ f5.6

One gets to see some mature gobblers if they put in the time and I lucked out one evening when a monster gobbler came to the edge of the meadow I was watching and surveyed the countryside before going back in the woods.

Mature Gobbler: Panasonic GH3-Canon 500mm f4.0 IS -ISO 200 1/200 sec. Unknown f stop

 You will note that I do not give the f stop information above.  When using regular MFT lenses one can read the complete exposure metadata in Photoshop, but when using the Canon lenses, which require an adapter, the ability to record lens settings to metadata is lost and only the in-camera settings are preserved.

Mornings are usually the best time to photograph wild turkeys, when the birds come to the meadows to feed  and engage in courtship activity after spending the night roosting in the woodlands.

Gobblers Strut For Hens: Panasonic GH3 Lumix G 100-300mm f4-5.6 -ISO 200 1/320 sec.@ f7.1

If one is lucky the birds may come close and give an opportunity to capture dramatic images of gobblers strutting, but one must be well hidden for this to happen as turkeys are among the most wary wildlife.

Mature Gobbler Struts: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 300mm f2.8-1.4x estender-ISO 400 1/400 sec. f5.0

I hope that activity improves, but today's post serves to illustrate that even though things may be slow, if you put in the time, you will get some satisfactory images and in time you forget how long you had to wait between encounters.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.