Looking Back

This blog was originally developed as a venue to present my wildlife photography and videos to the public, with a special emphasis on Pennsylvania's elk herd.  The first post was made on October 1, 2007.  It was titled "The Shedding Of The Velvet" and featured four photos of whitetail bucks.  Since that time, a variety of wildlife species have been covered, but I would assume that elk and deer have been the most discussed species by far.

Elk Have Been A Major Focus Of Blog Since The Beginning

The launching of the blog also coincided with the beginning of serious post-production work on "The Truth About Pennsylvania's Elk Herd", which was released in September of 2008. "The Truth" is a 2 hour 42 minute film that deals briefly with the overall history of Pennsylvania Elk, goes into an in depth history of the herd from 1995 until 2008, covers the life cycle of the elk with a special emphasis on the rut, and concludes with a look at elk management issues.

The film differs from most mainstream press coverage of Pennsylvania elk and from other films on the subject in that it takes at critical look at Pennsylvania's elk management policy.  The concept for the film actually began years ago when I was an employee of the PGC Food And Cover Corps, and Deputy Wildlife Conservation Officer.  At that time Billie Cromwell was a Food And Cover Corps foreman and as such was my supervisor.  On his own time, Billie shot video footage of the elk herd, which he then turned over to PGC videographer, Hal Korber, who incorporated a great deal of it in The Pennsylvania Game Commission video, "Pennsylvania Elk: Reclaiming The Alleghenies".  Billie had been going to elk country since the 1980s and had been around the elk a lot.  He was an avid hunter and shooter, but soon recognized that the elk herd was something special and as such he was the first one who exposed me to the view that the elk were "best utilized as a viewable resource"  I must add that this was and is a commonly held view among many who are part of the "elk culture" on Winslow Hill.   Most of these people are, or were, avid hunters who recognize the need to control the elk population at some point, but based on the PGC's past track record, and some of the statements we were hearing and reading, it was easy to be alarmed at what direction an elk hunt might take.

Billie Cromwell With Canon L2 Filming Near Saddle, Sept. 1998: video still capture  Canon L2 by W.Hill

 Fulton County Deputy Wildlife Conservation Officer, Andy Carbaugh was gracious enough to take me to Elk County on President's Day in 1995, and I returned for a day trip that August and then spent 4-5 days during the last week of September that year recording the rut.  This marked the beginning of years of collecting video footage of the elk herd and my experiences with the elk served to convince me that Billie was right in his thoughts about the elk herd. Along with this came the desire to make a film, which would not only enable me to share many of the unique experiences I captured, but to present a different point of view to the public than that which was officially promoted.

This became possible when I retired from the agency in 2007 and was free to express my personal viewpoints in both writing and film.  Billie and well known elk photographer, Ron "Buckwheat" Saffer, both gave me tremendous aid in preparing the script for the film, contributing video footage and still photographs, and providing support and inspiration along the way.

At a meeting shortly before "The Truth About Pennsylvania's Elk Herd" was released, Billie and others were reminiscing about the making of the PGC video and Billie remarked that had he known how that "Reclaiming the Alleghenies" would be used to advance the agenda for an elk hunt, and even tourism to the extent that it was, that he would not have participated in the project.  He was  especially bitter that his name was mentioned only once in the closing credits of the film and he believed that some did not even want it listed there.  It was not listed anywhere on the jacket of the video, although the name of every other person involved to a major extent was listed, along with credit for what they did, and Billie was involved to a major extent as a significant portion of the rut footage was filmed by him.

A major concern that began when talk of a hunt first surfaced and continues to this day is that restraint would go out the window once the hunt started, with larger and larger license allocations and an undue focus on shooting the large acclimated bulls.

The point of all of this is that the blog has always been issue driven to a certain extent. During the past year I have moved it more in that direction and hope to continue to pursue this course.  I do plan to continue writing about  the natural history of wildlife, and photography/video equipment and techniques also.

In addition I wish to thank everyone who purchased the film, or supported the blog.  I have met many of you in elk country as a result and truly appreciate your support.

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

What Is Wanton Waste?: A Disturbing Case Study

Likely The Buck Involved In First Day Of Season Incident: Still Capture From Video Taken At Long Range-Canon Xl-H1

 I came to the conclusion many years ago that not all things that are legal are ethical and just recently I had this point forcibly brought home to me.  On the last Saturday of rifle deer season a hunter shot a buck on state game lands near my home.  I noticed that he left carrying only a backpack with the deer's head with antlers attached, strapped to the backpack. It didn't seem likely he could be carrying the entire deer, so I checked the area out after he left and found a deer carcass that had been there for sometime. It had been hidden under the leaves, but the wind, rain and varmints had caused the deer to be partially exposed so that I could easily see it. This deer had the head removed and the tenderloins or "backstraps".  The remainder of the deer was left to rot, or for the varmints to eat.

Buck Killed Earlier In Season-Most Likely The One On The First Day

This brought to mind that I saw another hunter standing over a dead  buck  in this same spot on the first day of rifle deer season. In fact he was using same stand to hunt from as the hunter on this past Saturday, but it definitely was not the same individual. This hunter attached a tag to the animal and left, dragging the animal behind him, headed toward the area where I found the carcass on Saturday, which makes it seem likely that he dragged the animal to this spot, which was just out of sight of me, removed the head and tenderloins, and then buried the remainder under the leaves. 

It seemed certain that the other deer was hidden nearby, so it was time to call for professional help.  At this point I  called a PGC Deputy Wildlife Conservation Officer, who made arrangements to go with me to the area next morning.  On Sunday morning, the DWCO, a neighboring landowner, and I went to the area and in no time found the deer that was shot on Saturday.  This animal was also hidden under a pile of leaves and was only a short distance from the other.  It too had only the head and tenderloins removed. The bottom line was that we had two deer that had been killed and buried under the leaves, with only the head and backstraps removed from each.

Head Removed From Buck Killed On Last Saturday Of Season

Backstraps Removed From Buck Killed On Last Saturday Of season

The Deputy gathered pertinent evidence before leaving the area and he and I felt confident that this was a "good" case.  Leaving most of the animal to rot had to be wrong, or was it? The first doubts arose when I researched  this and found quite a bit of discussion on blogs and forums on the internet about this subject.

A Particularly good discussion can be found at the Fair Chase Hunting Blog, and a continuation of this discussion can be found by clicking here, Wanton Waste And Going Above And Beyond Fair Chase .

Another excellent discussion can be found on the Hunting PA Forums . Particularly relevant are comments by Retired Pennsylvania Game Commission  Bureau Of Wildlife Protection Enforcement Division Chief , John Shutter (John S forum user name). In a comment dated Nov.2, 2011, Shutter States, "Neither State or Federal law forces game to be utilized, I don't know how that would be possible, both simply require the game to be retrieved if reasonably possible and removed from the field. After that, it is a matter of conscience and common sense."

 Here is the pertinent section of the Pennsylvania Game and Wildlife Code, which reads as follows:

 Sec. 2305. Retrieval and disposition of killed or wounded game or wildlife.
(a) General rule.--It is unlawful for any person who kills or wounds any game or wildlife while engaged in any activities permitted by this title to refuse or neglect to make a reasonable effort to retrieve, retain or lawfully dispose of such game or wildlife.

They key to the entire situation is "lawfully dispose".  It was the opinion of Fulton County District Wildlife Conservation Officer, Kevin Mountz, and Southcentral Regional Law Enforcement Supervisor, Roland Trombetto, that removing only the antlers and backstraps is "lawfully disposing" of a deer killed on state game lands, as long as the animal is killed in season, with a legal weapon, and the hunter has a valid tag, which he uses on that animal.  According to Mountz, at that point he owns the animal and can dispose of it as he pleases. There is no section or portion of a section requiring a person to utilize any portion of an animal which they legally harvested. It would possible to charge them with littering if they removed the carcass from one spot and dumped it in another, but in this case it was left in the same general area where it was killed.  (I would assume but do not know for a fact, that a private landowner could bring charges for leaving wildlife parts on their property, but according to Mountz  and Trombetto, "we do not arrest people for leaving deer parts on state game lands"-with the caveat that it must be where the animal is killed and not transported to another spot and dumped).  Legally speaking, at the end of the day all that mattered was that the buck was tagged.

I had not ran into this in my many years as a Deputy for the PGC, and always assumed that it was illegal to waste an animal in such a manner.  In fact most who shoot deer out of season, or shoot more than the law allows, use the argument " I needed the meat" as justification for their actions, or someone might say in reference to an illegal deer shooting, "well, it's OK as long as they use the meat", but in this case we have persons who most likely legally killed two deer, but did not want the meat.  This interpretation of the law led me to ponder what the ramifications would be if one had a valid antlerless deer tag and did the same thing. What, if any, portion of the deer is the hunter required to retain?

On reading  Section 2305 and hearing the explanation from my former superior officers, I could see no point in pursuing the matter further, which at this juncture would be establishing that the animals were tagged, and I have no doubt that they were, so the matter was dropped, but it is one that will leave a bad aftertaste for years to come.

A major problem is the message that this sends to the public.  The law needs to be re-written or at least additional regulations promulgated under Title 58 to cover this type of situation.  In a time when the sport of hunting is under increasing attack from all quarters, this type of behavior only serves to reinforce negative views of the sport.  How can one justify shooting an animal for the antlers on its' head and a few pounds of choice meat, while the vast majority of the animal is left to rot and how can a state conservation agency condone this type of activity?  It appears that the state of Alaska does not and Pennsylvania should follow suit!  Here is the pertinent section of the Alaska Law:

Title 5 Fish and Game
Part 3 Game
Chapter 92 Statewide Provisions
 (a) Subject to additional requirements in 5 AAC 84 - 5 AAC 85, a person taking game shall salvage the following parts for human use: 

Article 20 Definitions (17) "edible meat" means, in the case of a big game animal, except a black bear, the meat of the ribs, neck, brisket, front quarters as far as the distal joint of the radius-ulna (knee), hindquarters as far as the distal joint of the tibia-fibula (hock), and the meat along the backbone between the front and hindquarters; in the case of a black bear, the meat of the front quarters and hindquarters and meat along the backbone (backstrap); in the case of wild fowl, the meat of the breast; however, "edible meat" of big game or wild fowl does not include meat of the head, meat that has been damaged and made inedible by the method of taking, bones, sinew, incidental meat reasonably lost as a result of boning or a close trimming of the bones, or viscera;

Originally posted 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.

Another Winslow Hill Favorite Killed In 2011 Hunt

Wildlife Artist and photographer David Anderson alerted members of the elk watching/photography community some time ago about the death of another favorite bull.  This was an impressive 7x8 bull that thrilled thousands of tourists during the rut on Winslow Hill.  Many if not most of the bulls leave Winslow Hill after the rut and this bull was not killed on Winslow Hill, but in nearby Jay Township, Elk County.  Anderson had been working on a painting of this particular animal.

7x8 Rests With Harem Near Large Number Of Tourists Along Dewey Road

I concentrated on filming the rut this year, and my still photography suffered greatly as I was usually running a video camera during my best elk encounters.  As a result, most of the photographs I am posting today are still captures from the Canon XL-H1 video camera.  The following is one of the most dramatic frame captures I was able to find from the HD video.

7x8 Pauses To Pant On Winslow Hill

Saturday evening, September 24th found The Saddle filled with elk and elk watchers.  I was on a favorite pond bank with the XL-H1, recording the activity.  Two large  bulls came from the woods and passed by where I was standing.  Both were exceptional, but one had a broken beam.  The other was the 7x8.  The following photo was taken at that time and shows how the bull looked from a side view.

7x8 Passes By Pond Bank

The bulls continued past the pond and into a clover strip along the road through the saddle, where they joined a large herd of cows and smaller bulls.

7x8 With Harem Near Elk Watchers

This elk was not among the wildest that I have seen, but neither was he the most acclimated to humans.  Depending on the circumstances he seemed to have a 40-75 yard tolerance range.  I never actually saw him bolt from humans, but did see him move slowly away when persons got inside his comfort zone.

With the loss of this bull and another one known as "Ear Hook", the two largest bulls commonly seen on Winslow Hill this fall are gone.  

Anderson notes that he intends to complete the painting after the Holidays.

Originally Posted At Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.