HSUS Investigates Shenandoah Nation Park Whitetail Collars-Calls For Photos

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is requesting that photographers send them recent photos of deer showing damage from the collars that are being used in the CWD study at SNP.  This will be somewhat difficult as most whitetail photographers do not travel to the park in winter and those that did are less inclined to do so since the study began, but I assume that photos taken during the past fall are wanted.

First a bit of history for first time readers and a re-fresher for  those who have been following the problem. In late August or early September of 2012, we learned about the CWD study at Shenandoah National Park from well known Virginia wildlife photographer, Larry W. Brown.  As a result of the study, most of the mature whitetail bucks in the Big Meadows area were fitted with radio collars.  This was initially discussed in the October 26, 2012 post, " Shenandoah Whitetails Under Assault" and followed up by Shenandoah Whitetails Under Assault Part II", on October 30, 2012. This post featured photos of  several collared bucks, which were taken by retired PGC Maintenance Supervisor Billie G. Cromwell. For those who want more background, I recommend that you read past posts and follow the links to material by Larry W. Brown and others.

Mature Buck With Collar Big Meadows Campground: 2012 Photo by Billie G. Cromwell

Fast forward to this year. After a mid-November trip to SNP, Billie Cromwell shared some of his photos that illustrated just how these collars negatively impact the deer.  This was discussed in the post of November 21, 2013, "Whitetail Photography at Shenandoah National Park-Destroyed For Now"  This post featured  the above photo and several of the buck in 2013, which showed  damage to the neck from the collar.

H2 in 2013: Photo Courtesy of Billie G. Cromwell

As a result of reading the series of posts, fellow photographer, Dan Gomola contacted the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) seeking a remedy to the situation. On December 5, 2013 Dan received a reply to his inquiry from Laura J. Simon a Wildlife Ecologist with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) thanking him for alerting the HSUS to the situation and promising to look into the matter.

Dan received a report from Ms.Simon on January 10, 2014, which is posted below.

Subject: RE: Shenandoah National Park deer

Hi Dan,

Sorry not to get back to you sooner on this situation!
On behalf of HSUS, I lodged a written complaint with the SNP
Superintendant's office about the deer being harmed by problematic
radio-collars. I spoke today to Jim Schaberl, who is the Chief of Natural
and Cultural Resources -- and the person overseeing the radio-telemetry
study.

He said that some of the deer already had their radio collars fixed in
November and early December, but he also asked me to give him a list of all
problematic collars reported so he could check up on them. I gave him H-2,
F-2, V-7, C-7 and Y-7 (please let me know if there are any more). He thought
H-2 was from the Fall of 2012 and assured me it had been addressed
immediately at that time.

Mr. Schaberl also said that they were disappointed in the collars, that this
design had worked well for mule deer in a prior study done with the US
Geologic Survey, and based on that recommendation the NPS had ordered them
for the SNP study. He said the collars had performed well the first year,
but now some were turning out to be problematic --- they expand, but it
seems the area where they expand is not covered well, there's nothing
underneath, and that is what creates the rubbing and soring problems.
Overall, Mr. Schaberl seemed genuinely concerned about the problems caused
by these collars and anxious to fix them.

What would help is if you could post to the PA Photographers website, and
ask people to please send us and the SNP any recent photos ---- and of the
ones that have already been posted, it would be good to know the dates. It
would also be important to find out if these 5 deer are the only ones seen
with ill-fitting collars: H-2, F-2, V-7, C-7 and Y-7.

Thank you again for flagging this situation -- I will give you another update early next week.

Cheers,

Laura J. Simon

Wildlife Ecologist

Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)

lsimon@humanesociety.org

I assume that photos are to be e-mailed to the humane society at the above address .

Shenandoah National Park's contact information as listed on their website is shown below, but upon opening the e-mail link I see no option to attach photos.

By Mail Shenandoah National Park 3655 Hwy 211 East Luray, VA 22835  By E-mail Shenandoah National Park

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill

New Year- Photographs and Thoughts

I have been blogging since October of 2007 and I find it increasingly difficult to make a blog post.  It is not so hard if one puts up a few photographs with minimal commentary--at least if one is having good success with photographic opportunities.  This time of year can be especially difficult in the area where I live as rifle deer season puts the damper on whitetail buck photography.  The countryside is also drab looking when there is no snow on the ground.  I am conflicted about this as I do not like having to deal with snow, but I do like to see and photograph wildlife in it. We have had a bit of snow off and on and I photographed a mature gobbler one morning as he preened and basked in the morning sunlight at the edge of a meadow.

Mature Gobbler Preening: Canon 7D-Canon 600mm F4.0  L IS - ISO 200-1/500 sec. f 5.0

This was a was a welcome change from the usual bare ground, but the snow was gone within a few days.

Distant Whitetails: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 600mm F4.0 L IS - ISO 400-1/1000 sec. f 5.0

It is good to see and photograph deer under any conditions, but photographing them in falling snow is especially rewarding.

Doe in Falling Snow: Canon 7D-Canon 70-200 mm F 2.8  L IS II - ISO 400-1/100 sec. f 4.0

I included an old manure spreader in the background of the photograph shown below to add to the atmosphere, but I am not sure if it is a plus or a minus composition wise.

A Snowy Day: Canon 7D-Canon 17-40mm F4.0  L@40mm - ISO 400-1/80 sec. f 7.1

It should be easier to get good wildlife photographs once the late flintlock & archery deer season is over and wildlife populations calm down a bit, which brings me to a point that I wish to address briefly.

While it is not difficult to make a post such as this one has been so far, it is difficult to write about controversial subjects and one can spend hours or parts of several days in writing a post about this type of subject matter. The problem is that I feel compelled to write about wildlife issues from the perspective of a wildlife photographer as it seems to me that much of the writing done about wildlife issues in the public media is from the perspective of the hunting community.  While it is true that at this point wildlife conservation programs are primarily funded by hunting license dollars, I  think that persons who are interested in wildlife for other reasons should have a voice in wildlife management  and they should be responsible for bearing a fair share of the cost of  wildlife management.

State conservation agencies in general and The Pennsylvania Game Commission in particular, are faced with declining hunter numbers and a  corresponding loss of revenue from license sales, while the legislature steadfastly refuses to give the agency a license increase.  So far the problem has been staved off by funding from timber sales, and Marcellus shale leasing,etc. but this will not carry the load forever.  As a result, there is a frantic effort to attract new hunters and to entice those that have quit hunting back into the fold.  There is a continual clamor for more and longer seasons, special seasons, mentored youth hunts, mentored adult hunts and on and on. At the same time, a substantial-or at least very vocal portion- of the hunting public believes that the whitetail deer population has been decimated by the excessive killing of does and this is the primary reason for the loss of interest in hunting.

This situation provides a fertile field for discussion and I hope to write about some of these issues in the coming year along with the usual photography content.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard  Hill.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all.

Whitetail Buck Sheds Antlers

Yearling Spike: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS L II @ 135mm-ISO 400-1/400 sec. F 5.0

Each year one hears about hunters shooting what they assumed was a doe, only to find on close examination it was a buck that had already shed its' antlers. Most whitetail bucks in our area shed their antlers in early February. I have seen bucks that just lost their antlers in late December and early January. but it was not until this year that I was present when a spike buck lost both of his antlers in mid-December.

The buck is a small spike that did not disperse from his family group this fall and I have seen him almost daily since he was a fawn.  I saw him late in the afternoon of December 16th, as I was setting the cameras up and he still had both antlers.  Imagine my surprise when I looked up and saw that one antler was missing.  I tried to photograph him, but before I could get a shot he ran behind some other deer and when he was visible again, both antlers were gone. I did get some shots of the area where the antler attaches to the skull which is known as the pedicle. I wish I had a closer shot, but it was not possible.  As it is the photo below is severely cropped.

Pedicle: Canon 5D MK III-Canon 600mm F 4.0-ISO 200-1/2500 sec. F 4.5

Spike After Shedding: Canon 5D MK III-Canon600mm F 4.0-ISO 400-1/800 sec. F  5.0

There was a bit of snow on the ground and I searched for the antlers, but it soon grew too late to see well and I gave up.  It snowed more that night and the ground was snow covered until Friday when the ground was bare again and I found one of the antlers.

Shed Antler: Panasonic GH3-Lumix 17-140mm@25mm-ISO 200-1/60 sec. F 7.1

Shed Antler: Panasonic GH3-Lumix 17-140mm@140mm-ISO 200-1/40 sec. F 9.0

Sometimes bucks shed their antlers simultaneously or as in this case a few moments apart, but in other instances it can be days. The antlers in the photo below were found in mid-April of last year. They were evidently cast only a few seconds apart.

Mature 8-Point Rack 2012-Found In Mid-April

In the case of the spike, it is possible I could have filmed an antler actually falling off had I kept the video camera running and followed him from the time he appeared, but that was not to be.  It is possible to film antlers being shed,  but it has to either be a lucky accident and they just happen to fall off at the correct time or it has to be captured by an unmanned camera as humans do not have the time or the patience to keep a camera running that long.

Originally Published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.