HARRISBURG – A state Department of Conservation and Natural
Resources aerial analysis of white-tailed deer populations – which
for the first time included private woodlands in McKean County –
shows deer densities on surveyed lands are highly variable.
The study began in mid-February and used an
infrared-camera-equipped plane that flew over 464,100 acres of,
primarily, state forest and game lands targeted by DCNR and the
Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Officials said the flights over state forestland showed the
highest average deer density surveyed in an 18-deer-per-square-mile
area in Susquehannock State Forest’s Deer Management Assistance
Program (DMAP) No. 28 near Austin in Potter County. The lowest, 8,
was recorded in Tioga State Forests’s DMAP No. 44 near Leonard
Harrison State Park in Tioga County.
“The average densities for lands we surveyed ranged from 8- to
18-deer-per-square-mile,” DCNR Secretary Michael DiBerardinis said.
“However, within our survey blocks, we found some areas where there
were no deer, and others where densities reached 55-, 70- and even
126-deer-per-square-mile.
“This year’s aerial surveys largely confirm what we found last
year, and will serve as a valuable tool as we continue to better
understand deer densities and distribution to help guide efforts to
ensure forest regeneration and healthy habitat.”
According to DiBerardinis, quantifying deer densities is
important to gauging the agency’s progress toward balancing deer
populations with available habitat, “but a healthy forest is our
main indicator for success.”
“Once our forest managers see habitat recovery and no longer
need deer fences to consistently regenerate the forest following
timber harvests or natural disturbances, we will know we’re
beginning to reach our goals.”
To maximize areas surveyed and minimize costs, the Game
Commission had requested that flights cover 50-percent sampling of
its selected game lands. Game lands were selected to include
varying sizes, topography and proximity to populated areas and
regions.
“It is important to remember that these aerial counts represent
those deer sighted on a particular parcel, on a given day and
time,” said Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G.
Roe. “The figures represent the minimum number of deer that were
present, which then can be used to calculate a minimum density for
the area.
Roe said while the Game Commission can’t use aerial counts to
make deer management decisions across entire wildlife management
units, “we do believe that these counts can help in demonstrating
deer dispersion at the time of the flights and provide another
source of information to help us understand deer and their
activities.”
Roe noted the Game Commission relies on more than just the
number of deer when determining the direction of its deer
management program. “Our deer management program is guided by three
management goals: manage for a healthy deer herd; ensure healthy
habitat for all wildlife; and reduce human-deer conflicts,” Roe
said.
Sections of five state forest districts and six state Game Lands
were surveyed in aerial flights continuing into early spring.
Results are being compared to on-the-ground measures of deer
density and habitat conditions to provide a clearer picture of deer
impact on forest ecosystems. DCNR conducted extensive analyses of
habitat conditions across 2.1 million acres of state forestland in
February, March and April of this year.
“We will use the aerial data in conjunction with detailed
vegetation analysis to help guide our management decisions and
adjust our efforts to steer hunters to certain state forest areas
in the 2006-07 hunting season,” DiBerardinis said.
Targeted acreage for aerial analysis included the Game
Commission’s doe and fawn mortality study areas, Tuscarora State
Forest, and portions of state forests enrolled in the Game
Commission’s DMAP, which allows landowners to target specific areas
for additional antlerless deer harvest, enabling hunters to kill
more than one deer in designated areas when properly licensed.
The survey’s scope also was broadened to include, for the first
time, private woodlands in McKean County, where sportsmen had met
with Gov. Ed Rendell to request the study include sections of the
Kinzua Quality Deer Cooperative. The effort involved hunters, land
managers and owners intent on improving deer, wildlife habitat and
forest management.
DCNR’s contractor also flew an area of approximately 35,000
acres located in northwest Delaware and southeast Chester counties
– that includes Ridley Creek State Park – which has been,
historically, impacted by high deer densities. Conservation
organizations are working with landowners to protect the remaining
natural habitats in this highly developed area and are looking at
various approaches to address the overabundant deer problem. The
data will help identify deer densities across the area and help
develop a model for future efforts to measure and control deer in
this type of environment.
The 2006 flights over state forestland showed the highest
average deer density surveyed was 18-deer-per-square-mile in
Susquehannock State Forest’s DMAP No. 28, near Austin, Potter
County. The lowest, 8, was recorded in Tioga State Forest’s DMAP
No. 44, near Leonard Harrison State Park, Tioga County.
The second highest average was Moshannon State Forest’s DMAP No.
305, near Clearfield, Clearfield County, with
16-deer-per-square-mile. Other results:
Averages of 14, Susquehannock State Forest, DMAP No. 29, near
Coudersport, Potter County; 12, Elk State Forest, DMAP No. 54, near
Dents Run, Elk County; 11, Moshannon State Forest, DMAP No. 18,
near S.B. Elliot State Park, Clearfield County; 11, Moshannon State
Forest DMAP No. 312, near Parker Dam State Park, Clearfield County;
10, Tioga State Forest, DMAP No. 45, near Blossburg, Tioga County;
10, Susquehannock State Forest, DMAP No. 27, near Cherry Springs
State Park, Potter County; and 8, Tioga State Forest, DMAP No. 44,
near Wellsboro, Tioga County.
Others included: 9, Kinzua Quality Deer Cooperative North, in
northern McKean County; 10, Kinzua Quality Deer Cooperative South,
in southern McKean County; and 37 deer per square mile for the
Ridley Creek area in Delaware and Chester counties, with the
highest local density reaching 98.
“In reviewing these figures it’s imperative to know these aerial
surveys detect the minimum, over-wintering densities on one
specific night in February, March or April, when the flights were
flown,” said Merlin Benner, DCNR wildlife biologist. “Depending on
a given area’s habitat condition, deer herd health, sex ratio and
reproductive success, densities could be 10 to 50 percent higher
during fall hunting seasons.”
For the second consecutive year, the survey contract was awarded
to Vision Air Research Inc., an Idaho-based independent wildlife
research firm. A crew and specially-equipped plane operated out of
University Park Airport, Centre County, and Skyhaven Airport,
McKean County.
Details on the 2006 aerial study, including state forest tracts
surveyed and photos, as well as other information on deer, can be
found at www.dcnr.state.pa.us (select State Forests).
For more information, visit DCNR’s Web site at
www.dcnr.state.pa.us .
