Trapping deer

[TerryK]

Found 4 traps in the youtube video on state forest ground. They were baited, but tied up so they would not trip. Interestingly they were all right where I had my cameras set up last year for some early spring deer pics. Just like the guy in the video says, they are off the beaten trail behind gates. We walked 2 miles back where the traps were, and we did not see a single deer track in the snow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wob4CWTs7iY

[keystoneman 85]

Anything that ID'd them as PCG traps? I would assume so, but maybe call your regional office to make sure. Wouldn't want someone from a neighboring county stealing your deer to stock their area

[dk99358]

I see you are in the State College area. They've got some research going on there:

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal...1601916&mode=2

Traps were probably tied up so they can 1) get the deer used to entering the trap, and 2) do the actual trapping when the conditions are right.

Dale

[Emptymag]

Oh, wow. Glad I watched that. Never knew they did anything like that.

When I read the post I was thinking "TRAP a deer? WTF?"


I'll be the first to admit that they'd be calling me a pansy-ass over a round of brews, because if they told ME to get in there with the deer, I'd tell them to go eff themselves! LOL

[TerryK]

Traps were not marked or labeled, but they are identical to the video down to the corn trail leading inside. I saw them in Rothrock, so they are part of that DMAP study. I walk the dogs in the forest every weekend, and they chose a bad place to trap, because there are no tracks up there since deer season. It is a real dead zone. I already made my mind up to not put cameras up there due to the lack of game. Generally DMAP is pretty over harvested around here. I tried to get my wife caught, but she did not go for the corn. I am taking ear rings next week for bait That should throw a twist in the study. Hopefully they give her two ear tags and a collar. I actually bet they catch all kind of stuff in those traps. Nothing really to filter turkeys, bears, and coons etc. I found bear traps before, but this is the first time I found deer traps.

[Snowy]

They are called clover traps. They are basically a deer sized hav-a-heart trap. Pa does almost all of their capturing during the dead of the winter because baiting is most effective then. They rarely get by-catch and if they do it is typically turkey. Almost all of the traps have sections at the bottom of the traps called critter bars. It is a set amount of space a coon, opossum, etc could slip though and not become trapped. They can trigger it,but they'll just go under the bars. Typically deer that are captured in clover traps are not sedated and usually only get ear tags. The traps are checked at minimal once a day. Some areas can get 2,3,4,5 out of one trap in one location. After an amount of time the deer usually wise up to it. The traps (to my knowledge) are not marked PGC property (even though your right they should be). When entering the trap you must physically restrain the deer and mask it. Another biologist will come in and put the ear tags in and read back the serial numbers, age the deer and sex the deer. Adult bucks are tough at first, but tire quickly, Adult doe are the worst. Think of strength mixed with attitude. Juvies can be funny, but most of the time they jump around a lot in the trap because they are smaller and have room to move so much in the trap, but once you get them down you can begin work.

I haven't heard of a study being done currently for the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP). I could be wrong, but I don't think those traps are out for that study.

[dk99358]

Snowy: Press release #78-13 (dated Oct 7 2013) has information about the current research, so does the link I posted above.

Terry: maybe trapping success rate is part of the data they are collecting. Compare data in the DMAP vs non DMAP areas. I don't know but I doubt they just picked the spot at random.

Dale

[TerryK]

They may or may not be studying deer population verses food availability. This immediate area had large sections that are fenced off from deer. They even have a small area, like 20ft x 20ft fenced off and marked as a growth study maybe 50 yards from a trap. So population verses food makes sense. I have no idea why deer are not in this area. Coyotes were around, but their tracks are not abundant now, probably due to the lack of food. Turkeys are also scarce, but I think that is a function of poor hatch. The snow does not lie, not much walking in the area. I will probably not walk in that area for a while because I don't want my 3 labs disturbing the traps. I may just walk back with my wife, but I really hate to take a walk without the dogs, and I really don't have time for separate walks. I did see a collared doe in doe season about 8 years ago but I let it pass. It was strange to see a tagged and collared deer in the wild. That was about the end of the good old days when you could see 20 deer in a day. Now it is not unusual to see no deer in a day in the same areas.

[Gunplummer]

Maybe they should use fox pee for bait. When I trapped years back, I could not keep the deer out of my fox sets.