Congrats to the northern field crew. They are on the board with 9 captures last week!
The northern crew has a slight advantage over the southern crew as they didn’t experience the heavy snow that now plague their southern counterparts.
Snow is a mixed blessing for trapping deer. With just the right amount of snowfall deer are “easier” to capture but it can be more difficult to get around to trap sites. And too much snow means deer move less.
All 9 deer were caught in Clover traps. Clover trapping this the epitome of full contact deer trapping. As such, proper protective gear is required. Hence the goalie helmet.
Deer in Clover traps are not sedated. They are tackled, restrained, tagged, and released. The process takes only minutes.
Clover traps are made of netting fastened to a metal frame. The frame and the deer pose the most risk of injury. Many of the crew have parents that paid a lot of money for their beautiful smile. I’m sure they wouldn’t be happy with a “check into the boards” so to speak that ruined years of dental work.
While they may not be Penguins or Flyers fans, at least they’ll keep all their teeth which is more than I can say for hockey players.
-Jeannine Fleegle, biologist
PGC Deer and Elk Section
