Well, here’s a survey of a different kind. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife is seeking help from citizens in conducting a deer survey. They are requesting photographs that anyone may have taken in 2007 in Vermont. Basic information is being requested about the deer, specifically buck deer, like date and town. Officials say they hope to be able to use this information over a long period of time to aid them in deer management. The survey runs through September.
To date, according to information made available at the Vermont Fish and Wildlife website, there have been 556 photos submitted. While one would suppose that any information could somehow be used in aiding biologists with deer management, I cannot see how this will actually do any good. Is Vermont’s data collecting used for deer management so poor that they actually believe something like this is helpful? Perhaps it’s just a ploy to get more citizens involved in the state’s deer management program.
In 2000, Vermont wildlife officials pegged the deer herd at around 160,000, falling off to between 100,000 and 130,000 in 2005. Programs, such as antler restrictions for hunters, have been implemented to bring the herd population back up and some success has been realized.
With about four weeks of photo collecting by the state left, how much information can they really gather that would be useful? It will be interesting to see what they get and whether they can garner enough interest from the people to keep the program going for several years. Any program used to log trends in wildlife have to be done of long periods of time. The longer the program runs more accurate it can become.
If you’re interested in participating, it can all be done online at the VFW website.
Tom Remington
