Driving along a county roadway, I was saddened by the sight of a recently born fawn that was a casualty of a highway mishap.

It was a stark reality of the dangers for new fawns in the outdoor settings of Pennsylvania. Then a week later, I was invited to hear a symposium sponsored by the PA Game Commission entitled “Who’s Eating Bambi.”

It was the culmination of several years of studies on the survival of fawns born in the wilds of Pennsylvania, the effects of predators and other mortality events.

Studies by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the USGS and the Penn State College of Agricultural Science, after three years of research, were recently explored at the PA Research on Fawn Survival and their Predators project.

The research was focused on the survival rates of whitetail deer fawns and the leading causes of death to newborn to 6-month deer. Leading the studies were Duane Diefenbach Ph.D., of the USGS and Penn State, and Dr. Christopher Rosenberry, Deer and Elk Section Supervisor of the PA Game Commission, along with graduate students of Penn State University.

There has always been a lot of dialogue between hunters, wildlife enthusiasts and biologists about what the deer population should be and what is an expected number in our woods. Some areas report declines while others claim deer numbers are overtaking the reasonable numbers that an area can manage.

Deer management often takes annual hunting license allotments for antlerless deer into consideration. When numbers are up, the allotment is greater and when numbers are down. a license reduction is in order.

Before the PGC could make decisions, it was decided to do a study on the deer population, its stability and survival rates.

Many times, the loss of deer numbers is blamed on predators or having too many licenses sold for the doe seasons. This study took in many factors for deer mortality and was able to compile a big picture of what is going on with fawns in Penn’s Woods.

Three main factors were taken into consideration for the study data: The effects of Predation, Human Interactions and Natural Causes.

The Predation report identified all the potential predator that a whitetail fawn might encounter. These included black bears, coyotes/dogs, bobcats, fishers, fox grey/red, raccoons and others. Excluded were mountain lions, wolves and large birds of prey that might be predators in the western states.

The data showed that predation took about 70 percent of the fawns killed, with black bears, coyotes and bobcats doing the most damage. Human causation was responsible for about 10 percent of the fawn loss, which included hunting harvest, roadway collisions, agricultural processes and fence collisions.

The Natural Sources of mortality took into consideration disease, abandonment, starvation and accidental injuries which accounted for about 18 percent of the fawn deaths.

The study used scientific data gathered by radio-collared deer and random sampling measurements against the numbers of deer that were found without the collars. Researchers were able to track the collars signals that indicated a location of a fawn death.

When located, some detective work was done to determine the most likely causes of death. Hair samples, caches of the carcass, DNA tests, wound marks and consumption patterns gave clear pictures of the likely predators.

Bears were most likely to consume the entire fawn while a bobcat would eat select portions and hide the rest of the fawn.

Even though studies show that predator density has increased by 40 percent, there has been little change over time in the adult deer survival rate of 90 percent. A typical doe in Pennsylvania produces two fawns per year at 3 years of age and can produce fawns for up to 14 years.

The impact of predators is not significant when the total survival rate is consistently maintained each year. Interestingly enough, the study also showed that though adult deer preferred big woods, so do predators. Odds of running into predators in the big woods were much higher.

However, whitetail does prefer raising their fawns in agricultural areas near human population and later moving towards the bigger woods.

Discussions about eliminating predator species included hunters not being in favor of killing more bears or having extended seasons that overlap with deer season throughout the state. Nothing can be done to eliminate coyotes as they are fair game all year long and hunting or trapping has had no negative effect on their population.

Bobcats do not make a large impact on the deer herd and there is a more expansive hunting/trapping area than ever before for those interested.

The reintroduction of the fisher has not shown any impact on fawn mortality at all. All of these predators will consume any injured deer or other carcass when found as an easy meal, but not actively pursue deer in general. Discussions about feral or domestic dogs doing damage impact on fawns has always been a brief possibility, but generally comes to an end quickly when found out.

For more information and data on the Pennsylvania Research on Fawn Survival and their Predators, contact the PGC website and register for the Webinar on Who’s Eating Bambi?

Hunting licenses

The 2018-19 Hunting Licenses will go on sale June 18 across the counter at all license sale centers or online at the PGC Outdoor Shop.

Be prepared for all the dates to send in applications as you still need to purchase the Hunting Regulations Book. It is available online, but you do need some skills to do it right and get the information you are looking to find.

Opening Day for bass

The PA Fish and Boat Commission announced the Opening Day of Bass will be June 16 at 12:01 p.m. on all inland waters. There are special regulation areas which include Lake Arthur in Butler County.

You can still get a booklet from the PFBC with all the rules, seasons and limits in PA waters.

Free fishing July 4

The next Free Fishing Day has been set for July 4 and all persons are invited to try fishing for a day without the required fishing license.

The PFBC would also like to remind all boaters that there are patrols on all state lakes, rivers and waterways looking for safety violations and BUI infractions.

Boating under the influence of alcohol or drugs is treated in the same manner as doing so on commonwealth highways! Don’t be stupid and save a life! Until we meet again, put on that life jacket and live to fish another day!

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle