Greene County hunting report
The word is there are fewer coyotes in Greene County these days. Western Greene County Wildlife Conservation Officer Rod Burns reports that Wind Ridge Sportsmen’s Club’s annual coyote hunt was a big success this year, as 140 hunters turned out and took advantage of great hunting conditions, including new-fallen snow to kill 13 of the wily critters.
While many hunters reported seeing few deer in his district during the past hunting seasons, Burns said he sees deer and quite a few tracks when checking the Game Lands.
During deer season, he too said deer were at times.
He points out how hard the Game Lands are hunted. “It only makes sense that the deer are going to be hard to find,” he said. “They get pressured and move to less pressured areas.”
He has been seeing browse damage on the Game Lands and notes how hard is to manage the deer herd, which do indeed destroy the habitat they need to survive.
Pressure was heavy throughout the deer season with hunters coming from all over to hunt Greene County.
Burns said that he spoke with hunters who traveled from Somerset County, where they felt the herd was down because of a harsh winter causing many does to abort or absorb their fawns, as they said that they didn’t see many does with fawns last spring.
Burns said the weather hasn’t had any real effect on game populations this year.
He and Southern Fayette County Wildlife Conservation Officer Steve Leiendecker have been checking fetuses of road-killed does as part of the Game Commission’s ongoing deer study. “We check two does with fetuses today and five another day. All the adult does were carrying fawns, and one first-year deer was pregnant.”
He also noted that another first-year doe they checked was not pregnant.
When checking the road-killed deer, they measure the length of each fawn and weigh it, and note other vital statistics, including the sex of the fawn.
In commenting on the turkeys Burns said, “I think the turkeys are fine. I think the turkey numbers came back some last year. I was concerned the past couple of years, but with a good nesting year, I think the population will come right back.”
Burns feels that the late hunting seasons were a bust for the most part, as bad weather kept most hunters indoors with more small game hunters braving the elements than deer hunters.
“I think there was only one decent Saturday after Christmas,” he said. “Hunting pressure was very light in the late seasons. The first day after the season came in it was pretty decent, but I expect the numbers will be terrible for the flintlock season.
I’ll get a better picture on the overall season after the Allegheny Sport Show, where we (Game Commission personnel) hear all the complaints.
As far as those who complain about the lack of deer, Burns pointed out that Allegheny County has unlimited antlerless deer licenses and hunters there kill record deer each year because of the habitat. Does killed there weigh 200 pounds live weight and the reason is because they eat more and are healthier.
“The healthier the deer, the more fawns they produce,” Burns noted.
“Some people are upset because there are too many deer and others feel there are not enough deer.”
If you see Burns at the outdoor show stop and talk with him. He likes to hear from sportsmen.
“It’s good that people care,” he said. “When people don’t care is when we really have problems. I like them to be educated and voice their opinions on what is going on.”
Rod Schoener is the Herald-Standard outdoors writer.