Updates from Jim Baichtal’s deck, from hunting stories to the latest in deer happenings throughout the year…
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Yesterday, I immersed myself in the udder silence of the snow covered forest and muskegs. No sounds. No movement. Occasionally there would be the tracks of a vole or the ermine hunting them. Midday, a raven ghosted me. His wing beats announcing his presence. The forest and landscape cloaked in white. Lake ice melted in patterns reminiscent of electrical currents dancing across its surface. I feel reconnected to the land, I love this place.
Houdinia is a special deer. She was the last adult female deer captured by the Prince of Wales deer project, which ran 2010-2013, and she was captured just outside of Thorne Bay, in the subdivision clearcut, on May 20th, 2012 (See photo #1). Her collar dropped off, as pre-programmed, on April 15th, 2013, so we knew here whereabouts every 2 hours for just under a year. We also fit her with a VIT (vaginal implant transmitter), allowing us to know the time and location of her delivery of her fawn that spring. She gave birth on June 4th, 2012 to a healthy female fawn, in a small patch of remnant old growth, which has since been logged (photo 2). Her fawn survived for the remainder of the year, until her break-away elastic collar fell off naturally the following spring.
Houdinia got her name from the local Thorne Bay school kids. Sophie Gilbert, who was the PhD student leading the deer project, also worked with a local science teacher to help develop biology curriculum materials taught through deer-related content (including a dissection!), and she wanted to show the kids a local deer that they could keep an eye out for and really be excited about. So, she made sure to capture a deer as close to Thorne Bay as was safe (shooting a dart gun right in town was not a good idea), and then let the kids pick the name. The students picked this name because it took them a couple of weeks to spot her (she disappears from her clearcut from time to time to use other habitat, making it tough to find her), leading them to want to name her after the great escape artist, Houdini.
Incredibly, Houdinia has now survived through 2023 (which we know thanks to her yellow numbered ear-tags), and Jim was so excited to re-encounter her taking a nice nap in her clearcut. She was 3 years old when we captured her, making her 14 years old today, which is pretty darned impressive for a wild deer with plenty of predators and some harsh winters. Using a basic deer population model (Gilbert et al. 2020), we can pick some reasonable values for population growth rates (calculated in females produced per female in the population, because females generally drive population patterns for polygamous breeders like deer). If we take the growth ratse of 1.17 for mild winters and 0.92 for harsh winters, and look at the pattern of winters experienced by Houdinia, we can see that she’s only experienced one harsh winter (2010-2011) during the years she’s been an adult and producing fawns. She would have had her first fawn right around her 2nd birthday (in spring 2011, after the harsh winter), giving her 12 years of reproduction. We can then very roughly calculate that she’s contributed 1 deer (herself) x 0.92 x (1.17)^11 = roughly 5 new female deer to the female population (not counting her contribution of bucks). This is a “back of the napkin” calculation, and a little bit of an under-estimate (growth rate represents average females per female, and Houdini is an adult female, so probably more productive than average), but it gives us a ball park.
We wish Houdinia a happy early birthday, and more years peacefully basking in the sun in “her clearcut”!
New research by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has just been published, and sheds new light on what role deer play in wolf diets during denning season on Prince of Wales Island.
Deer was more common in wolf diets during denning season than other times of year, and pups ate a higher proportion of deer than adults.
Packs with more closed logging roads, more young clearcuts < 25 years old, and greater patchiness and variety of vegetation types also ate more deer during denning season and year round, and fed more deer to their pups. Pack and pup consumption of deer was linked to higher litter sizes of wolves. This is another angle on a dynamic that’s well established: that deer and wolf populations and their predator-prey relationship are deeply connected to forest habitat condition, including road density and density of young clearcuts.
What does all this mean for the future of wolves and deer on Prince of Wales? I’ll let the authors sum that up for themselves:
The benefits of early successional vegetation in young-growth forest to deer has a limited time frame post-logging, and deer abundance is predicted to decline as a greater proportion of the young-growth forests on POW move into the stem-exclusion phase (Alaback, 1982; Farmer & Kirchhoff, 2007; Person, 2001).
As deer are the primary prey of wolves on POW and in many areas of Southeast Alaska, this presents the question of whether wolves may be able to switch to other prey if deer were to become less available. Our recent work indicates that wolves in this region responded to lower dietary contributions of their primary ungulate prey by increasing the diversity of prey consumed (Roffler et al., 2021), suggesting wolves could tolerate large-scale ecological changes resulting in decreased abundance of deer.
Although wolves are highly adaptable and display dietary plasticity (Peterson & Ciucci, 2003), which is favorable to ensuring their persistence to environmental change and shifts in prey abundance and composition, other modeling efforts have pointed to how decreased deer habitat and abundance may be detrimental to wolf population growth rates and may trigger population declines (Gilbert et al., 2022; Person, 2001). Here we provide evidence of a possible adverse effect of deer declines to wolf fitness by linking the contribution of deer in wolf diets to litter size.
Although our sample size is limited, and further work would be valuable to gain a deeper understanding of the influence of habitat and prey availability on wolf population viability, we documented the prime importance of deer to components of wolf reproduction and fitness.
Our results suggest that one possible outcome of landscape-level reductions in deer habitat capability and abundance could be reduced wolf litter sizes and a corresponding decrease in the wolf population. However, considering the ample availability of alternate prey on POW, it is likely wolves would persist albeit at lower densities.
By my standards, today was a perfect day. I set the alarm for 4:30. The winds were howling. I reset it for 5:30 and got up and dressed hoping the winds would die down. The extra hour of sleep was great. I got up, dressed, made coffee and breakfast and was out the door at 6:00. The plan today was to travel approx. 4.5 miles from the road and replacing three aging cameras that had been failing. It was 21 degrees when I left the truck, the winds were not too bad. It was 8:15 when I got to the first cameras. I replaced cards, replaced failing cameras, and moved one to a much better used trail. There were a lot of deer racks in the snow. About 10:00 I was working on camera 5. About 100 yards away, just out of sight, the woods exploded with the sounds of two bucks seriously going at it. The crash of antlers, grunting, and brush breaking. It stopped for a short period and began again, this time with more aggression. The battle ended with the sound of one buck running off and the victor uttering a huge grunt/roar and a snort wheeze. The woods fell silent again. I finished maintenance of the cameras. I checked the wind. I figured that the battle meant there was a hot doe in the vicinity and the victor was tending her. If I could get her to answer the call he would follow. Knowing that the world was frozen and noisy to walk through, I thought I would backtrack to the creek and quietly wade up it covering my approach. I would go some 120 yards into the old growth where I knew of a bedding area on top of an old stream bank, elevated so I could look out across the forest floor. I checked my rifle and slipped into the creek. 20 minutes later I moved up to the ridge top from the creek. As I crested, I noticed a fawn feeding 40 yards distant. I thought to myself, if the doe was being tended and the fawn was distant from her, she might respond to protect the fawn and bring her suiter along with her. After all, he had just won a fight to be by her side. I took off my pack, pulled out my calls, and prepared for what I hoped would happen. I blew on the call once. To my right the world exploded and the doe ran into an opening 30 yards distant and within the next few seconds she was 3 feet away. Her flanks told me she was being tended. She was giving the agitated staccato bleat. The fawn looked left across the draw. I heard a stick break. I grabbed the Hawken, cocked it, swinging to the opening the doe had just come through. A huge bodied buck entered the opening, now lighted by a ray of sunlight through the old growth canopy. The Hawken found its target and fired. The buck stumbled moving around several trees and out of sight. At the shot the doe did a cartwheel leaving the premises. I collected my thoughts and reloaded. The woods were now silent. I put on my pack and grabbed the reloaded rifle and moved to the last place I saw the buck. The sign told me the search would not be long, large splatters of bright red lung blood lined the trail. 50 yards distant he lay on his side where he fell. His body was huge. For a second time in two days, I would be coming out heavy. I paid my respect and admired the warrior. His antlers carried the marks of the recent fight. His missing incisors told a story of past fights. I took photos and boned him out. My pack was heavy to say the least. I could not pick the pack up but somehow my legs supported it once I stood for roughly 4.5 miles back to the truck. At home, Karen and I weighed the pack at 122 pounds. I am thankful I can still do such packs. An incredible experience. I played my cards right today and came home with a pack full of meat and experiences of a lifetime. I love these public lands and the Sitka Black-tailed deer. #publiclandowner #publiclandhunter #tongassnationalforest #sitkablacktail #muledeerfoundation
The morning was perfect. Clear, crisp, and cool. I wanted to check trail cameras on western Prince of Wales Island. It would be a Hawken day. Navigating the change from standard to day light savings time was the first challenge. I had coffee. I drove west, seeing one small buck in the headlights. I got to the place to hike into the first of the cameras. Nothing came to the call. I changed batteries and checked the cameras. Bucks on the cameras were moving in the early morning hours, well before shooting light. I decided to move south. Two years ago, I had explored a promising place. Maybe I should give it another try. I drove to the parking spot, dawned my pack and grabbed the Hawken. This required crossing a creek that was low enough to ford. I moved from the creek to the muskegs beyond. I called at several spots beyond the creek. I finally got close to a beaver slew/pond complex. All was frozen. As I called, something crashed through the ice. Several minutes later I could hear distinct footsteps in the ice and frozen snow. I gently called. Noting showed in 15 minutes. I called for another 20 minutes, nothing. I moved ¾ miles up the canyon calling. The wind had picked up, it was now howling at times, cold. I worked north again, returning to the beaver slew and called again. Nothing. The winds were stronger now. I thought to myself, if I were a deer, I would be deep in the timber in a protected bedding area away from the wind. I scanned the surrounding area. I selected a knob hoping there would be a bedding place on the other side of it protected from the wind. It took me some 20 minutes to get to the knob. Deer sign increased in the snow covered trails. I inched forward until I had about 50 yards visibility. I sat down and let the woods grow quiet. I began to call quietly at first. After 15 minutes I knew the sound of the wind in the trees was covering my calling. I amped it up. I immediately heard a limb snap behind me. I spun to watch my backside. As I turned back forward there was a buck staring at me through the brush 20 yards away. It was completely concealed in brush. No wait, its lower throat patch was mainly unobstructed. Aim small, miss small. I held at the lower portion of the throat patch and fired. As the smoke cleared, I could see the buck lying there. Death as swift. I reloaded, picked up my pack and walked to the buck. I would be returning back across the creek heavy. Last year the weather limited my ability to hunt with the Hawken. I am thankful for the opportunity today and hopefully over the next few days. Thank God for this public land and the opportunities we all have.
I went high again August 4, 2022. No bucks spotted. Found maybe 20 does. Based on tracks and trails in the dew, 5 other hunters were just ahead of me on the ridge. I just missed the wolves. Most trails had wolf tracks on them. I bumped into at least 6 pair of sandhill cranes, three of which must have had young (colts) because they did the hurt wing dance to lure me away. An incredible morning, so beautiful. #publiclands #publiclandowner #tongassnationalforest #sitkablacktaildeercoalition #muledeerfoundation
Ask anyone who cares about deer in Southeast Alaska, and they’ll tell you: snow is bad for deer numbers. Ask the deer themselves, using pellet DNA, or GPS collars and monitoring for mortality, and they’ll tell you the same.
A buck walks by a trail cam in early winter. Photo: Jim Baichtal.
That’s why when we saw back in November that this winter was forecast to potentially be a La Nina, we understood that there was therefore a possibility it could be a “deer killer” winter. But across much of Southeast, deep snow has yet to materialize, so it remains uncertain how much the weather this year will affect the deer. Increasingly, it looks like there’s a good chance for colder-than-average temps to develop over the next three months, but likely accompanied by drier-than-average conditions, so it’s very unclear how much actual snow will result (less precip actually falling, but falling as snow when it does come, seems to be the best guess).
As we watch and wait to see what mother nature will bring, we thought we’d share some of what the research shows in terms of winter’s effects on Sitka black-tails.
Luckily, there’s some recent research on this topic from 2 projects using a couple of different methods to track the response of deer to the environment.
The first project was undertaken by Dr. Todd Brinkman, who at the time was a graduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (where he is now a professor).
Robin Leatherman and I left early. we drove an hour from the house, unloaded the quad. The ride in the overgrown road would be a wet one. It had rained all night and the brush was soaked. We got to our parking spot just as it was light enough to see. Soaked from the ride in, it felt good to hike. I was using my father’s Remington 721 .30-06 this morning. It would not be a good Hawken day. we climbed for the first hour covering about a mile and a half. We decided to split up and meat back at a designated time. every hunter knows how that goes… I worked south up the ridge and Robin worked back and forth across the ridge. Fog drifted in and out, the ceiling rose and dropped. Rain came and went. Kind of a typical day hunting in Southeast Alaska. I had always wanted to explore the area beyond the knobs. I slowly worked through the landscape. I called in a few does and walked up on others. we had scheduled an 11:00 rendezvous. I had just finally gotten into more deer sign at about 10:00. The ceiling was low, visibility just over 100 yards. I scanned as I moved forward. I thought that is a particularly red piece of moss on that ridge, closer inspection showed a deer’s back half. I moved to the right and I could see that moss had antlers. I steadied for the shot which was just under 100 yards and squeezed the trigger. The bock disappeared into the fog. I hiked across the draw to where the buck had stood. Nothing, no hair, no blood, nothing. Had I missed? It began to rain. I saw one set of tracks leaving. There were four trails he might have taken. I jumped a doe and fawn. For 30 minutes I walked out each trail. Noting. I began second guessing my shot. I walked back to where I had shot from and once more looked through the scope. I know I had not missed. I made a few more circles. Maybe he had turned sharply and dove into the deep stream valley behind the ridge. I found where a deer had slipped running and turned down hill, there in the timber ahead lay the buck. He had not gone 40 yards. Relived, I moved to the buck, paid my respect, took a few images, and began boning him out. I would be late getting back to Robin, but he heard me shoot. He knew I’d be a bit late. Made my dad happy today! #publicland #tongassnationalforest #sitkablacktail #sitkablacktailcoalition #muledeerfoundation
July 26th, 2022, I went high for the first time this year today. The Federal Subsistence Season opened on July 24th. The weather didn’t clear for a couple days. My close friend Robin Leatherman accompanied me up the mountain. It would be his first time in the alpine of Prince of Wales Island. Sophie Gilbert and I first hunted this area on August 1, 2012. Deer numbers were incredible, we must have seen over 50 deer that day and half of those were bucks. Deer numbers remained high through August of 2015 in this area. Beginning in 2016 deer numbers were down. Deer numbers continued to decline from 2016 to 2020. The habitat remained incredible; however, deer numbers were plummeting. Several trips in 2017 and 2018 I found no deer. By 2020, I camped a on top as to maximize the prime time at dawn, no more than 3-4 bucks and 5 does were seen per trip. 2021 was no different, 3 bucks and 4 does encountered. I let Robin know that we might not see any deer but we’d have a great time in a beautiful place. We rose at 0300. We made it to the alpine just before 0600. Glassing close and far showed no deer. We moved closer to the “killing fields”. As we edged over the margin of the basin, I spotted a lone fork horn. I asked Robin if he was interested in harvesting it. Robin moved ahead and quickly we had a buck on the ground. First meat of the year made. It was 6:30. I circled the basin before moving to Robin’s buck. I saw three does. He got set up to butcher and I knew I had maybe a half hour of time before all deer would be in the timber. Leaving Robin, I climbed higher using the shadows and wind. I knew of a pocket that was shaded by taller trees, I hurried towards it hoping deer would still be out feeding. The previous year I had taken a great buck in this basin. I crested a small ridge and could see the snag last seasons buck had bedded behind. I took a couple more steps and below me was a huge mature buck. I tried to take a knee for the shot but could not see over the rise. I cocked the Hawken and steadied for the 70 yard of hand shot. The buck seemed to be well hit as he left the cloud of smoke. I thought I saw him go down just over the adjacent ridge. I always start second guessing my shots. I reloaded, clamed myself and walked forward. I had never taken time to look at his antlers, I just knew he was a mature buck. He came to rest in a small creek. He was huge, a clean 4 x 4 without eye guards. I paid my respects. I butchered the buck, packed the meat into my backpack and secured the head and cape on the pack. I just can’t waste a great cape. Someone can use it. We would be coming out heavy, really heavy. I was over a mile beyond Robin, I hooked up with him and we started our trek out. I have noticed as I age that many of my routes are longer and uphill in both directions. It is a mystery how that happens. We are so blessed to have such places to hunt. Deer numbers however were still low, on the hike in and out we saw 4 bucks and 5 does. I’ll let it rest until next season. #publicland #tongassnationalforest #sitkablacktail #sitkablacktailcoalition #muledeerfoundation
August 7, 2021. And now the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would have said. I woke at 2:58, two minutes before the alarm. I am always amazed how the mind keeps track of time while you sleep. I got up, dressed, and headed to the garage where my gear waited. At about 3:20 I headed out; it would take me an hour to reach the route I used to go up. I love the familiarity of well know places. Not only the terrain and how the game moves on it but all the memories of adventures with friends, past harvested animals, camps, failed stalks, wildlife encounters, etc. At 5:00 I was on the ridge, at 6:15 I was in what has been referred to as the “killing fields”. The weather was perfect. It had rained hard the day before and the morning’s dew added to the moisture. Fog drifted about the ridge and the rising sun was hidden by clouds to the east. I slowly glassed the surrounding basins and ridges. I found 2 does in their beds. I worked to the east using the north wind to my favor. I encountered another doe. After she moved off, I slipped into a stream valley. I looked north and there was a fine mature buck ~300 yards up the valley. A bit out of Hawken range. He had not detected me. I circled back making a wide loop. I crept forward as more and more stream valley become visible. I ranged the far bank at 90 yards, all in range. He was not there. I noticed a movement above to my right. He walked into view, just at the precise moment the sun broke through a hole in the clouds. He was silhouetted with the sun behind him but I could not get a good bead on him with my open sights. I waited for him to move; the shot would not be ethical. He slowly drifted over the ridge and out of sight. I followed, but he had moved to the timber below to bed for the day. I climbed to the north, circling west with the sun at my back. I jumped the two does I had seen bedded. I looked into the timber and saw the rear of a deer and with binoculars his antlers. He was headed up slope. As fast as I could, I tried to get above him. I crested a rise and he was standing 15 yards distant, a huge 4 x 3. He spun and dove off into the timber before I could raise the rifle. He finally stopped at about 110 yards; too far for an ethical shot. I sat down and watched him slowly move to the east and enter the timber. Hopefully he and I would meet again. I sat down and glassed a while, it was 7:45 am. I decided to work north to the end of the ridge hoping to find a few deer still bedded in the shadows. I also told myself to slow the heck down; glass more and walk less. Over the next 1/4 mile I saw a few does. At 8:15 I crested a small ridge and saw the rear half of a large deer bedded about 200 yards distant. The front of his body was hidden behind a bush and a snag. I dropped back and planned my sneak. I very slowly circled using the wind and cover. Just before cresting the last hill, I ranged the slope above him at 100 yards. He would be a bit closer. As I inched forward, He came into view; now standing looking right at me with most of his body behind the snag. I moved right to a small snag for a rest, I’d have to slip the round ball just past the snag he was behind. I fired. As the smoke cleared, I saw the buck stumbling to the right, running behind a small ridge. I reloaded and moved to find his tracks. Once on the tracks I began to find some blood, not the quantity I wanted. He went left and downhill. I followed his tracks for about 90 yards. I slowed as I crested the next ridge, I knew it dropped of steeply and I would have an unrestricted view of the valley below. Standing at 90 yards was a great buck and 4 does. Was it him? It has to be. I moved to a rest on a sang and hoped I was right. “Aim small, miss small!” I held a couple of inches high on the sweet spot and fired. The does scattered and the buck ran some 50 yards and collapsed, sliding down hill. I hoped it was the same buck and I didn’t have two down. I reloaded, and moved to the buck. It had to be him. I really never had had a look at his rack. I just knew he was a big mature buck. To my delight it was a great 4 x 4 with long eye guards. He was the same buck; my first shot had been a couple of inches forward, breaking his right shoulder and clipping the left lung, he would have died from the first shot. The second shot center punched him. I took time to admire the buck and the great place I hunted. I would be coming out heavy. It was 2.5 miles back off the ridge. Of course, I had shot him off the back side about as far as I could get from the vehicle. I slowly boned the deer and saved the cape for a friend. He was heavy, I was so humbled to have taken such a great animal and so thankful for the meat he would provide. The weather stayed cool and there was a lovely breeze to keep the bugs at bay. When I got home, Karen and I weighed the pack at 102 pounds. Lots of meat. I love the Tongass National Forest and our public lands.
