Pennsylvania Game News - October 2019 - 10

late October, hunting pressure also picks
up. Do deer respond to that uptick in
pressure? It depends on the disturbances
they encounter. But deer generally adjust
to intrusions.
"They tend to look for places where
they are not disturbed, with good vantage
points," noted Fleegle.
And when deer confirm their hiding
spot is working, they tend to keep using
it - slipping into it well before hunters
can see in the morning - until something
changes: maybe a drive, or still-hunter
drifting too close for comfort.

DEER EYESIGHT

As a prey species, the eyes of a whitetail are set wide on its face. It's an arrangement that decreases its ability to determine
depth, but maximizes its field of vision,
Fleegle explained.
"Vision in deer is probably not exceptionally sharp, but it's exceptional at
detecting movement," Fleegle said. "So,
determining a stationary hunter from other
stationary objects isn't easy for a deer.
"There also is evidence that whitetails
can see some color, and that they are sensitive to the blue to blue-green part of the

CWD IN 2019
Chronic Wasting Disease continues to affect more
Pennsylvania hunters. Since last year, 123 additional free-ranging deer tested positive for CWD.
Disease Management Area 2 has been expanded
by more than 2,100 square miles. It now totals
6,715 square miles and includes all or parts of
Adams, Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Centre, Clearfield,
Cumberland, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Indiana, Juniata, Mifflin, Perry, Snyder, Somerset and
Westmoreland counties. DMA 3 also expanded
and now totals 1,119 square miles and includes
all or parts of Armstrong, Clarion, Clearfield, Jefferson and Indiana counties. More information
and DMA maps can be found at www.pgc.pa.gov.
10

color spectrum. Hunters also should avoid
washing hunting clothes in any detergents
containing whiteners and brighteners."

FALL FOODS
Through July, growing conditions for
domestic and wild plants has been exceptional. Acorns shaken free from branches
by winds indicate they're well developed
on oaks that have them. Farm reports
indicate corn, hay, soybeans, apples and
peaches all have had good-to-excellent
growing seasons, but strong summer
storms have caused damage in some areas.
More than a quarter of Pennsylvania
- 11,406 square miles - remained in agricultural land in 2018, slightly lower than
in 2017, according to the U.S. Department
of Agriculture.
Cornfields, totaling more than 2,109
square miles, surpassed hayfields - 1,859
square miles - in 2018 to become the
largest land investment in farm country.
Soybeans were planted on about 1,000
square miles.
Fall food conditions afield for soft and
hard mast also were shaping up, according to Dave Gustafson, Forestry Division
chief in the Game Commission's Bureau
of Habitat Management. But white oaks
have been experiencing widespread
anthracnose fungus the past two years,
which likely has suppressed white-oakgroup acorn production; most reports
show production as poor-to-non-existent.
"Red oak this year is best described as
spotty, some areas seem decent-to-good,
others are devoid of acorns," Gustafson
said. "Hickory-nut reports are above
average and widespread, but that's better
for black bears.
"Beechnuts are reported as above
average in the state's northwestern counties; but foresters are reporting almost
everywhere else that beechnuts are in poor

http://www.pgc.pa.gov

Pennsylvania Game News - October 2019

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