Editor’s Note: This blog is by our friend Don Wharton; check out Don’s story on Adirondack hermits in our Winter 2015 issue.
Six or seven years ago, a friend and I made a concerted effort to begin taking photos of Adirondack whitetails moving from their summer/fall territory to their winter yard. Since that time, we’ve refined our camera placement and technique. In 2014, we had 50 deer pass by the camera. As of last week (January 3-9), the tally for this winter was up to 111 and counting, although I think that was the peak of the run. This year the migration was two weeks later than last. No surprise that it came just before a cold snap and a few inches of snow.
We got a lot of bucks on camera last week, including a good one with one antler. A few others had clearly dropped antlers. I know from other experience that some of the biggest don't migrate, perhaps because they know they can handle the snow and predators, namely coyotes here. I’ve noticed that a lot of the movement takes place at night and in bad weather, possibly when predators are less active. The does and fawns tend to move a week or two before the bucks, which makes sense for them.
The camera was set up on State Forest Preserve land with only one road through it and not a lot of access. The deer that passed the camera were moving from a high-elevation area full of hardwoods to a lower elevation conifer stand that’s a few miles away. This one migration trail probably drains 20 square miles or so.
I sometimes like to place the camera on the bank of a stream, both for the scene and to slow the deer down in front of the camera. They don't like to run through a rocky stream and sometimes pause for a drink of mountain water.
Hunters blamed last winter for poor fall hunting, but our camera showed the deer are out there. Most likely the problem was warm weather that kept deer movement down. A lot of hunters these days are sitters (fixed in one position, like the camera), which doesn't work so well in warm weather. I'm optimistic about next fall because of the easy winter so far. We'll see what we get on camera next winter!