University of Vermont (UVM) Rubenstein School students in the Wildlife and Fisheries Biology program spent two November weekends volunteering at white-tailed deer hunting check stations throughout Vermont. The student-run UVM Wildlife and Fisheries Society has assisted the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife to collect data at the check stations for the past several years.
“Volunteering at the Vermont Fish and Wildlife biological deer check stations is a great opportunity for students interested in the wildlife field to get hands-on experience with data collection and to interact with hunters and biologists,” says Wildlife and Fisheries Biology senior Caitlin Drasher, who is president of the UVM Wildlife and Fisheries Society. “This is a professional experience, and students are given a great amount of responsibility in collecting data that the state uses to manage the deer population.”
Students worked with state wildlife biologists at 10 of the 23 stations across the state during this year’s Youth Deer Weekend and opening rifle season weekend. They weighed deer, measured antlers, and took tooth samples for age estimation.
“More recently, the students have been entrusted to manage three stations where no state biologists are present,” says Drasher, a native Vermonter who has volunteered and interned with Vermont Fish and Wildlife. “This is a testament to the professionalism and enthusiasm that student volunteers have shown throughout the years.”
State wildlife managers use check station data to better understand the structure and health of Vermont’s deer herd. The general harvest data allows state Deer Biologist Nick Fortin to estimate the population of deer in the state.
“The students are very competent, and we would not be able to operate as many stations and collect as much data as we do without their assistance,” says Fortin. “It’s also a great opportunity for our staff to interact with potential future employees.”
Youth weekend data is particularly useful, since youth hunters are allowed to take all ages of deer and both bucks and does, so sex ratios can be estimated. Age data from collected teeth assists with determining the age structure of the population. The state uses all the data collected to set future hunting limits and regulations in order to manage the deer population in a sustainable way.
"Working with the state during the deer season provides students with an excellent real-world professional opportunity,” says Associate Professor Jed Murdoch, who directs the Wildlife and Fisheries Biology academic program and serves as faculty advisor to the student Wildlife and Fisheries Society. “They have a chance to work with state biologists and hunters across the state, learn new skills, and expand their understanding of the biological and social dimensions of wildlife management."
Student volunteers also played a role in a Rubenstein School research project. At the check stations, they collected samples of hair and ticks from harvested deer across the state as part of a study by PhD student Elias Rosenblatt who works with Murdoch, Research Associate Professor Terri Donovan of the Vermont Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and state biologists. Rosenblatt uses biological information collected at check stations to better understand the health of the region’s wildlife populations and ecosystems.
“These samples, in addition to information collected by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, provide opportunities to link the health of animals to the towns where they were harvested and the ecosystems they lived in,” says Rosenblatt who received a three-year Steven Rubenstein Graduate Fellowship to pursue his research. “Samples will continue to be collected in the future to help develop these links.”
With data collected over time, Rosenblatt will create a scorecard to assess how wildlife populations and ecosystems are faring across the state and ideally across the Northeast region. The scorecard will be useful to wildlife biologists and other natural resource managers as it will provide metrics for how development, land use change, and changes in deer harvests trickle down to impact wildlife populations and their health.
“As conservationists, hunters, and wildlife managers we need to do more than to manage populations,” says Louis Porter, Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife for Vermont. “We must also help encourage and train the next generation of great hunters and biologists. Each of these activities informs and improves the other. To see the big picture, requires understanding them all.”
The continued partnership between the Rubenstein School and the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife includes hands-on, real world research, volunteer activities, and internships that engage students in wildlife population and habitat management.
“The opportunity for our students to interact with hunters and biologists helps to emphasize the importance of hunting in our profession to manage wildlife populations,” says Rubenstein School Dean and wildlife biologist Nancy Mathews who spent a day during the final week of rifle season hunting with Commissioner Porter. “The experience also revitalizes the longtime tradition of hunting and the value of wild game as the ultimate free-ranging, local, organic meat.”