April 20th
Our first drive was comprised of finding “sighting” distances. These distances are the viewable area from the road. Stopping every 1/10th of a mile and using a rangefinder Paul will calculate the viewable area. This aids in expanding the calculation for the City as a whole. The route is comprised of areas both urban and remote to aid us in the generalization of data to the whole city. In speaking with Dr. Paul Keenlance, we discussed that we may conduct an additional “sighting” distance drive in an effort to develop a fixed route (with the possibility of a second fixed route in the future).
The primary mission of this drive was to learn the “sighting” distances and not search for deer, but we did spot 11 deer.
When we saw a group of five on Grand Avenue I asked Paul how may he thought were female, and he said that, “the males have yet to sprout their antlers, but I would think that at least four of them are female.” He continued, “the does have not given birth to their yearly offspring yet, so yearlings will most definitely have one fawn, while does that are older will most likely have two. There is a lot of good vegetation for them to eat.” Paul also reiterated that the fall is the optimum time to conduct these surveys, but he understands our urgency and need for information.
