Went post season scouting on SGL 55 on 01/27/2007.  Checked out the food plot near the cell phone tower.  It  seems that there was winter wheat, turnips and possibly corn planted there this past year. There was a lot of deer sign in the food plot.  The deer were eating the turnip greens.   Also saw some coyote tracks. Notice a lot of orange tape on trees not the kind that hunters use to mark a trail to their stand but the kind used in surveying.  The trees were also marked with paint and the words in and out were on the opposite sides of one tree near a trail.  I'm wondering if this will be timbered or just cut to provide cover?  Also, checked out the section of the game land that borders the girl scout camp, camp Louise.  The food plot on this section had nowhere near the deer activity like the upper section.  There were deer tracks on the road leading to the food plot which suggested to me that the deer were finding refuge in the camp.  Considering the slaughteing of the deer herd over the past 7 years it seems there are still some deer left on this Game Land.  The only downfall of the Game Land is the area of sulfur runoff coming out of the ground near the access road to the middle parking area.  I hope this rust colored mess doesn't get into the streams. 

Hopefully, there is only one more year left to this slaughter since the deer management program in up after the 2007-08 season.  Let's hope the PGC uses some common sense when designing the next management plan.  Maybe it's time for some political intervention.  That's a scary idea also.  Maybe the hunters should stop shooting doe!!!!

Went scouting yesterday, 01/20/2007, on SGL 260 in Shickshinny.  Walked up powerline road on the gamelands looking for any deer tracks in the recently fallen snow.  Jeff and I saw squirrel tracks and what we thought were Coyote tracks in the snow.  After about a mile and a half we came across an area that was stripped mined.  Looking down over a hill I saw a coyote start running. Our suspicions were comfirmed.  We picked up it's trail and started following.  The coyote took us through the thickest stuff it could find turning around every so oten to check it's back trail to see if we were still following.  I went up and down cliffs, in and out of laurels and finally crossed a powerline. 

After about 2 miles of following the tracks in the snow we came ot an area of cliffs and boulders.  The coyote would jump from rock to rock, go in between rocks and crevices and even walk on fallen trees all in  an effort to lose us.  After about another mile of tracking the wind started to pick up and the temperature dropped.  We decided to head home.  We did not see a deer track in the 4 miles of woods and trails we covered.  I'm not sure if the windy conditions had them bedded down or if there are way too many coyotes in the area.  With the dwindling number of deer in PA it does not look good for future whitetail deer hunts. And the coyotes will decimate the newborn deer and turkey.  At least on SGL 260.

Went for a drive to find SGL 55 in Columbia County.  Turns out it is only about 5 miles from SGL 260.  For some reason the gate to the parking lot was locked.  I emailed the PA Game Commission to find out why.