UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Hunters will be able to cooperate this fall in a joint Penn State-Pennsylvania Game Commission study of hunter movement, success and attitudes in Sproul State Forest in northcentral Pennsylvania.

During the Friday-through-Sunday period (Nov. 23-25) prior to opening day of the regular rifle deer-hunting season, university personnel, game commission staff and state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of Forestry workers will contact a sample of hunting camp residents.

Then, beginning opening day, Monday morning, Nov. 26, through Wednesday, Nov. 28, and the following two Saturdays, a series of check stations along State Route 144 will be staffed so that hunters traveling to Sproul State Forest can be asked to participate in this study as well.

"This is one of several research projects at Penn State related to deer management," says Dr. Gary Alt, Deer Management Section leader with the Game Commission. "As we move forward with changes in deer management, we need to know more about when, where and how hunters hunt.

"This study," he adds, "will provide information to help us improve deer management on state forestlands. I hope hunters using Sproul State Forest will cooperate with us on this project."

To participate, some hunters will be asked to trace their day's hunt on a topographic map. A small group of hunters from camps and some hunters who drive into Sproul State Forest will be asked to carry a pocket-sized global positioning unit during their hunt.

These units automatically will record hunter movement. The study team will retrieve the unit, either as the hunter leaves the forest or from the hunter at camp, and download the satellite information into computers for later analysis.

In addition to these efforts to contact hunters both at camp and when they drive into the area, an attempt will be made to determine hunter distribution in the forest using aerial photography taken by the Bureau of Forestry during the study period.

"This cooperative research is using cutting-edge technology to study hunter movements, but still depends on the cooperation of deer hunters in Sproul State Forest," says Dr. Jim Finley, an associate professor of forest resources in Penn State Cooperative Extension.

Contact Finley at 814-863-0401 if you have questions about the study.

Penn State and the Game Commission plan to repeat this study during the fall 2002 hunting season. As an incentive, all hunters helping with this study will have their name entered in a drawing for a Garmin GPS unit.

###

EDITORS: Contact Jim Finley at 814-863-0401.

Contact:

Jeff Mulhollem jjm29@psu.edu 814-863-2719 814-865-1068 fax