Sault College instructor Greg Cull is encouraging area deer hunters to attend a check station on St. Joseph Island next month.
Teaching Wildlife Biology and Management, Cull and his second year Fish and Wildlife students will be collecting biological data on white-tailed deer harvested on St. Joseph Island (Wildlife Management Unit 45) and the mainland (Wildlife Management Unit 36) in November.
“The idea is to get as large a sample size as we can,” he said. “The bigger the sample size, the better the data.”
Harvest data includes deer weights, age, sex, antler beam diameter, number of points, condition of deer and general location of harvest. Cull says this information will be shared with the local Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry biologist and will assist in setting the 2024 Deer Harvest Quota allocation for those Wildlife Management Units.
“You’re getting added value information you wouldn’t necessarily get,” he told SooToday. “MNRF will look at the harvest data and decide if there are some trends in the population. If they think there’s a decline, they can curtail some of that harvesting to try and rebuild that population.”
“Some of the hunters are starting to say they’ve seen an increase in the deer population on the island,” he added. “Now, we can try and back that up with the data we’ve got.”
Cull noted that the ministry can also use the data to find out more about their nutritional status and the condition that the deer are in.
“By taking those measurements at a deer check station, we’re getting more information for St. Joseph Island and for the mainland,” he said. “It makes the hunters feel good too. They have a chance to find out what’s going on with the local herd and get an update on the trends we’re starting to notice.”
While the project provides college professors and students with the chance to talk to hunters about the status of the local deer herds on the island and the mainland, Cull explains it’s also an excellent opportunity for students to obtain hands-on wildlife management work experience.
“It’s a great hands-on project for them,” he said. “They can put that work on their resumes and can go into an interview saying they have hands-on experience dealing with hunters coming in, collecting biological information, and summarizing and presenting that data to a local game and fish club.”
During the weeklong check station, random prizes will be drawn for fawn, adult doe, and adult buck categories “thanks to the excellent partners” at the St. Joseph Island Hunters and Anglers Association and the Algoma Fish and Game Club, according to Cull.
The college instructor hopes to engage upwards of 200 hunters by inviting them to the deer check station at Reesers Restaurant on St. Joseph Island with their harvested deer in November.
“People bringing in their deer after they’ve harvested them and taking them into a check station is very rare for that to happen in Ontario. I think there’s only a few check stations in Ontario.”
The check station will be open Nov. 11-19 from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. each day.