|
With the opening of hunting season Sunday morning, the usual rush of hunters headed west on Highway 2. Among them were a half-dozen of Kelly Morrow’s biology students — but it wasn’t big game they were after.
The students spent the day helping gather opening-day data for state wildlife officials.
“We showed up and we had to watch for deer coming through, I really enjoyed being outside,” said sophomore Jon Evans. “We learned quite a bit about deer, like about their teeth and age.”
Hunters who drive by any check station are supposed to stop, so that data can be collected for the use of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The students gather data about how many people went hunting, the hunting district they were in, and where the hunters were from.
Morrow offers extra credit to her students to volunteer their time at the Fish, Wildlife and Parks check station.
Some students participated in this activity to gain the extra points, but others said they would volunteer without the extra credit incentive.
“I just did it because it was something fun to do,” said sophomore Ashlee Skramstad. “My dad was really excited for me to do this because he’s a big hunter and he wanted me to tell him what (animals) came through.”
With tighter regulations that restrict hunting to bucks only, the students didn’t see many animals. This restriction was put into effect so that the deer would be given time to recuperate from the winter two years ago. According to Region 1 Wildlife Manager Harvey Nyberg, about half of the deer population starved to death during the winter of 96-97.
“There’s probably going to be lower than normal hunter’s success this year,” said Harvey Nyberg. “The majority of deer brought in opening day in the past are does and fawns.”
Of the 1,220 hunters that passed through the Hwy. 2 check station, only 22 whitetail bucks, 9 mule deer bucks and one bear were taken opening day.
Even though the volunteering students didn’t get to see many animals, they experienced working with biology in the real world.
“Having students work at the check station provides students with an excellent opportunity to see biology at work,” said biology teacher Kelly Morrow. “It always adds more depth to the student - teacher relationship to see each other out of the classroom.”
|
|
