Low-flying Aircraft to Count Deer in Northeast Colorado
OutdoorHub 12.14.12
Colorado Parks and Wildlife is advising residents and hunters in the northeast region of the state that biologists will be using a low-flying helicopter to conduct aerial deer surveys in the coming weeks.
Flight dates are weather-dependent, but generally, the flights will start around December 17 and continue through the end of the January 2013.
“We will primarily be flying west of Loveland to the Continental Divide, down to I-70, east of Denver to out to Limon and along the South Platte River up to Nebraska,” said senior terrestrial biologist Janet George.
Aerial deer surveys are part of an on-going effort to monitor deer populations in the state. Understanding the ratio of bucks to does and fawns to does helps biologists estimate composition of the herd, which is used to estimate herd size. Using this data, wildlife biologists make decisions about the number of hunting licenses to issue in coming seasons.
