I saw deer today...from two thousand feet in the air!

So today was my first day experiencing aerial telemetry! What an adventure! Unfortunately I was sick on and off for the three of four hours in the plane, but I didn't throw up, which according to research assistant Josh, happens to people 90% of the time. I actually felt very excited and unnerved going to the plane and taking off. The pilot, Gordy, was very kind. He answered all my questions, which were quite a few considering I am most inquisitive and like to know how things work.

This is Gordy and myself in the plane probably an hour or so into the telemetry. Even though I'm smiling, I was feeling pretty sick at this point. Josh was kind of enough to take pictures.

Gordy was very good at detecting frequencies. I learned that there are special points (called way-points) that are recorded from the previous telemetry survey and individual deer and carnivores (that had been caught and are radio-collared) are found by flying near that same point. Radio collars on each individual operate at a specific frequency. After locating many deer, carnivores were next. Some bears are still moving and not hibernating! Apparently the temperature here is warm for this time in the season, so they aren't always in dens. When locating a deer on ground, the plane, which has antennae on each wing, flies in a circle at a 60 degree angle, thus making the antennae closer to the targeted animal. After many circles, we finally reached ground again. It took me some time to regain an appetite.

Once again, Josh offered to take some pictures. Here is the plane and me, surprisingly enthusiastic after nearly throwing up.

I was completely unaware that Josh was still taking pictures...

Still unaware....oh sillyness!

After a short break at the house, Josh and I went to the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) with Nate, one of the PhD students leading the project, to help repair clover traps. Nate showed me how to set-up the trap to get a trigger "pushed" for the door to come down on animals that enter it. Although I was very tired and cold, it was great to learn how these traps worked. I also used a wrench to tighten loose bolts. Of course whenever someone hands me a tool, I seem to hurt myself. I love working with tools, but I feel with my clumsy manor, I'm very prone to injury. I ended up smacking myself in the face with the wrench since I put too much force into tightening the bolt and lost control of it. As luck would have it, the wrench went straight into my new lip piercing. It hurt for a bit and I lost the ball that keeps the piercing from coming out.

It's hard to tell, but my lip is pretty swollen right now. It doesn't hurt though, and I still have my piercing! :)