South Mountain Land Association

.THIS SITE WAS LAST UPDATED ON JUly 29,2010

At our meeting in May, it was confirmed that we will award a free honorary membership to the attendants of our sponsored Hunter Safety Course. Members who are under the age of 18 will be given a free junior membership and a free regular membership will be awarded to their parents or gaurdians. These memberships will be valid for the membership year starting on July 1 of 2011. After the yearly membership expires, these memberships will have to be renewed in 2012 as new members. A new membership requires that the member also joins QDMA for their 1st year after which the membership in QDMA would be optional. The total cast would be $40 for SMLA membership and $30 for a QDMA membership.

AS OF JULY 29, WE HAVE 29 MEMBERSHIP OPENINGS. WE WILL FILL THESE ON A 1ST COME 1ST SERVED BASIS. TO JOIN, GO TO THE INFORMATION PAGE AND PRINT OUT THE WAITING LIST APPLICATION PDF. FILL THE APPLICATION OUT AND SEND IT IN. WHEN WE RECEIVE IT WE WILL MAIL YOU A NEW MEMBER APPLICATION AND A QDMA APPLICATION. ALL NEW MEMBERS ARE REQUIRED TO JOIN QUALITY DEER MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION FOR THEIR 1ST YEAR AFTER WHICH MEMBERSHIP IN QDMA IS OPTIONAL. THE INITIAL COST OF A 1ST YEAR MEMBERSHIP IS $70; ($40 FOR 1 YR SOUTH MTN MEMBERSHIP AND $30 FOR A 1 YR MEMBERSHIP IN QDMA. PLEASE DO NOT SEND A CHECK IN WITH YOUR WAITING LIST APPLICATION.

Our next regular meeting is on September 12,2010 at 2 PM in the Noxen school

The minutes from the May meeting were added to the Minutes Page.

A new "Kips Corner" article was posted on the QDMA page on 4/12

The fly-over map showing deer densities was added to the member photos page on April 5, 2010.

RESULTS OF THE 2009 FLY-OVER

Vision Air Research, Inc. conducted a survey for white-tailed deer for the South Mountain Landowners Association. This survey was conducted using airborne infrared, commonly called forward looking infrared (FLIR). The survey was conducted November 18, 2009.

Study Area

The study area encompassed the South Mountain Landowners Association property as noted on the Association’s web site. This area is located northwest of the town of Noxen, PA. The area includes upland plateau and breaks to stream valleys. The northern part of the study area drained into the Mehoopany Creek and into Bowman Creek to the east and south. The west side continued as upland running to the southwest along the ridge. Three mountain peaks are named in the uplands within the property and include Schooley Mountain in the southeast, Stone Mountain in the southwest and South Mountain in the north central. South Mountain is the high point at 2,330 ft MSL. Elevation ranged from roughly 1,120 ft to 2,330 ft MSL. Vegetation cover type was dominated by deciduous forest with few open field and conifer areas. Small mammals in the area include fox, coyotes, and raccoons. There were no animals which could be confused with deer on the property.

Methods

The survey was conducted November 18, 2009. Flight times were between 1700 to 1900 hrs. The surveys were conducted under good conditions for aerial surveys and infrared surveys. Skies where overcast with light winds. Turbulence was minimal.

The same transects and methods used in previous surveys. Transects ran east – west and were spaced 600 ft apart. Flight altitude was 1,000 ft. above ground level at the highest point on the property. The sensor look angle was moved between 45 o elevation or down look angle and nearly straight down. A slight side-to-side sweep was used as needed. This sweep increased detection by increasing look angles. The portion of the flight within the study area was recorded on videotape. The pilot and sensor operator communicated to verify the location of the boundaries to turn the tape off and on. The sensor operator turned the tape off at the transect end and commenced recording at the start of the transect. Animals were located by observing their level of emitted infrared energy versus background levels.

The tapes were reviewed by playing the tape backward and forward and in slow motion to identify deer and map their location. Duplicates or repeat deer were identified. Individual deer were mapped to general location based on the GPS position of the airplane, elevation and aspect of the look angle of the sensor, and feature such as roads.

Equipment

We used a PolyTech Kelvin 350 II (Sweden) mounted on the left wing of a light fixed-wing Cessna 206. The gimbal allows 330 o of azimuth and 90 o of elevation allowing us to look in all directions except directly behind the airplane. The infrared sensor installed in the gimbal is the high resolution Agema Thermovision 1000, which is a long wave system (8-12 micron). It has 800 by 400 pixels providing good resolution and the ability to determine animals by their morphology or body shape. The thermal delta is less than 1 o C, which means it can detect objects with less than 1 o C different than their background. It has a wide (20 o) and a narrow (5 o) field of view (FOV). At 1,000 ft above ground level looking straight down using the wide FOV the footprint or area covered by the sensor is 360 ft x 234 ft while the narrow FOV provides a footprint 90 ft x 59 ft. The look angle for this survey averaged 55 o providing a footprint width of 440 ft in wide FOV and 110 ft in narrow FOV.

The sensor operator / wildlife biologist sat in the rear seat and watched a high resolution 9 in. monitor to aim and focus sensor. We recorded the infrared on mini-digital videotape (Mini DV). Thermography data and look angles (i.e., azimuth and elevation) data were overlaid on the screen.

Results

A total of 178 deer were detected in 109 groups. I mapped and counted all deer located during the survey. The visibility or ability to detect a deer through the vegetation ranged from 80 – 100 %. The areas with deciduous cover had a detection rate of roughly 80 % based on the potential for the overstory vegetation to obscure the deer from the IR detector. Open meadows had 100 % detection. Cloud cover enhances detection rates by reducing the potential for reflected infrared. If the sensor passed over the area the deer would be detected. I used a side to side sweep to scan along transects which allowed a overlap slightly to provide good coverage. Deer groups observed in more than one transect were only counted and mapped once.

Tapes of the survey are being forwarded in their original format.

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The northeast Pa chapter of Pheassants Forever will hold a special event at the Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock on Wed. March 10 @ 6:30 PM. Food and beverages will be available. It is open to the public and a RSVP is requested. To RSVP call Scott Seasock @ 885-1122.

WE HAVE SCHEDULED A HUNTER/TRAPPER SAFETY COURSE BEGINNING ON THURS SEPT 30 AND ENDING ON SAT OCT 2. IT IS A 2 DAY COURSE. ANYONE CAN SIGN UP FOR THE COURSE AT THE GAME COMMISSION WEB SITE. THESE DATES ARE NOW LISTED ON THE SITE FOR SIGNING UP.

The latest map of the property has been added to the Information page. Look for "map.pdf" at the bottom of the page.

.............A new article from "Kips Corner" has been added on the QDMA page on 12/30.

You can e-mail us to smlajoe@live.com

OUR MEMBERSHIP HAS BEEN FILLED TO OUR 1000 MEMBER LIMIT AND ARE NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS TO OUR WAITING LIST FOR NEXT YEAR IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, AND YOU ARE A RESIDENT OF PENNSYLVANIA AND 18 YRS OLD OR OLDER THEN PRINT OUT OUR WAITING LIST APPLICATION FROM THE INFORMATION PAGE, FILL IT OUT AND SEND IT IN. PLEASE DO NOT SEND A CHECK WITH YOUR WAITING LIST APPLICATION.A COPY OF THE WAITING LIST APPLICATION CAN BE DOWNLOADED AND PRINTED OUT FROM THE INFORMATION PAGE.

All vehicles used on the property (including ATVs) must have a South Mtn.sticker ID, state registration tags and must be insured according to state law.

The following 5 membership numbers may have been lost in the mail. Bottom line, they were mailed out but never delivered. They are: #313, #300,#576,272 and #906. If any of these numbers are seen on the property, try and find out who is using them; i.e. ATV or vehicle license number and report it to the e-mail address above.

REMINDER....A CHANGE IN OUR BY-LAWS HAS BEEN MADE TO ALLOW THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS TO SUSPEND A MEMBER'S MEMBERSHIP UNTIL A VIOLATION OF THE RULES, REGULATIONS OR BY-LAWS IS RESOLVED. ALSO, THE BOARD WAS GIVEN MORE POWER TO REVOKE A MEMBERSHIP FOR SERIOUS VIOLATIONS I.E. DRIVING OFF ROAD, DRIVING OR PARKING ON A FOOD PLOT ETC. note: IT IS OK TO PARK AT THE EDGE OF A FOOD PLOT SO AS NOT BLOCK THE ROAD.

We are experiencing damage to our food plots from ATV’s and other 4-wheel drive vehicles. Deer Park Lumber Co., (Owners of the Property) have notified us concerning off road damage done by ATV’s. Going off the designated roads (see your map) is a serious violation of our rules and regulations and is punishable by a loss of membership. After meeting with Deer Park on June 4, we agreed to increase our patrols for violations and trespassers. Deer Park also assured us that if we can identify any person(s) that are trespassing on the property, they will gladly prosecute these people on our behalf.

Before every meeting at 1 PM a deer management committee meeting will be held open to all members.