Helicopter net gun catches deer near Cathlamet

March 20, 2013 @ 12:25 pm

CATHLAMET, Wash. (AP) - A helicopter crew with a net gun captured a dozen deer at a refuge near the mouth of the Columbia River where managers fear they'll be flooded when a failing dike breaks.

The net expanded in midair like a Spiderman web and dropped on each deer, The Daily News reported Wednesday ( http://bit.ly/11jcy8X).

Biologist resorted to the net gun after the deer were too wary to be driven into nets by helicopter hazing.

No deer were killed during the helicopter capture, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Doug Zimmer.

"It was a very, very successful day. That was a very adept, very professional helicopter crew," Zimmer said.

The use of the helicopter was the latest development in an effort that began in January to move about 50 endangered Columbian white-tailed deer from the Julia Butler-Hansen Refuge where habitat will be lost when a badly eroded dike fails.

About 30 deer have been moved so far to a federal refuge near Ridgefield.

A crew of more than 50 biologists, volunteers, local high school students and two veterinarians gathered at Cathlamet Tuesday morning to hear helicopter pilot Jim Pope explain the rules of the capture.

The ground crew would wait in silence at strategic points in the woods, Pope told his camouflage-clad audience, while Pope and his two flight assistants would attempt to flush the deer into the open, toward a loosely hung net.

"It's gonna be really boring initially _ get comfortable!" said Pope, who has flown in helicopter animal roundups all over the West.

All morning long, Pope dipped and buzzed over the refuge, skimming the tops of trees and swooping into open meadows.

But the tactic wasn't working. As a result of the ongoing capture effort, deer had become too wary of humans to run into open meadow, said Jackie Ferrier, who manages the refuge.

Pope even began dive-bombing deer while his two assistants fired "cracker shells" that detonated in the air. But the deer turned away from nets, retreating into the woods instead.

By midmorning, the pilot switched to a riskier but more efficient capture method _ "net-gunning."

As Pope and the ground crew worked to push deer into the open, assistants leaned out of the helicopter and fired Spiderman-like nets.

Pope then swooped within inches of the ground, allowing an assistant to leap out and secure the deer and hook the net to the copter.

In an instant, the dangling deer, now mildly sedated, was flying toward a staging ground for transfer to a truck for a ride to Ridgefield.

Work stopped for a while because the flight crew unintentionally trapped a fawn without its mother. Pope and his crew abandoned all other trapping efforts while they combed the refuge in search of the doe, which was captured within the hour. The pair would later be reunited in Ridgefield.

___

Information from: The Daily News, http://www.tdn.com


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Comments (5)


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  • Zoeller wrote...
    "If they didn't drown the deer might die of hypothermia"
    February 14, 2013 9:01 am
    Really????? Deer are extremely good swimmers. Unless there was a tidal wave no deer would drown unless it was a newborn fawn.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Saltchucker wrote...
    Cool.
    February 14, 2013 9:04 am
    Hope we catch up to Oregon, where they have rebuilt the Columbian Whitetail popultion back up to where they offer limited draw special hunts for them. As for the landowners worried about damage....those whitetails range with big herds of Roosevelt Elk. The elk can and do cause way more crop loss/damage than any amount of deer.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Gate Keeper wrote...
    Glad I Got Mine
    March 18, 2013 8:20 am
    Spent a lot of my youth on Puget Island, lots of weekends and summers spent at family (very rustic)houseboat on Bernie Slough. 1966 and 18 years old very first hunt for the wily Columbia River Whitetail, 12 ga. "monkey ward's pump shotgun and 00 Buckshot @ 30 yds. Perfect 4 point buck and I still have the rack in my garage and cherish the memory of that 1st (and only)hunt with my dad.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • imanegro wrote...
    government in action
    March 18, 2013 11:31 am
    No tax dollars wasted here, nope.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }