I would be interested in what your degree has done for you in your field such as a correlation between deer movement and different weather patterns.
My interest in meteorology was HIGHLY influential in my ultimate move into deer research. In fact, my first deer research was conducted simply as a scientifically minded obsessed deer hunter interested in whether weather conditions had an influence in deer movement and subsequently hunter observations of deer. Basically, what are the best weather conditions to hunt in?
The more I've studied that question, the more I've come to a couple of conclusions. First, how weather effects deer activity is very site specific. What weather conditions are "good" for increased deer sightings in one part of the country may be just the opposite in another. For example, in northern climes, where hunting season temperatures are naturally quite cold, a further cold snap may shut down daylight deer movement. Yet anyone in the Southeast knows a sudden cold snap in fall really gets the deer moving. In the far north, a warming trend can actually increase deer movement, yet in the South, a sudden heat wave can absolutely shut movement down, even during the rut. The second thing I've learned is that looking at particular conditions, such as temperature, wind direction, etc. doesn't tell the real story. I believe what deer react most to is changes in weather conditions. For example, they often become more active just before a storm system arrives. The key is not focusing on a specific temperature, or wind direction, or atmospheric pressure, but focusing on the
combination of weather patterns that typically occur as a storm system approaches.
In addition, any discussion of weather and daylight observations of deer by hunters also has to look at how those weather conditions effect hunters' ability to observe deer. In essence, is a particular trend in weather that produces a distinct trend in observations actually a cause and effect with the deer, or with a hunters
ability to see deer? Another consideration is whether a particular trend in deer activity is due to the weather influencing deer activity, or the weather influencing the ability of deer to avoid human predators? For instance, does a particular weather trend influence a deer's olfactory senses, hence their ability to smell a hunter before they are within visual range?
