For this research project, 40 female deer needed to be captured and outfitted with radio collar.   In order to collar the deer, helicopters are sent out in search of the deer.  When an animal has been located, a net stored on the rudder of the helicopter is shot.  The net then covers the deer and immobilizes it long enough for crew members to land the helicopter and prepare the deer for transport to the processing station.   The capture crew is very efficient and well trained for these captures – incidence of injury to the animal is almost non-existent.

Once the deer arrives at the processing station, biologists immediately anesthetize the animal. The anesthetic used is the safest for the animals - it is very hard to overdose the deer, and they have a high intolerance for it. The deer are then blindfolded to keep debris and sun out of their eyes, and to help reduce stress. It is very important for everyone to be extremely quiet during this whole process, as the deer can still hear, and noise increases the stress on the deer. Blood samples were drawn for later lab analysis to check for overall general health, fat content and hormone levels.

Last, radio collars are placed on the deer – each collar has it’s own specific frequency in order to track and identify each of the individual deer during the next year.

After all of the lab tests and collaring were completed, the deer was then injected with a drug to reverse the anesthetic, and carried to a quiet place away from the processing site to recover.