Outdoors

TOM VENESKY

November 9, 2008

Shedding light on shorter days’ impact on hunts TOM VENESKY OUTDOORS

One thought crossed my mind as I watched the buck carelessly walk toward me last Saturday.

Daylight.

I was in the woods for the first day of turkey season when the eight-point buck meandered around the hillside toward me. He didn’t know I was there because his mind was on one thing –finding a doe.

I saw this buck once before, late in the summer when his coat had a reddish tint, his neck was lean and his antlers were freshly exposed from their velvet covering. When the buck spotted me on that early September afternoon, he quickly bounded away.

But now things were different.

The buck’s coat was dark brown, his antlers were polished and his neck was swollen like a tree trunk. Just as noticeable was his demeanor, which changed from wary to almost careless.

Why the difference?

One reason: daylight – specifically the lack of it.

As summer wanes and periods of daylight decrease, the reduced period of light triggers the buck’s pituitary gland (located near the eye) to produce more testerone and adrenaline.

The increased testerone and adrenaline levels cause the buck to shed the velvet off its antlers and swells his neck as the November rut approaches.

The encounter got me thinking just how powerful daylight is in nature. And it affects more than deer.

Furbearers such as raccoon, fox, beaver, muskrat and mink, don’t become “prime” until the amount of daylight decreases.

Similar to the buck, the reduced daylight triggers the secretion of a hormone that causes the furbearer to grow longer, thicker fur.

No doubt it’s a crucial step to prepare for the winter ahead.

Even Pennsylvania’s winged wildlife is affected by shorter days.

Less daylight tells geese, hummingbirds and other winged species that it’s time to head south for the winter. When the days lengthen, those same species return north to breed and nest.

Back on the ground, the amount of daylight is a factor that tells bears, woodchucks and jumping mice, among others, when it is time to go underground and hibernate.

The amount of daylight – or photoperiod, affects virtually everything in the outdoors.

Including trees.

When the days shorten in the fall, there isn’t enough light for plants and trees to perform photosynthesis – or make its own food. As a result, the green chlorophyll fades away and is replaced by hues of yellow and orange. Actually, those colors were in the leaves all along, they were just covered up by the green chlorophyll.

I thought about all this as the buck continued its approach. He passed by without a care in the world – for his swollen neck and polished antlers made him king of the fall woods.

When he reached the point where I walked up the hill an hour earlier, the buck’s nose sensed something was out of place. His head shot up as his nose detected my scent, and the buck pounded his front hoof into the ground several times before he snorted and bounded away.

It was starting to get dark and my turkey hunting was done for the day.

I unloaded my shotgun and headed back down the hillside to the dirt road below while there was still enough light to see. When I reached my truck darkness had blanketed the hillside.

In a roundabout way, I thought, photoperiod affects me as well as wildlife and trees.

It tells me when it’s time to head home.

Tom Venesky writes about hunting, fishing, trapping and the outdoors for The Times Leader. He can be reached at tvenesky@timesleader.com or 829-7230.

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