This project is long-term and ongoing with my sophomore class. I would love feedback with anything else I can incorporate, or with good resources for deer behavior. I am a marine ecologist; deer are new to me!

Emily, I LOVE your investigation. I have a million questions for you...

some of the larger questions are:

does your school have several periods throughout the day - are you doing this project in all classes or just one?
How many students are there?

Emily, this is a great project!! It is something that we may be able to do at the Middle School because we have trails on the side of the building that we plan on using in the future. I can't wait to hear how this lesson goes with your kids.

Emily, this investigation has great potential, and its no wonder to me the kids are psyched. I would recommend the Tom Brown Jr. book, Tracker, as a great resource, both for teaching nature awareness, and for its amazing, but supposedly true, stories.

At some point it would be useful to verify that the deer found in the nearby denser woods are in fact the same deer that were in Minuteman. Someone like Tom Brown could tell you whether the tracks matched in both places, or maybe you could match hair, from their bed down places, the GPS collar would be an expensive but definitive possibility.
How about a series of deer blinds along the trails (made visible after new snowfalls) with kids communicating what they via cell phones?
-Bob Elliott

Emily, you and I should get together and compare deer and coyote notes. The coyotes around here are learning how to catch deer. It's not easy! You sound like you are really investing time and effort into this local population and behavior study. Like Bob's suggestion of Tom Brown, another tracking book by a local Fall River native, Paul Rezendes, Tracking and the Art of Seeing, is amazing for its photography and in depth discussion of each animal. I just read the deer section and learned a lot. I'd love to come and see your class in action on Monday or Thursday during our March break, March 16-27. Would that be possible?
Otter