Buckner's Cave (Now with bats!)

[E-brake]

I took this trip two months ago. I visited Buckner's cave for the first time with a friend of mine.

I was told Buckner's cave was bat-less from the early 1990's.

I was pleasantly surprised to see many bats in Buckner's cave

Hope to see the bat populations rise through out the mid-west

[JackW]

I am sure that the efforts to control access to Buckner's Cave will result in an increased bat population, but I recall that there were bats there prior to the new management initiative. I also recall seeing cave crayfish and cave fish too; that was 3 years ago. But I remember bats when I went there for the first time in Fall '95. Buckner's was my second cave and a real wakeup to why conservation is important. My first was Dillion Cave; it was un-tagged, un-trashed and awash in biodiversity. Buckner's at the time was the polar opposite.

[hoosiercaver1]

I was there in March, and I dont remember seeing but a few. It was my first time there and we didnt stay that long, but I didnt see that many. I will defineately be back soon, so Ill have to be more aware of them. I really liked that cave, and hope to go and see more of it.

[Trogdog]

I was there during convention last year and saw several bats. Buckner's was my first wild cave back in 1985 and there were bats then also. I'm glad to see that Buckner's is being taken care of and returning to a more natural state.

[shibumi]

I've been caving in Buckner since 1983 and have logged around 1300 trips through the cave (I run the circle route once a week for exercise) and the bat population has remained relatively constant. The entrance room sees 3-4 different
species with 100-500 bats on average in the winter. There's a sprinkling of Pips throughout the cave.

Right now in the entrance room there aren't many bats, but come September or so we'll wee them moving back in.

Anmar-- President of the conservancy that manages Buckner