Trust me turkey hunter I do care about the overall condition of our forest.Heck I'm a hunter and spent alot of money on our habitat via pitt-rob fund and many other sources.And I do agree that we needed herd reduction in areas of the state.I agree that the days when I used to see 60 deer a day in the NC woods that was too many for the habitat to support.I am also a grouse,turkey,and smallgame hun ter so habitat means alot to me.
Let me give alittle example.After serious herd reduction we hunted the second season of grouse in the state forest.As you know grouse hunting requires alot of miles.The lack of deer sign that day was alarming yet we were slipping on acorns untouched by deer.Lots of acorns.And no they didn't have worms.
If this area had too many deer those acorns would have been far and few between.
I never said that deer don't browse because they do.And the good thing about them is that the junk maples are a preferred browse.I wish they would browse more of them.Those buggers can grow anywhere including under my deck where there's no sun at all.
Maples grow alot faster then oaks and inalot of cases shade them out.
Sorry getting off topic.
Anyway I'm not asking for 50 dpsm.I'm asking for the birders and DCNR to find a happy medium between supporting the habitat and at the same time preserving our deer hunting heritage.When you see an area that is down to 10 spsm and less and still no regen under the canopy you know there's a bigger factor here then the whitetailed deer.After seeing regen in the sun {white oaks}with a number of 38 dpsm it tends to make a fellow question the motives behind such groups as the birders.They care about birds,not deer,bear,rabbits or any other game animal.My thing is hunting.
And yes that means a good environment with good habitat but along the way I dion't think we need to nearly eliminate the deer.
Most of the notheast at one time was hemlocks and pines.They cut down the mountains and what grew back was oaks and many other food producing trees.Were the seeds laying dormant just waiting for sunlight?I'm not sure but I do know when the sun came in the hardwoods grew.
People like you and myself aren't as far apart as you think.Somewhere along the line we just need to find a happy medium and get back to fighting the antis rather then ourselves.