No,I don't work for the PGC.Yes there were tons of deer in 2gduring the 60's,70's and 80's and the herd crashed after the brutal winter of 1977 just as it crashed in 2004.The reason we're in the situation now is because we had way too many deer for too long.All of the forests that were in the sapling stage while the herd was increasing are now out of the deer's reach.

I never said light wasn't important for regeneration but not all browse species are shade intolerant.Oak is and oak needs sunlight.I said that in my last post.The reason that tornado area regenerated so well is because it's about a half mile wide and miles and miles long.It overwhelmed the deer because it was so big,they couldn't possible overbrowse it.

I am seeing excellent signs of regeneration in many places of 2G where the herd has been reduced.I just vistedone area in Moshannon state forest that has oak so thick you can't walk through it.The stump sprouts are over 6 feet tall since they did a shelter wood cut in this area two years ago.they did another ever bigger shelter wood cut about 6-7 years ago and there isn't an oak sprout left standing because there were way too many deer.

Explain why the regeneration is excellent inside of these exclosures and almost non-existant outside.

Ther herd is far from extinct in 2G.You have to hunt where the habitat is better.I hunted two dmap properties this year for a total of 2 days.I killed a doe on the firstmorning of archery on one state forest.Then I hunted on another state forest in Sinneahoning on the last day of rifle and killed another one.I hunted where they logged an area in 2001 and saw over 20 deer by 10:00am.There was no browse any where else and the browse that was there was reduced to black birch and striped maple.That's what happens in poor habitat.the deer concentrate on the few areas with adequate food during the winter and strip it clean and it doesn't take many deer to do it.