My opinion is that deer or no deer, a mature forest will not have any regeneration. It is plain as day that as a forest matures, the shorter trees die and fall. These trees did not die off from deer eating at their trunks, they died from being choked out. The only vegetation on the floor of a mature forest would be species that thrive in shadows. How many native tree species in PA will sprout from seed and thrive and grow in shadow? I know that hemlocks will barely exist in shadows but they won't grow one foot in a decade under those conditions. Hardwoods will not grow PERIOD. We need large scale clearcutting, the uglier the better. Where did this mature hardwood paradise in PA come from in the first place? CLEARCUTTING! 100 years ago this state looked like the surface of the moon. Had that not happened, we would not even have deer today. As a matter of fact, deer were reintroduced to this state. There just weren't any. Nothing gets mother nature off her lazytail quicker that large scale devastation. Mature trees.......Public manace.