Germain,The dmap property that I hunted in Cameron county is owned by a friend of mine that bought it for the timber.He doesn't hunt and never posted the property.It's bordered on 3 sides by state forest land so most peopleprobably assumed it was state forest.He gets10 dmapcoupons a year and hands them out to anyone that wants them.Most of his property is unhuntable because it's pretty mucha cliff.You can actually see the white dots,marking the state forest from whereI hunted.He owns 200 acres and I'd say no more than 50 acres are actually huntable.This property was timbered in 2001 and he's having a hard time getting any regeneration because the deer flock to this area in the winter because it's one of the only places in that immediate area that had any browse.

I've been spending a consideable amount of time on state forest land over the past few weeks while scouting for turkeys.I'm seeing way more deer and sign thanI did the last three springs.I really fail to see how hunting has gotten so terrible in this area.I had a great year last year and I'm positive this year will be better.

Interestingly.I've only seen one other hunter on public land this spring scouting for turkeys.I've seen multiple hunters scouting on the private property where I hunt.Just because land isn't owned by the state,it doesn't mean it gets less pressure.

I'm not a real big fan of Rendell's yes men that area running DCNR.It seems their priorities are out of wack and not in the best interest of sportsman.However,they do have alot of good guys on the ground and they know what's going on in their districts.I know you disagree butI think they did exactly what neded to be done in this area.The habitat in district 9 was absolutely terrible.When it takes a fence to get regeneration,you have too many deer.Now that the deer herd is down,regeneration is starting to come back and hopefully the fencing will come down as well.Those fences help the trees but they hurt the deer.Every acres that's get's fenced is one less acre of habitat for the deer.Hopefully,less deer will mean the habitat will start to recover but it won't happen overnight.

Give me a call when you're up this way.I think you'll see where I'm coming from.Plus,I can show you a few areaswhere you should have no trouble killing a deer.Turkey numbers seem to be down somewhat but there's still plenty of them out there.Who knows,maybe we'll even see a mountain lion.