It's difficult to entice young people to take up the sport of hunting when small game hunting is so poor. Youth can get very discouraged with sitting in a tree stand and seeing very few if any deer.It's generally cold and can be very boring to a kid. Pheasant hunting on the other hand was a wonderful recruitng tool for young hunters. They got to shoot many and multiple times. Missing birds was nearly as much of a delight as was connecting on a rooster. Without a plentyful pheasant stocking program recruiting young people into the sport is not going to happen to any significant degree. Certainly the agency should be well aware of this. A healthy pheasant program would go a long way in gaining new and young hunters into our fold.

As it is now the agency is turning their head away from pheasants and in effect our youth. Elk and Fishers appear to be of greater importance. I believe their priorities are misplaced. Remember last year they wanted to eliminate the youth pheasant hunt. The outcry was so great from hunters that they were forced to recommit to accomidating the youth. They had to be embarrassed into doing the right thing. Also, the agency contributes nothing in the formof monitary aid for the Wild PheasantReintroduction Program that is going on in wesatern PA and hopefully will be extended into the Northeast this year. The agency has not budgeted forit in the last 3 years, yet they have money for the elk where only 40 to 50 lucky lottery winners will get the opportunity to hunt them and youth will be a vey minimal percentage of those lucky 40 hunters.

I know, your going to say they don't have the cash for the pheasant programs. I say CUT THE TIMBER that they are supposed to be cutting. I say gut the elk program and concentrate on small game, pheasants, grouse and rabbits. The agency should be investing inour youth and the future of hunting.