LOL Mark, you sound like me in 1995. I believed that there was no way the trained biologists with F & W would actually pursue a program that would intentionally take deer numbers so low, but they did and still are.

A typical square mile in the region I'm talking about has probably 350 to 450 acres of woods, with the remaining acreage being planted in corn, soybeans, apples, peaches, milo, string beans, alphalfa (sp?) and assorted row crops. The woodlands consist mostly of oaks, beech trees, maple, gum, wild cherry, persimmons, laurel and holly thickets, small pine thickets, swampy patches, and green briar and honey suckle tangles. There is more, but my point is that the habitat is awesome for deer, they just aren't allowed to live here any more.

I thought for sure that the few alarmists in 1995 who said F & W were working with the farmers and other groups in Trenton to eliminate the deer were surely wrong. I told them we had to trust those who are experts in the field of biology, they must know what they are doing. Well, they did know what they were doing, I just never thought that they would allow it to go so far. But they created a monster with all the doe tags and generous seasons, and now we cannot get it stopped.

How bad is it? Well, I've been hunting for 25 years, so even though I'm no expert, I'm not exactly a novice either. Last year was the worst seaosn I have had since I began in the late 1970's, until this year. I scout like mad, keep journals, record all my findings on enlarged topo maps and photos from hundreds, yes hundreds, of hours of winter and spring scouting and usually have most of my 35 portable stands placed by July. I keep about 10 available to take advantage of rapidly changing food sources, but the others are placed in travel corridors and funnnels that have, through years of experience, and or my winter and spring scouting, proven to be good locations for catching rutting activity. I have stands for every wind direction, yet last year I went out 18 times before seeing even one deer. This bow season started a little better, but went down hill quickly. I've been out hunting 42 times since November 15th, and seen deer 3 of those times, for a total of nine deer. My two brothers are not doing any better either. Two days after that last heavy snowfall I went scouting. After nearly 4 hours of walking, I had cut only two sets of tracks, and this is in an area the State biologists think we have too many deer, so the gun season remains over two months long with no bag limit.

I can remember when hunters were considered wildlife conservationists. Now, hunters and Biologists for the State of New Jersey seem more like wildlife exterminationists. Don't think it can't happen in Pa, I'm willing to bet a 7 day guided hunt in Ohio that it will. Do yourselves a favor and don't buy everything that Gary Alt or the PGC tell you, they have other things in mind than "the health of the herd" or hunters' best interests. I'm not saying he is a total liar, or even an uneducated dummy when it comes to deer, but I can assure you that he is being very 'Clintonesque' with what he IS telling you, and what he is NOT telling you.

And one more thing. Even though I have great respect for Charles Alshiemer and C.J.Winand, when they write things like "you can't shoot too many does", or "shoot every doe you see until you get scared, then shoot some more", they should qualify those words. Those types of philosophies work well for those who manage large acreage, and control the quality and number of hunters on that property. However, those are foolish commands for heavily hunted public lands and will get you into trouble quicker than a public make-out session with the bosses wife.

As for the PGC and Dr. Alt, keep them honest, be a skeptic, and believe what you see, not what they tell you you're seeing.