Some may question thepractice, but strictly viewed as statistical analysis (which is what it is), the current system works just fine and always has. I havewitnessed WCOs or other staffers at butcher shops recording data from deer brought in. Deer are also field-checked by WCOs during the seasons and that data recorded. I have also attended several "work shops" where the system has been explained in detail. If a dimwit like me can understand it, can't figure out why others have a problem gettin' a handle on it. It's a fairly simple concept and it works.

Atseasons' end, after report cards have been received and the data entered, they calculate the number of deer actually checked, versus whether or not those people sent in their cards. It gives them a base number to calculate how many deer were killed, versus how many successful hunters bothered to mail in their cards.

As Neville noted, the peer groupof our wildlife managers have studiedPA's system and pronounced it to be statistically valid for the purposes of calculating deer harvests each year. From the standpoint of accuracy, it matters little whether the reporting rate is 40% or 70%, as long as they can establish what the percentage is.

Compared to the costs and time involved in deer check stations or other mandatory requirements in other states, we're giving nothing up in accuracy. No other states that I'm aware of, claim to gain a 100% accuracy rate with alternative systems. Couple that with the number of hunters we have and the number of deer killed here each year, compared to hunter numbers and kill numbers inmost other states and it's obvious to most why we don't need check stations.

Nothing could be inherently more simple than sending in our report cards. Takes about 15 seconds to fill it out and the postage is free. If you want to blame someone for an imperfect system, blame the dimwits that refuse to cooperate. Call-in reports and perhaps computerized reports may make for a better system. We'll have to see.

Already been explained why they don't try to cite people for not complying. Who will prevail at the district magistrate level, when the WCO charges a hunter with failure to mail the report and the hunter says "I mailed it Your Honor, it musta got lost in the mail."