ORIGINAL: DennyF

Don't know what Maine's status is on those questions. Do know that I've seen this issue of deer check stations come up often for debate over the years, usually "pushed" by those whodemand a more accurate accounting of PA's deer kills and PA's pre-season deer numbers.

In most cases cited as being themodels of accuracy, those states have far fewer hunters, far fewer deer, far fewer deer kills and often are much smaller states in area. Those states also wind up using check station data as one more component of their deer calculations. PA's system of calculation has been studied by otherdeer management professionals and has been found to be acceptable for the purposes of statistical gathering and analysis.

Which after all, is exactly what it's all about: A system that studies data, determines the reliability/repeatability of the system and produces an acceptable result. In PA's case, it's done with far less output of manpower and money to achieve the same endresult. It also entails far less effort on the part of hunters, who do not have to find a check station on their way home.