ORIGINAL: bluebird2
How do you square that with the fact that 2G has a predator mortality for fawns that is 4 times higher than the fawns studied outside 2G ?.
The higher predation mortality does not negate the fact that it still took a harvest of 11,000 deer to keep the herd stable and the same applies to the fawn mortality due to hunting.
Hunting is not the problem. A deer population that exceeds the carrying capacity of the land is the problem. A drive through the Sproul Sate Forest reveals virtually no understory and almost nothing but pole timber. A RSB said, deer don't eat rocks in spit of their mineral content.
I didn't say hunting was the problem . What I said was that the harvest of 11,000 deer yearly clearly shows that the habitat was not the factor that prevented the herd from increasing. When the habitat is controlling the population ,non-hunting mortality equals recruitment. I understand why you don't comprehend that ,but I find it hard to believe RSB doesn't understand that simple concept.
Hunting is only helping maginally to control the herd in 2G. Hunting has fallen short of controlling the herd so mother nature has taken over with predation being the dominant factor. It's a simple enough concept. Studies of coyotes have repeatedly shown that they have an amazing capacity to self limit their litter size according to food supply.
Everyone from the PGC to the insurance companies have been blamed for planting coyotes. The cause ofthe coyote population explosion in PA has been the past failures of the PGCandhunting tocontrol the herd for decades. BTW, make no mistake when I say the PGC has failed. I mean to say that the PGC failed in the past to stand up to the likes of the USP, a few idiot legislators, and the rest of the "deer behind every tree" crowdand do the right thing by getting the herd under control decades ago