Bluebird wants to only point out two different small time slots and you point to one set of stats over 5 years. The NSSF data , right on their website, tells a much more complete story and puts PA right in with national averages.
No one is claiming that there isn't a general nation wide decline in license sales. What we are saying is that the rate of decline in PA has been accelerated during the last 5 years due to the dramatic decrease in the deer herd and you have provided nothing to refute that claim.
Pa is currently only replacing each retiring hunter with .69 new hunter or to put more realistically, for each 100 hunters that quit, 69 start.
From 2002 to 2005 license sales declined by 71 ,000 including junior license sales. During the same period over 100,000 junior licenses were sold each year. How does that equate to a replacement rate of .69?