ORIGINAL: Cornelius08
"By the way, you should have pulled and posted those pictures of the winter starved deer in Greene County from that other site too. Must be that didn't fit into your agenda."
Rediculous. Tens of thousands of deer in a wmu, with fine herd and habitat health, and you think thatZERO deer should ever die? News for you RSB, natural mortality is just that. Natural. And it includes sickness, disease, injury, infection, lingering woundsetc.To expect NONE todie EVER during harsh winter is rediculous. AndIve lived and traveled this wmufor many many years and have many friends family members etc. who do as well, some of which are landowners....And winter kill has NEVER been a problem in Greene. EVER.There is not onewmu (or any other northern state for that matter) that NEVER has ANY deer die during winter, and by comparison This area is FAR less than most. Also if you compare the percentages of winterkill to other areas of the state, considering herd size, the kill in sw is a completenonissue and tiny by comparison....and even having said that, the other areas don't exactly exceed the norm either. You guys are in a whole other world up there. We had a bit of snow a couple of weeks ago. Maybe an inch. Its been gone for awhile. You guys probably still have snow? You guys get it by the foot. If we get a foot of snow, its about a once in a decade occurence if we're lucky. Really funny when I see the weather maps on tv and the snow you guys get and we arelucky to get a half inch.
"Cornelius needs to see those dead deer though since he believes there aren’t any habitat issues preventing more deer down that way;"
RSB, I get outALOT. All year long. I see what goes on here, and Ive also seen the data, which btw backs me 100%. You are preaching a very basic principal that simply doesnt apply here to the extent you think it mightwhile sittingtherehalf a stateaway, lucky to have ever set foot in the wmuat all. I know what goes on on properties across all corners of this wmu all throughout the year. I am also intimately familiar with what deer eat and what is available. In this wmu there is MUCH more to eat than many other areas of the state, even with alot more deer munchin' on it.(LOL)
"I guess the deer are telling a different story about the state of the habitat down there in Greene County and unit 2A though. "
Not at all. Not in the least. As healthy a herd as anywhere in the state. Of course, it was even when we had twice the overwinter deer. Now to insinuate otherwise is absolutely rediculous. Apparently pgc cannot disagree that winterkill isnt a problem (LOL)(Rediculous!) (LOL). They set the goal of "stabilization" based on the habitat health and herd health. Have a problem with that?? Take it up with them. I happen to agree. Even if the allocation doesnt support that supposed goal. I also dont think it fair at all to draw any conclusion based on two deer on one property which equates to one tiny portion of the wmu, which is far from the norm, And im very familiar with the deep valley area. Tons of off limits land. Lots of deer. Not the best habitat in the wmu by far, but far from the worse parts of the state..
Here are the dead deer from Greene County. Obviously no wounds and in the typical position (head back over the shoulder) of deer that died of starvation. Where deer are starving to death without deep winter snows you should know there is a habitat problem, unless you are simply in denial because you don’t want to believe the evidence and facts.
Here are what the person had to say that found them and examined them along with one other comment following the pictures.
“Deer were at Deep Valley...southwestern corner. Lots of deer and little food. They were laying under a pine tree next to a trailer. Cut open their bellies and hardly anything in them and the bone marrow looked like strawberry jelly.
Could pick them up with one hand.”
The first picture shows the red bone marrow. That only occurs indeer that have starved to death.
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“Why would that surprise you?2A had one of the worst breeding rates for fawns in the state. It also had a higher winter mortality in 2004 than Clearfield county. Wow, Beaver and Somerset counties really had high winter mortality that year. They were a lot worse than Potter, Tioga and Elk counties. Actually, they led the state in winter mortality. I guess it doesn't just happen in the big woods.”
I agree that Greene County probably doesn’t get a lot of winter mortality but the evidence is pointing toward the fact that unit 2A really can’t support many more deer then already exist there.
R.S. Bodenhorn