R.S.B.

First of all Doug is correct in the fact that the Game Commission has no say what happens on any Federal Ground unless they choose to allow hunting as the method of removal. Even the Allegheny National Forest could set up their own hunting seasons and bag limits if they chose to do so. Presently all Federal property, other then the parks, do allow the state wildlife seasons, bag limits and regulations be used as the method of wildlife management.

Pawildman is also correct that they take into consideration the normal fawn recruitment of the next four years in their estimate of the number of deer to removed.

As an example of how deer populations can both increase to match the food supply and then decline when they start adversely affecting that food supply I am going to post their estimated deer numbers for various years. Remember this is a deer herd that has never been hunted yet when deer numbers got too high some deer could leave and be harvested by legal or illegal hunters in areas open to hunting. Also a number of those deer each year have been killed by vehicles.

Now the historic Valley Forge deer population estimates: Valley Forge is 5.3 square miles in size.

Year………………..estimated deer population
1985.………………….165-185
1997.……………………772
2003.…………………..1398
2007.…………………..1023

Hopefully everyone can see a couple of things from these estimates. First we should be able to see how fast a deer population can increase when they have suitable habitat. Next everyone needs to recognize that these estimates indicate the deer herd is now in a state of decline, even without the influence of hunter harvests, due to over population. That really is a perfectly natural occurrence when populations reach the point of exceeding their habitat and food supply.

R.S. Bodenhorn