Years……………….antler less allocation……………….antler less harvest
1983-1987.……………..12.90.…………………⠀¦â€¦â€¦â€¦.3.98
1988-1992.……………..16.21.…………………⠀¦â€¦â€¦â€¦.5.48
1993-1997.……………..13.08.…………………⠀¦â€¦â€¦â€¦.4.36
1998-2002.……………..12.30.…………………⠀¦â€¦â€¦â€¦.4.66
2003-2007.………………8.65.…………………⠀¦â€¦â€¦â€¦.2.35
2008.…………………….6.32.…………… ……………….Not yet available
As you can see that argument about fewer deer in unit 2G today because of increased antler less license and higher harvests is false, unless you consider the higher harvests of fifteen year ago or longer the reason for lower deer numbers now.
Thank you very much for doing an excellent job in demonstrating how the high antlerless harvests during the bonus tag years of 1988 to 2002 produced harvests that reduced the herd. Once the herd was reduced it took lower allocations and lower harvests too reduce the herd even more and that is why 2G was the only county at it's deer density goal in 2000. Then the high allocations in 2002 and 2003 produced harvests that greatly exceeded recruitment resulting in a sustainable antlerless harvest that was less than half of what it was when the herd peaked in the late 80's.
This is an excellent example of how the PGC used antlerless allocations to reduce the herd in 2G to less than 50% of the MSY carrying capacity of the habitat. Unfortunately forest health is still rated as poor in 2G after 20 years of herd reduction and herd health is no better than it was back then.