J Pike

Here is is what is going to be included in the Deer Audit, and is expected to be completed by the end of summer. But what should we expect for only $90,000!! As you can see the audit will not even look at current DD. #'s, DD#'s over the last few years, what DD. #'s should be in the future or what DD#'s are currently be managed in other states. Pike
Here is the article.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""http://www.centredaily.com/sports/story/1330969.html]Critics of the Pennsylvania Game Commission have long requested that an outside agency investigate the commission’s deer program. The long-awaited deer audit is about to take place.

The audit’s scope and depth is determined by a Request for Proposals sent out by the Budget and Finance Committee in June 2008. The five-page document, along with the attached resolution, directs would-be applicants to focus their investigation on answering 15 questions dealing with the PGC’s deer population estimates, the size of wildlife management units, the PGC’s use of deer embryo data, deer health, habitat health, forest regeneration, deer/human conflicts and other issues. The RFP also asks that the audit compare Pennsylvania’s deer management practices to those used by other deer states and to determine what, if any, of their best practices should be used in Pennsylvania.

“We are in the final stages of drawing up a request for documentation — a list of information to be supplied by the Game Commission for our audit,” Williamson said. “Some of the information should be easily supplied, while other data will take some time for the agency to assemble.”

According to Williamson, WMI will review the data that is supplied by the commission and then meet with agency personnel during the summer to get any needed clarification or request additional information.

“We need to know enough about their techniques and methods to know what questions to ask,” Williamson said. “We will then use our own experience, published scientific literature and the methods that other states use to evaluate Pennsylvania’s deer program. Every state agency uses the literature to guide their management process. Pennsylvania is unique in that they have been able to do the science within the borders of the commonwealth. During the audit process, we will look at all of their deer studies.”

If some hunters are expecting the institute to provide an exact count of Pennsylvania’s deer, a question long-asked by the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania, they might be disappointed.

“We are not going out in the field to count deer,” Williamson said. “There will be no independent population survey. We will look at the Commission’s data and the quality of the data and ask if it is defensible and reliable. If their data is up to the task, we will make a population estimate and indicate a level of confidence in the estimate. If the confidence level is too wide, the estimate won’t be worth the paper that it is printed on.""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" """""""""""""