I geuss figure can be interpeted to fit anyone logic with the correct spin. So I am not posting to get into a pissing contest. From my experience in the woods... and trust me when I say this I spend alot of time there... there a defiantely swings in the health of the forest. Yep logging does help improve the under brush and give new growth for the deer and critters to enjoy. Yes it is good for the deer to have this additional brouse for their winter feed when the snow is too deep to dig for the nuts. But if they are not getting high calory/quality food before it will be a moot point how many whippits they have to brouse thru the dead of winter. How many years is it before an oak tree yields fruit 7 or so and they are not mature producers till 25. Alot of deer life cycles there. All I am saying is there needs to be alot of thought about habitat. Better habitat will yield healthier deer.

I look at the buck I shot here last fall. It was a 2 plus year old 7 point that went 100 pounds on the offical scale in WRJ, shot in Quchee. Not one lick of fat on him coming into the winter. Only places I was seeing decient sign was on the oak flats that had nuts droping during bow season. Of the other deer our group harvested only one went over 120 pounds... and only by a whisker. Most of these where basket 4' s. Now the bigger deer are around but takes work and patience... I thought for sure mine was going to weight more or I would have let him pass. Now for me again I look at the personal effect I have seen between the antler restrictions in PA and the improvement I have seen in the quanity of mature bucks there. I have been chasing them there for just shy of 35 years. This last season was pretty cool. On one morning alone I had 5 bucks over the 3 pont on a side come thru passing on all because I know there are better one out there. The buck my wife shot was 3 yrs and it tipped the scale at 205. Now this is all broken farms and 200 ac. wood lots with excellent feed/ lighter winters. Not a posted sign around.. But the main thing for me was the number of maturing bucks I was seeing. I can' t wait for this year.

Now take a look across the river into NH. There are alot of areas there that hold big quality animals. Access is an issue due to the big woods nature of these critters... but the food and lighter pressue help these deer live to maturity. Now doesn' t a deer need to live to be at least four to really meet it' s potential for body mass? So by taking over 50% out of the pool before they have seen thier 2nd birthday not to mention how quickly the mortality rate rises from there how are we to know if the deer will flurish. So I geuss in the end I don' t care about the method that we use to help improve the health of the deer.... The numbers you point to say they are doing just fine... I think a 100 pound 2 yr 5 month old is small... but if protecting the buck just one year more to help in wising them up and giving them the potential to put on more body mass, I see it as a plus.

Harvesting does.... I have no problems with it. One usually finds it' s way to my freezer by the end of the first week of archery. I don' t think a wholesale harvst is in order but we have a pretty good source of info with the manditory checking of deer to keeep a handle on what areas are strong in support and healthy animals. Others would and should have the protections.