Been hearing a bit about you guys and the deer management. Sounds eerily familiar to what we've been going through here in Pa. Unfortunately for us, our harvests have fallen off even farther than yours has and we have a couple hundred thousand more hunters!

Our Game commission sold us down the river. We have environmentalists (from audubon and various conservancy goups)running the show here and its atrocious management. Kill the deer for the sake of the trillium, hobblebush and extreme biodiversity. We been fighting these "deer wars" for several years and its a losing battle. Our buck harvest in recent years has been 109-120k and that is not the number actually reported but total AFTER a 60% reporting noncompliance guestimate percentage is added by PGC! And the herd level continues the declining trend according the pgcs data, and even worse via hunter accounts which dont come sugar coated.. Our deer management leader had to wear bullet proof vests in public, the agency is being sued by sportsmen group, being denied a license fee increase by some pro-hunting legislators, and an audit has been forced. ... Still staying the course.

Lotsa ugly politics involved.

All I can say is good luck fellas. If our experience here is any indicator, You're gonna need it.