I think many of the above posts are proving my point exactly. Where a large amount of hunters are the deer aren't. BT's post above is a perfect example. Plenty of deer on private land, that was previously inaccessible to most folks, but very few on public land. Gary needs to further address this issue by setting up a more effective hunter/landowner program. Without it many of the current programs are like....**ssing in the wind...in my opinion.
ilbback,
I would beg to differ with you on the area above the tunnel, i saw a browse line from the Bear creek exit most of the way till down off the hill, specially just below and above rt 80. (ITs mostly big timber with alot of laurel which is less than ideal habitat). Not really sure where blue Mtn is.
The area I was referring to is significantly south of that. I am guessing you got off the Turnpike at the Route 22/78 exit in the Lehigh Valley. The area I am talking about is from that exit north to the Lehigh Tunnel (goes through the Blue Mountain). North of the mountain is somewhat of a different story because of a difference in geography/habitat.
You guys have to realize that the lack of deer is not an entire state of PA problem. I am sorry about the lack of deer in your area. Maybe If my area was void of deer i would be crying too. I just find it very hard to believe that your problem has not been a long time in the making, and not just due to increased doe tags. You cant tell me that your hunting has dwindled to nothing in two years. I would believe its more habitat related than doe tag related.
I totally realize that other areas of the state...special reg areas for one....have an overabundance of deer. One thing this can be attributed to is the population density of that area and the ratio of public versus private land open for hunting. If you live in a semi-rural area with a low hunter/local population and a high or moderate amount of public land available then I would expect there to be a fair amount of deer available. If you live in an area with high hunter/population density and relatively small amounts of public land/private land open for hunting then I expect the public land to be "shot out" and the private land to hold most of the deer. That is just common sense and is basically what I am seeing myself and hearing on the various forums.
I also totally believe that the increased doe tag allocations in conjunction with a two week buck/doe season is almost entirely responsible for the decreased amount of deer on the public land areas that I frequent. I would have sincerely loved to have anyone here with me on either of those two opening Mondays of rifle or any of the Saturdays as I cannot fathom how they would fail to see the dozens of deer that were harvested.
Now, obviously, if there were that many deer at that point then an increased harvest was needed to some extent....
But it isn't now that the herd numbers for that specific area have been decreased significantly. That is the problem I have with such large WMUs. Though I agree the county system was severly flawed at least the area being covered was much smaller.
I gave Gary's plan a chance and still like the idea of antler restrictions and a doe harvest to correctly balance the population but more attention needs to be paid to micromanagement within the WMUs.