ilbback,I grew up in Tunkannock myself.I moved to Clearfield county in 1991 but still make it back to Wyoming county a few times a year.In my opinion that county is one of the top counties in the state.It is a stark contrast to what you will find in alot of other places.I disagree with many of the things that Alt is doing.However,I can understand why you think he is trying to change things for the better.If I never left that part of the state I would agree with him as well.The problem is,things are being managed on too broad of a scale.Let me compare too vastly different areas of the state and maybe it will help you understand why so many people are so upset with Alt.*

First,Wyoming county is almost exclusively private property.Because of this it is very hard to reduce the herd beyond the levels that the landowners are willing to do.I can remember very few days of hunting that I've seen less than 20 deer.Not one time in the past 23 years have I failed to kill a deer in that area.Even if I only went home for one day,I always came back home with a deer.That area is literally crawling with deer.My brother owns about 50 acres behind Lake carey.During almost any night in the fall you can spot over 100 deer in the fields in front of his house.The reason for this is because public access is severly restricted.Alt's plan of blanket herd reductions will do nothing to curtail this problem.*

Now I'll contrast Clearfield county.In 1991 when I moved here,the deer density was about the same.However,due to the huge expanses of public land,herd reductions came rapidly.The goal for Clearfield county is 15 dpsm.Presently,we are at 12 dpsm.Now I understand the need to balance the herd with the habitat.However,these goals are 50% less than the maximum carrying capacity for this area.I kill a decent back every year in archery season around here so I'm not even complaining about the deer numbers.I will say this.Hunting is a far different ballgame in this area than it is in wyoming county.By the way the deer density goal for wyoming county is only 13 dpsm.The highest deer density goal in the state is 2F with a goal of 17 dsm.Let me tell you,that's alot less than most guys are used to.*

Personally I can live with AR.I can even live with resonable herd reductions.The herd has been drastically cut around Clearfield county and it was really needed it.I do think it's getting carried away though.What I can't live with is the b.s.,lies and misconceptions Alt has been spreading.Alt claimed we would have more and bigger bucks than ever before.That's statistically impossible is you attain the goal of reducing the herd over 50 percent.Now he's fabricating a story,saying we are in an ecological and economic crisis.He claims that the herd has only been stabalized.How can any intelligent person believe this when he announced that we had an 8 percent decrease in 2001.This 8 percent decrease was then followed by the largest kill in history in 2002.That was a bold faced lie that he is using to position us for even more reductions to come*

So why would Alt lie?Why would he want to ruin our hunting?Good question and it can be answered with one phrase....FOREST CERTIFICATION.Forest certification is a way of saying our state forests are timbered in an enviromentally safe manner.This allows Pa(the largest certified forest in the country)to sell it's valuable timber over seas at a huge profit.You see,most countries in Europe and Asia won't buy your timber unless it's certified.So what does this have to do with Alt or the deer?Good question.Our forests were last certified in 1998 by an outside company.Now in order to get recertified in 2004,it was written right into the conditions that our deer herd had to be drastically reduced.The man who was in charge of certifying our forests for that company was Byron Shissler.Conveniently,he now works for our own DCNR and is Alt's right hand man on deer management.Didn't you ever wonder why we were in such a hurry to reduce the herd?Take a look back and see how the anlerless allocations were distributed.The counties with all the state forest kept getting all the huge increases,while counties like Wyoming and Susquehanna got very little relief from the overpopulation of deer.This isn't about you,me,the insurance companies or even the deer.It's all about our state timber.It's worth alot more than the deer.*

I hope you didn't take this as a disrespect to your post.Like I said,I would also see it your way if I only hunted in the northeast.However,these guys that say they aren't seeing deer aren't kidding.There are vast public areas that have seen herd reductions that many can only dream of.Unfortunately,there is no plan to ever let the herd rebound in these areas.I hunt in area 2g near my home.The deer density in this area is already 3 deer below the goal.Regardless,I'll bet 100 bucks that we see as many if not more tags this year.Many will say the habitat needs to recover.If that's the case,why is the goal 15 dpsm in 2g and 13 dpsm in 3b and 14 dpsm in 3c?Incidentally,I got these numbers off of the pgc's latest news release.