Pabowhunter, I think he's already done more than any of us could have asked of him. Changing atititudes, traditions, etc that have been so ingrained for so long has been a herculean task and accomplished because of his drive and personality as well as his professional stature gained from working with the bears. His ability to use the media is terrific and his contacts in print and video are amazing. I don't think thier is anyone else out there that could have turned PA's deer program around. it just would not have been possible. Our grandfathers, our fathers, and ourselves haven't seen PA's deer herds micromanaged and well now folks will fault Alt for not doing so? Tell me when anyone of us herd anyone complaining before Dr. Alt about micromanaging the deer herd? Nope just didn't happen. Folks didn't care how it was managed. Just didn't care. Still many don't other than they don't want things changed. To heck with the reality of what that means.
Folks that think Gary is in bed with the PGC to further the PGC goals are way, way off. He's at odds with the PGC, especially those that have been through the old Green Ringer School. He still does not have the support of the Commissioners. Why would a commissioner want to listen to an outside biologist instead of one from within thier own agency? In the brief conversations I've had with the commissioners over several years I still find some of them to be less informed than many of us and basing thier views and decisions on tradition and emotion with little or no or twisted and contorted facts to base thier views on. Not one of us would have wanted to undertake what Alt has taken on. Not one of us.
As for the direction he's taking, he's admitted he doesn't have all the answers and that mistakes will be made. He's said that from day one. Any biologist from any state in the union will tell you that is' easier and much quicker to get the deer population increased than it is to get back habitat and habitat is the main issue in the entire process. And bringing deer numbers down is one of the needs. I don't see how he can micromange when he's still going year to year to year with getting approval for the deer program and maintaining the ground he's gained. Folks want him to move faster... heck they almost had his head for the changes he's made to date. Nobody would have accepted and quicker changes. He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.
I know one thing from knowing Mr. Alt. He will succeed and he will further his name and reputation. That's what drive's him. Succeeding isn't destroying the deer herd. Succeeding isn't getting deer numbers low enough to make the foresters and audobon people happy. Succeeding is making things better for us hunters. So if anyone thinks he doesn't have our best interests at heart thier mistaken. If only because his best intersts and our best interests happen to match.
I've seen folks with different formula's for coming up with herd estimates. Better? No? just different and just not the PGC's biologists ways. I've seen folks take study data from other states and twist the results to suit thier purposes. I've seen folks look for all kinds of reasons our habitat is suffering. If Oaks can grow inside an exclosure but not outside then acid rain is not the issue the seedlings are disappearing. If acid rain is going to kill them in four or five years then certainly that needs to be addressed, but most of us wouldn't know how big a three, four or five year old oak tree is because we haven't seen many in our hunting lifetimes save for our yards if we've planted one cause almost every last one in the wild is eaten as a seedling. Folks hate Alt for being famous and disagree with him sometimes only for that reason. Everybody loves an underdog, which he certainly is not (but certainly was when it came to deer management and changing tradition), but an unknown, a percieved underdog could never have made changes in Pennsyvania. Why wasn't thier this much uproar when we were reducing doe licenses, couldn't sell out counties, couldn't get folks to shoot a doe?? All the while the habitat tanked? Cause people just don't know any better. Folks can disagree with Alts different programs and stratagies, but they can't possibly say we don't have a habitat problem and more often than not they they can't see that either. I see a whole bunch of parallells in how the anti Alt folks go about presenting thier case and how PETA, the humane society present thier anti hunting, anti circus, anti animal abuse arguements. Thier compelling, but based on emotion rather than substanance.

Juniorpc