Doug, finally something we agree upon. There were too many deer. Your last sentence was correct as well. What I should have said was that thier will be more bigger bucks. Hell, I have as much Idea as the next guy what isexactly the right answer and what is wrong. I just know that the direction The deer biologist want to go in is correct. The goals of PA deer management are worth attaining. How they actually get there is up for debate. The thing that gets me going is the anti-alt bias. Anti-alt propoganda, anti-alt alterier motive nonsense. Deer management will be fine tuned and overhauled as needed and as the data directs. That's all I ask. Pick a direction, work towards it, tell us the truth (which he is, when he's been wrong he's admitted it), let the studies and the data direct you. Doug no matter how many DPSM we reduce the herd to it won't take too awful long for it to bounce back if we overharvest. But there is still an overabundance of poor habitat out there. No one gave a rats breakfast when local county treasurers were hoarding doe licenses for thier friends (Thank's for nothing LTV), doe licenses dollled out at rates based on what some commissoners feelings were-based on tradition and emotion, sometimes in direct conflict with the biologists recommendations, suddenly a system with some facts, knowledge, science behind it and every is up in arms. Mostly because it's a change, mostly because it's different. Now everybody seems to know how to fix PA's deer herd and it isn't Dr. Alt's way. Heck before he came around no one cared. Now folks care, slowely but surely folks are educating themselves and that's good. It's been a long, long time coming. If x percentage of bucks saved is lower or higher than predicted. If x percentage of bucks at 2.5 years have 4 points or better is higher or lower than predicted, if the average number of fawns decreases while fawn mortality decreases because habitat has improved, If the average number of fawns increases as population decreases, I don't care. I just want deer management to be in tune with all this stuff so I can go out and ethiclly hunt. if the reasoning behind it is sound , you get my support, how many low weight does and scrubby four points can we shoot. A trophy is a trophy for a lot of reasons, one of them being a healthy animal of any sort in the prime of it's existance. I haven't seen too awful many of them in all the time I've been deer hunting and I've harvested a buck every year except a few. Will the changes all take hold and be in place for a long time.. I don't think so. Some will have the expected results, some will have unexpected results both good and bad, but we need to allow the biologist the ability to make the necessary changes, react to the data resulting from the managment stratagies they're implementing. Time, Patience, and trust are needed. Alt has done nothing but good things for PA's hunters. His notariety is the reason he has been able to forge ahead with deer management and his noteriety has also contributed to the negative backlash. He hasn't done anything to warrent any mistrust, not one thing. He sure been the victim of more rumors, false accussations, fabricated "facts" than anyone of us would ever dream of putting up with in private let alone thrown out thier for the entire state to digest. That kinda stuff is ridiculous.
Doug, I think come fall you and I should go spotlighting together. One night I'll host you in Lackawanna County and one night you can host me in Pike County. Heck maybe I'll even buy a round at Mel's tavern or the bar in the Tom Quick in, though last time I think I was a QDM drinker, cause I was one or two age classes up from the young bucks I saw there. Enjoy, Juniorpc.