Ok Doug here we go....
1 One of the first things Gary Alt said in his roadshows before this began was that he wasnt completely comfortable with the PGC's methods for determining deer populations. Anyone listening at the time with an objective ear would have expected that he might have to make adjustments/corrections along the way.
2 The change from dpfsm to dpsm would make it look, to the person not able to do the math, like the deer density numbers would go way down. The bottom line is that there are changes but the big picture is relatively unchanged.
3 Go ahead and prove it but please dont quote DD to do it! I dont know a single hunter that would agree that the BD ratio is less than 1/5 anywhere I or my friends hunt. (I'll concede that this is a purely subjective judgement)
4 Dont know, I just know the exclosures I've seen look vastly different. Desert outside, lush and fertile inside. Acid rain and other factors ARE a big factor in some areas
5 To make it simpler on law enforcement and on hunters who cant/wont read their digests. This is one area where I very much question current practice. The only answer I've heard that has persuaded me to grudgingly accept the large DMU's (for now) is that we cant change everything all at once
6 sra's already have huge allocations. Many like 2B, the one I'm most familiar with, did sell out late this year. Longer seasons, unlimited doe tags per hunter, huge numbers of tags all arent enough. Tell me , what would you do different in the SRA's. I'll remind you again that Alt said he didnt have all the answers and that he would keeep trying till he had em.
7 Some lands probably need to be at less than 50% to recover and just killing the deer off won't be enough. replanting, clearcutting etc may also be needed ( I'll say right now, I'm not a forester and all I really know about this is that I've read that just getting rid of the excess deer is only part of the answer) That being said, who's version of the lands "true carrying capacity" are uou referring to?
For the most part, although you and I disagree on much of whats being discussed here, you have put forth reasonable questions here. I have tried to answer the same way. We undoubtedly will continue to disagree on much of it. In the end the final outcome is likely to please neither of us because we are both likley to have some part of this where we will be able to say "I told you so"
Now some questions for you:
1 Gary Alt said over and over and over that we would make mistakes along the way while we worked toward making things better. Why have I never seen anyone from your camp recognize that?
2 Do you not recognize that the quality of the "average buck" has improved markedly in two short years?
3 Do you concede that with over 1 million hunters, Pa is unique in it's deer management challenges?
4 Do you believe it is good for the herd to kill so many yearling bucks that there is virtually no breeding competition among those bucks left?
5 As an avid archer, one of Alts key strategies disrupts part my favorite time in the fall woods. (Early muzzleloader and junior/senior doe disprupts archery hunting as it used to be) I don't mind though, because I believe it is good for the herd. Take a good look in the mirror and ask yourself if your objections are truly based on your belief in whats good for the herd or are you upset because some aspect of your personal hunting prefernces/traditions have been disrupted?
6 we agree that access is a problem. What would you do that Alt is not doing to improve that?
7 Are you aware of Gary Alts success with the bears? There was a lot of screaming and knashing of teeth when he closed the season on em almost 30 years ago. Even more hand wringing occured when he lifted the ban on cubs and guess what? Our bears are healthier and more plentiful than they have ever been in recorded history. What should we have learned from all that?
I hunt other states where the culture and peer pressure imposes voluntary AR. That and other factors not necessarily common with Pa produces more and bigger bucks and a healthy herd. It may not work as well here but I really believe it will be a tremendous help.
I'm sure
[:'(] Darryl and Darryl [:'(]
DD for short. will chime in here any minute