DougE

There is alot of common ground and that's good.I think most of the suggestions would be feasible and well received by most hunters.Smaller management units and better management in those units seems to be an idea shared by many. It's also clear that most hunters support AR and reasonable herd reductions.Undoubtedly,most of us want to see a better system put in place to monitor the harvest.The dividing force seems to rely heavily on the amount of herd reductions taking place.Some areas are getting overharvested and some are getting underharvested.The point everyone has to understand is that those areas where hunters are complaining so much are the only areas to have reached Alt's ridiculous deer density goals.Those areas show the true reality of this plan.Most people don't have a problem with the general concepts putin place.It's the end result that concerns them.There is no way our hunting will improve if we stay on the track we're heading.Many people came up with good ideas that seem like simple common sense solutions.Most will never get implemented because huge herd reductions are the true goal to keep our forest certified.Don't make the mistake of thinking we need to reduce the herd for a while and then it will be allowed to rebound when the forests are supposedly fixed.Cameron county has been below it's deer density goals for well over a decade and no signs of a healthier forest are showing up.The area around my house has been below it's density goals for over five years now.It's regenerating any better now than it was ten years ago.So how long do we have to wait?It's a complex situation and deer are only a small part of the equation.Our enclosures look just as bad on the inside as the outside.The forest composition has been changed from years of acid rain and forest fire suppresion.The reason we have so many oaks from the turn of the century is because of all the wildfires back then.The lack of these fires today is why so many other species out compete the oaks.Are the deer a factor?Yes,but they're only a part of the equation and it's been proven that in the right conditions oaks can regenerate at deer densities that are much higher than Alt's goals.