I'm not getting into a GC debate here. What I will say is that I hunt around one of the first areas to be fenced after logging in the ANF. We walk thru the fenced areas to get to our spot. The very same year that the fences were erected there were trails wore into the ground around the INSIDE of the fences, an incredible amount of deer sign and MANY MANY fresh rubs on the small trees left standing. The deer entered the fences at will it seems. I think the fences are HIGHLY ineffective and a big joke in our deer camp. As a matter of fact, after a few years we began to hunt INSIDE the fences! We have kicked deer up and watched as they effortlessly jumped over the 10 foot high fences and sought refuge inside the fenced areas. Out of the 4 fenced areas, only two had regrowth and the other two are like wastelands with NOTHING growing inside. The interesting thing is that the deer do not go into the two areas that have no growth , but they are constantly in the two that are heavy with new growth. Of course they go where the food is, but doesn't it seem funny how the trees can grow good and support deer in two of the areas? The two areas that have no regrowth are on the north slope of a major gorge.

The reason that regrowth does not happen is because the tree huggers have lobbied to limit cutting to small acreage "tracts". A hundred years ago they cut EVERYTHING and the sun reached the ground sunup to sundown. With limited tracts, the rising and setting sun is shadowed in most of the tract, thereby limiting the dose of precious sunlight reaching the ground. In Northern regions, the amount of sunlight received plays a vital role in the success of regrowth. Tracts cut on any hillside except southern are doomed to failure, especially since they are also required to leave a few mature trees standing in the middle of the tracts. WHAT A FARCE!