ORIGINAL: BTBowhunter
Doe license reductions are inevitable but the concurrent seasons will likely remain.
ORIGINAL: BTBowhunter
Why would you say that when the PGC has said that the harvest of 352K anterless didn't reduce the herd and the 2003 harvest of 323K anterless only kept the herd stable? Why would the PGC reduce anterless allocations if after two years of 1M anterless tags and two years of record anterless harvests the PGC is still claiming we have had zero HR?
Why would I say that? Cmon! Everyone realizes that sooner or later, HR will have an effect. If, as I think you're implying HR has already had a real effect, then we'll see a drop in doe harvest numbers. We've all heard claims for years (since the first bonus tags came out) that the doe are being wiped out yet the kill numbers continue to indicate otherwise. Sooner or later, the kill will drop or level off and at that point antlerless tags will have to be cut.
I'm not going to wade into the whole fray about whether Alt ruined Pa deer hunting, but I don't think you can count on this line of thinking BT. It's been my experience that once they open it up like this (at least in my state), they never back down. We have excellent habitat in my area of NJ that used to support 40 deer per square mile, with no habitat problems. They wanted to reduce the herd because, primarily, of farmer complaints. The herd was reduced, down to the point the QDMA and state of NJ estimate the population to be 12 to 15 DPSM, yet they have not backed off of our "no limit" on does, or extended firearm antlerless seasons. In my opinion, there would have to be a tremendous drop in harvest numbers (like maybe 50 to 60 percent) for them to back off the antlerless tags. Otherwise, it's not seen as a problem. A deer herd can rebound within a few years when seasons are severely restricted. It's much easier to allow the population to rise, than it is to reduce it.