Article by Mark Nale in the Centre Daily Times:

Hunters need to discern between fact, fiction in deer management debate


The phone rang one evening last month and an angry deer hunter was on the other end of the line. To make a long story short, the voice on the other end said, "Deer are at dangerous levels in Somerset County and I'm afraid that they won't recover."

He and "a bunch of guys" were going to the big sports show in Harrisburg to protest, by standing outside with signs, and that I should write about it.

After a back-and-forth discussion, the caller explained that the habitat where he hunts is great for deer -- "plenty of food," he assured me, but the problem was that the Pennsylvania Game Commission had issued too many doe permits. He failed to explain how he knew that too many permits had been issued, but he "knew" that there were too many. A few sentences later, he said that the hard winters of 2002-03 and 2003-04 had killed lots of deer. I asked him why the deer had starved if there was plenty of food. Moments later, he hung up on me.

A week or so later, I met Mike Creamer, president of the Pennsylvania Deer Association.

"The past two years have been the best deer hunting that I've had in my entire life," said Creamer, who is in his mid-50s, and hunts in -- you guessed it -- Somerset County.

How can two people have such opposite views?

For the record, local hunters attending the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in Harrisburg reported either no protesters or two protesters standing outside the show.

At the recent Mosquito Creek Sportsman Coyote hunt, I met a fellow who said that I should quit writing all of those articles supporting the PGC's "deer eradication" policy.

"You don't hunt in Clearfield County," he said. "There are no deer here."

The very next person with whom I talked was another Clearfield County coyote hunter. He related that he and two friends were driving a patch of laurel in an attempt to push out a coyote, and they jumped nine deer.

"This can't be," I said sarcastically. "Don't you know that there are no deer in Clearfield County."

Imagine that, no deer in the entire county, and this guy jumps nine in one tiny patch of laurel.

An unbelievable amount of my time, as well as space on this page, has been spent on the deer numbers controversy, an issue that seemingly will not go away. I can't go anywhere without someone cornering me to ask a deer question or, more than likely, give me their opinion. All of this is very healthy to a point, but the levels of distrust and misinformation are high.

I smile at the ridiculous conspiracy theories being spread around and shake my head in wonderment when I learn that some hunters actually believe them. Former PGC deer management leader Gary Alt did not have a secret agenda, nor did he kill JFK.

Department of Conservation and Natural Resources State Forester Jim Grace does not own a black helicopter, nor does he want to take over the PGC. It's amazing what some people will concoct or pass along.

One of the worst things is the very selfish attitude being expressed by a vocal minority of hunters. I realize that they are in a minority, but their I-don't-care-about-the-forest-or-anything-else, I-just want-more-deer attitude makes me ashamed to be associated with them. They probably don't realize it, but their attitudes are only loading the guns of the anti-hunters.

In light of all of this, I offer you my take on the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of current happenings in deer management:

The good

u The report of the Deer Management Forum -- "Managing White-tailed Deer in a Forest Habitat from an Ecosystem Perspective": Read the report yourself instead of believing someone's one-paragraph review;

u Three-tiered antler restrictions to improve the ratio of adult bucks to does: It is working;

u The current doe movement and mortality study being conducted on the Sproul and Tuscarora state forests;

u Aerial infrared deer surveys done by DCNR on the Sproul and other state forests: This won't solve the problem, but it will provide hard data;

u The PGC's recent attempts to balance the deer herd with its habitat: Please adjust where necessary, but stay on track;

u An aerial deer survey completed at the Lake Raystown property in November and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers attempt to keep deer in line with their habitat: A second aerial survey is planned for this month. Again -- more hard data;

u PGC Commissioner Gregory Isabella is holding a series of public meetings to discuss deer management in his southwestern district: Commissioner, I admire your bravery;

u All commissioners (well, almost all) held the ecological high ground at their January meeting.

The bad

u Richard Laurent's misguided one-man crusade against the PGC's deer management program: He suggests that hunters buy up all of the doe tags and then burn them. Laurent has his cute sayings -- "one and you are done," "stop the slaughter," and others. He formed the Central Pennsylvania Deer Hunters.

u The retirement (resignation) of Gary Alt: Alt was the best spokesperson possible for the PGC's deer management program. His input and leadership is already missed.

u Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania's public meetings held to rally hunters against the PGC: A gun is given away at each meeting to bolster attendance. Jim Slinsky is the featured speaker.

u Hunters who are now writing to their representatives and senators demanding that the politicians do something to "fix" deer management: By the way, these are the same people who normally cry, "Keep politics out of hunting."

The ugly

u The Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania, working with Harrisburg attorney Don Bailey, announced its intent to sue the Pennsylvania Game Commission for mismanaging the deer herd and for not releasing how it computes its deer population estimates.

This is by far the worst chapter in the "deer wars" saga. It is bad enough that this organization is attempting to institute political management of wildlife, but now they want to bring the courts into the picture. This is just what we hunters need, our legal system deciding how many deer we should have in Pennsylvania, what antler restrictions to have, how long the seasons should be or how many antlerless deer permits to issue.

Do I need to remind you that hunters haven't always fared too well when it comes to lawsuits. Although one outdoor writer who is supportive of this ill-conceived lawsuit claims that part of the lawsuit's strategy "is to bolster the independence of the PGC," I see exactly the opposite. What do you think?

I do realize that many hunters saw fewer deer last season. Part of this was by design -- an attempt by the PGC to lower the deer herd to be in line with its habitat. I have no answer as to why the deer numbers appeared to be radically low in some areas. I'm looking around now and seeing deer everywhere, and so are others. If you are willing to look, I think that you'll see them, too.

On my 12-mile commute home from school last Wednesday evening, I spotted deer at eight different places along the way. I was driving and certainly did not see them all, but I counted a total of 27 deer during that 17-minute drive on Interstate 99 and Route 220.

Last Thursday evening, I spoke with a farmer/hunter whose land lies along Route 26.

"No shortage of deer on my property," he said.

On March 4, Pennsylvania Outdoor News Editor Jeff Mulhollem counted over 150 deer while driving from State College toward Altoona on Route 45.

"There were so many deer in one field that it just reminded me of a herd of buffalo out west," Mulhollem said. "I just had to pull over and count them."

The field team working the Sproul State Forest continues to capture more deer. They now have 41 does radio-collared and this is up from the 26 reported last week. They have also captured and tagged 20 bucks on this hard-hunted public land.

Hunters, once again I suggest that you step back, take a deep breath, study the information and separate fact from fiction.

The voices of discontent are getting louder. If you want scientific wildlife management controlled by an independent PGC, I strongly suggest that you contact your elected officials and the PGC and tell them where you stand. Let's allow the deer managers to manage the deer.

Mark Nale, who lives in the Bald Eagle Valley, is a biology teacher and member of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association. He can be reached at [email protected].