Just out of curiosity, what is everyones opinion on how negatively the winters of 2002-2003, 2003-2004 impacted the deer herd in your area? The state is saying that its one of the main reasons that the past 2 seasons deer harvests have been substantially lower than they had been in the several years prior. I know that the severity probably differs throughout the state, but in my homecore area in NE Steuben County I certainly didn't come across any major number of winterkills while out in the woods turkey hunting or shed hunting during the spring of 2003 and 2004. I spend alot of time in the woods during this time of year and cover alot of ground but found no evidence of a large number of winterkills. We don't get as much snow around here as they do in other portions of the state. Sure, the deer had a rough time in this area and some fawns most likely didn't make it throught the winter, but that should be expected during winter in the north. Afterall, these are the conditions that northern deer evolved in response to. During the summers of 2003 and 2004 I saw a large number of yearling bucks in the area, bucks that were fawns the previous year. If the winters were as bad as the state is saying they were, wouldn't this age class have been the hardest hit? I'm not against the DEC or anything, I think that they do the best that they can with the resources that they have in managing the deer herd, but I think that their claim of significant winterkill over the past two winters as the reason for the decline in deer harvest just doesn't hold water throughout the entire state. I certainly don't believe that this is why the deer harvest in Steuben County fell from 23,000+ deer in 2002 to 11,600 in 2004.