They have stood their ground with DCNR.DCNR wanted to allow group hunting,unlimited dmap's per hunter,baiting,rifles all season long,they wanted hunters to be able pass off unused dmap tgas to other hunters and they wanted to allow baiting.The PGC didn't cave into any of those demands.So exactly how didn't they stand up to DCNR?

Have the issuance of dmap tags increased over the passed couple of years on state forests lands?Look into it and you'll see they haven't.

There was nothing inherently wrong with the deer management plan that Alt implemented.Killing more doe and saving youger bucks was a noble idea.The reason I have such dissention for him is the way he implemented the plan and sold it using mistatements of truth.He made ridulous claims that could never come true.On top of that,he continued to insist the herd was still increasing even though it was obvious that the record doe harvests were reducing the herd.The plan is being tweaked like he said it would be and I'm seeing excellent signs of the habitat recovering now that the herd is down.I think it's working as planned but it was time for him to go.He single handedly put a wedge between the hunters of this state and the PGC.Unfortuanely,he isn't giving up and he's spreading more mistruths in urban areas where most people don't have a clue about game management.

Every state in the Northeast has seen a expansion of coyote populations in the past 60 years. My father saw it begin in the late50's in Vermont and saw more and more sign until he stopped hunting there in the very early 80's. Our family continued to hunt in MA every year, and some odds years in NY and PA all the while seeing the gradual increase in sign and animals in all states. None of this is from stocking. The Yote simply filled a nitch that was left by the extinction of the eastern wolfafter the reforestation of the Northeast.To say a few pens of yotes released by PA and Maine game officails 20-30 years ago is responsible for the coyote population increase of all Northeast and Mid atlantic states is crazy.

Animals adapt and expand into changing envoronments. The whole, "we never saw them in the 60's so they must have been stocked" argument dosn't hold. In my state of MA, you never saw moosein this state 40 years ago. A black bear was an exptreme rarityat that time. Both are a fairly common sight now.They simply repopulated the area by a combination of protection and return of viable habitat.

I agree with you completely.Coyotes have no doubtEXPANDED theirrange all over the east coast but I wouldn't call that a population explosion.Coyotes are fairly common around here but I'm lucky is I see one a year.On the ther hand,I probably average seeing at least a dozen bears each year.While you could say the bear population has grown,I would hardly call it an explosion either.

Doug,99% of the time my posts here are directed at the DCNR and or Rendell.He's what I consider a wolf in sheep's clothing.Obviously the PGC wouldn't want to take our guns or hunting away.
Rendell,Debernliberal,and the DCNR is a different story.
I would like to make a comment about the decrease in anterless tags in 2G.We'll have to wait and see how many demaps are handed out to offset this.And at the end of the day there's still a substantial decrease in the anterless tags then bravo to the PGC.

Germain,they haven't increased the dmap tags at all over the past couple of years.DCNR looked at expanding the dmap areas in district9 to include the areas around the boyscout camp.They decided against it because that area isheavily hunted and they started to getregeneration without having to fence.I'll gladly show those areas to you in person.They cut the allocations from 59000 two years ago to 19000 this year.That's huge and it will make a very noticeable differerance.Dmap's in this district where you hunt have remained at 1800.


Rendell is no good,plain and simple.

Doug, I think you think I'm one of those bash PGC no matter what, I'm not.

In a nutshell, I don't like the heads of the DCNR, trying to call shots or putting their foot in any of this, IMO they're management Ideas are not at all for sportsmen for a varety of reasons. Of course PGC isn't perfect but come on, I know they're not against us, they're just under terrible pressure from the above.

You tell me where to go in clearfield area,(outside) twards 80 on north, and I'll try to get out and look around myself!!

I don't get the impression that you're anti-PGC.I appologize if I made you feel that way.I understand everyone's feeling about the guys that are running DCNR.I'll defend the guys on the ground that work for DCNRbut I ALSOhave serious reservations about the one's running the show.

What do you want to see.Do you want to see some good regeneration now that the herd's been reduced or do you want to see places that still have a fair amount of deer?I'd be more than happy to show you both.

Here's a good place to start.Take I80 west towards Dubois and get off of the Penfield exit.When you get into Penfield,turn left at the light on rt 255 and head towards Dubois.Turnright on to Mountain run rd.It's just a couple miles outside of Penfield.Go a couple ofmiles down Mountain run road and then take a right on to Evans fire tower rd.A few miles up that road,you'llcross a big pipeline.Park there and walk up the left side of the pipeline all the way to the top.That area used to be loaded with deer and you can see that all the old cuts have nothing but beech growing and no stump sprouts survived.Walk to your left and you'll see the areas that have been timbered since the herd has been reduced.The oak regeneration is almost too thick to walk through and the stump sprouts are now over my head.Now that the habitat is coming back in that area,the der are coming back as well.Just a few miles down the road is SGL 93.I'd love to show you the excellent regeneration on that gamelands as well as all the habitat work the PGC has done.Also worth seeing is the area that was fenced on top of Rockton mountain.They took the fence down two years ago and the growth is incredible.It's mostly red maple but it still illustrates what happen when you control the amount of deer.There's another good example of a fence that was taken down several years ago on mountain run road.Just go past Cessna's taxidermy and park next to the first gate you come to on your right side.Walk a couple hundered yards into the woods past the gate and you'll see what I mean.Look me up.I'd be more than glad to show you myself.

I know the Rockton Mountain area better, not so much on top but down lower, I'll have to do some looking myself. I don't know if I'll get the whole way out to pennfield, but it may be worth a look!!!



Where about on Rockton was the fence at the top???

I'm pretty sure they increased the demap tags in areas of 2G up to last year Doug.I'm specifically thinking of Potter county.I did some searching to find out for sure but couldn't find the numbers.
Rockton,I guess that mamoth buck everybody was seeing the last couple of years died of old age.Ran into clearfield 12,s cousin up there hunting that big boy.Lots of land and thick laurel for him to hide in.

Yeh, if your familiar with that area Germain, you should see down lower, nothing but laurel, as well as quite a few oaks. Only 1 trail I know of goes back in, thats why your buck died of old age!!


As you know, that area makes for a long day of hunting!!!