Sorry to burst your bubble Joe but the USP has absolutely nothing to do with the numbers published. That's entirely PGC data. Let go of the hate Joe. It will only consume you.
Well Joe...we're all waiting to know "what it is."

Neville,

Fair enough, but sooner would be much better than later. First impressions tend to stick better when not corrected early IMHO.

I ask for a quick respeonse because the longer we wait, the more opportunity there is for USP types to distort things, especially to those who dont take as much time as the average poster here to try and undertsand whats happening.

I will email you as well because this info, on it's face, does alarm me somewhat.

This is what I have been sending to legislators this morning:

Once again the USP gets a little information and makes a grand, but entirely faulty assumption from that data. It would almost belaughable except we waste so much time countering theirrhetoric and in the end a few people actually believe them. Oh well.
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[/align]Here's the story:
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[/align]Yes,the numbers are accurate for July sales.
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[/align]Last year antlerless sales began on August 1st. This year August 7th. For license sale data that's very significant.
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[/align]First, many hunters wait until the last minute (the week before) to buy their licenses. This year, those sales would have been in August NOT July. Second, issuing agents need to send us their reports to the PGC by the first of the month. Let's assume you're our biggest vendor Wal-Mart. They would probably close out their books during the week prior to Tuesday August 1st. That means sales on July 29-31 are also not counted in this yearssales figures.
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[/align]What the USP failed to do was look at the number of antlerless licenses sold compared to last year. If they had looked at that, they would see that there is no way sales general license sales could be at 390,000. We've shipped a half a million applications to county treasurers. And as you well know, you can't apply for an antlerless license w/o first buying a general license.
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[/align]Are sales down? Yes. However, a rough snapshot shows we're within 5% of last years salesat this time. We'll see how things shake out by the end of the year.
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[/align]Thanks for your concern. Have a great day.
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Thanks Joe, for a concise , direct, and plausible explanation. The last minute license buying makes absolute sense. I'm actually a wee bit embarrassed that I didnt catch something so obvious.

USP still has huge credibility problems with the majority of hunters but, even so, the best way to handle their spin is to respond just as you did here.

It will be interesting to see if anyone attempts to spin your response

Joe, your agency has had a lot of "Rough Snapshots" in the last several years.This just adds to the PGC "Rough Snapshots Photo Album." (Lead Photographer...Gary Alt!)

I can't speak for many folks, however the group I hunt with (3 of us) who have been going to Potter Co for at least 10 years (one of us for 25), simply are not going back. The place we stay, 10 years ago, you could not get in, its a mix of cabins and bed and breakfast, cabins where booked to the same partys for years straight, bed and breakfast was usually full. Now.... I talked with the owner last week, one cabin is rented, bed and breakfast has 2 parties in it, neither are there for hunting.

Yes there are deer around, however when you are a non-resident, it makes things like scouting very difficult and we didn't go down there to not see deer. Last year the three of us never drew our bows back, one guy never saw a deer from his stand. This is spots that for years we had seen deer consistently, it wasn't food, the spots we were on had lots of white oak, apples and grapes. There was sign, but nothing like there use to be.

We all agreed that given enough time, we all would tag deer, however given 5-6 days of hunting and a Sunday to scout and set stands, that it simply wasn't worth our vacation time, time away from families etc until the deer population starts coming back. They have FINALLY dropped the doe permits in this area (2G), however even with last years allocation, non of us got 2G permits, we did get DMAP in the same area we normally hunted, plus explored some new areas.

It isn't what it was and many non-residents travelled there to see deer from stands and have a chance at a shot or two in a weeks time. No longer is this the case and just about everyone I know who use to travel to PA for a week of deer hunting is not going back.

Another "Rough Snapshot" for Joe's PGC Photo Album.

There's alot of those rough snapshots all across the northern tier for Nevilles rough snapshots. NH hunter and his gang are definitely not in the minority for coming back to Pa to hunt. There are thousands of those rough snapshots.

But I suppose as long as Roxanne Palone says everything is okay in the NC, then I guess the folks in the NC will have to take her word for it. Between the gas prices, the lack of deer, and high energy bills this year, this Pa Wilds deal isn't looking so great right now.

Something to brag about.

I know if the pgc was my company, heads would roll ,every company would replace managment befor they went broke ,unless that was there goal.I wish the pgc the best of luck if that's what they are banking on luck.