Commissioner Tom Boop of Northumberland County — the board's most vociferous opponent of the deer program — said the harvest numbers don't tell the whole tale, though.
It's true, the overall harvest shows there are still deer to be taken, he said. But his concern is that more and more of them are coming from private — and posted — land.
"Certainly, last year was a good year on private land," Boop said. "But the backbone of this sport has always been the guy who worked for the borough or the municipal plant down the road and had a couple of kids and a couple of days to hunt, usually on public land. I think that guy is in trouble."

http://pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/s_617236.html

Interesting.I wonder if Boop realizes that Pa is over 80% private property.Is he saying that the majority of hunters are concentrated on the 20% of public land?

And of that 80%, how much is huntable land? And of the huntable land, how much is open to the general hunting public?

I don’t beleive the hunter success rates for the past year supportthe concerns about public land hunters, based on the fact that the two largest areas of public land in the state are also two of the three best hunter success rate area of the state.

The below hunter success rates are based on the number of antler less license allocated to get one antler less deer harvested. It seems that the most public land areas of the state also have some of the state’s best hunter success rates.

Ranking……Unit…………Success rate…………….% of unit public land………….% Forested land
1.……………1B…………….2.24.………⠀¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦.3.6 %……………………………64.8 %
2.……………2G…………….2.86.………⠀¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦49.2 %…………………………..90.0 %
3.……………2F…………….3.08.………⠀¦â€¦â€¦â€¦â€¦.55.6 %…………………………..90.7 %

I will agree though that public land areas close to the largest metropolitan do get a lot of hunting pressure with many deer being pressured off of them before or during the season. I don’t know that I believe the deer there are over harvested though, I tend to believe more are just chased into protected residential areas during the daylight hours. That doesn’t mean they aren’t adversely affecting the food supply, and therefore the population capabilities, on those same public lands at night or during the closed season though.

R.S. Bodenhorn

But those success rates are directly related to the number of tags allocated PSM. What would the success rate be in 2g and 2F if the issued 92,000 tags as in 5 C which is around half the size of 2G and only 45% forested? Obvious;y by issuing fewer tags the success rate improves for a herd that remains constant in size. It is the harvest rate PSM that determines the quality of the hunting and 2G is rated the worst in the state!!!

I don't know if anyone knows.However,practically everyu piece of private property that I'm familiar with in 2Ggets hunted very hard,even if access is restricted.This year I hunted public land on the first day and and both saturdays of rifle season.I saw four other hunters in the woods the entire time.

I have to agree with you Doug. Speaking of my area, 2A, MUCH of the private land isnt posted, and some of that which is, permission can be had for the asking. There isVERY little land that see no hunting at all and "HIGHLY OFF LIMITS" is the minority, and the leasing etc, maybe increasing, but still is a far cry from other states where it is much more common. Most who do not allow permission still have many friends and family members who hunt. Herd reduction was acheived here, and it didnt happen on the handful of relativelysmall gamelands we have in the unit.

Fact is, too many tags are being issued for the unit. Not simply on the few gamelands here.

Public land issues might be better able to be addressed where it makes up a large portion of particular units.

I agree Doug. Most of the ground around me in 2B and 2D, both posted and unposted, is hunted much harder than the public ground and open private ground in 2F near my camp.

I would say the situation would be much more grim on the public land near metropolitan areas.I would imagine those areas get hammered,regardless of how many tags are handed out though.

Obviously, I dont know the whole state but I'd be hard pressed to find aWMU wherethe deer oasis/deer desert problem is anymore pronounced than certain parts of 2B once the firearm seasons get going.Thesituation peaks after firearms season closes in the rest of the state. It is the time when a 12 month effort to work with landowners pays off big.