Whatever your position on deer management might be BTB is right . There is no sense in getting bent out of shape until you have the results of the audit. You never know, they might hear your point of view. If not, buy a doe tag and burn it. One club told their members not to even buy a doe tag for their land. they created a 10 acre saftey zone for deer and anyone caught pushing will get kicked off. I hunt a 10 acre strip between Lehigh Gorge and a development. There are two does that hang out there during the season. We go out of our way to keep them alive because those big old bucks can't sniff them out and breed them if they are dead.

BTB, it's not so much the fact that WMI has worked with PGC before....It's the work itself. They helped draft the current deer plan! In effect we are asking them to audit their own work! Next time you are up for a raise, give yourself your own performance evaluation. Trust me...you will love the outcome! As for the USP president sanctioning the audit, I could care a less. At this point, and with such limited options, their back is against the wall. They are merely pi$$ing into the wind hoping for a miracle. Again,I urge the sportsmen of PA to personally contact WMI via the links I posted earlier, flood them with calls and emails and make our wishes known in regards to the audit. Ask them the hard questions that the PGC refuses to answer and demand their attention. It's all we can do at this point.

Some good points SS. Though I really doubt wmi will even take into consideration the voice of individuals in the matters. They were hired by the legislators and thats pretty much all they will most likely answer to. Best bet imho would be to contact Staback or one of the others who will be "overseeing" the audit. I wouldnt bother with Levdansky though. He is no friend of the hunter.

Pats says: "Whatever your position on deer management might be BTB is right . There is no sense in getting bent out of shape until you have the results of the audit."

Pats, while you may be right, we shouldnt get "bent out of shape", btb isnt nor has he ever been right about anything that im aware of. (LOL) He contends that i shouldnt even be pointing out the clear bias because it isnt so. Thats bull****! (LOL) You may be right about shouldnt get bent out of shape, but not because the audit isnt biased. Its because there is nothing that can be done to stop it at this point anyway and it is going through.

But not shooting does and not putting on drives are things ive done all along and will continue to do, as you mention, but its far from a substitute for proper management practice that our gameless commission should be using.

Basicly these hunting clubs for the time being are doing their own deer management. they do put on drives on club property, just not in the deer sanctuary they created on their property.

Awesome response Cornelius,,,you can speak for me anytime,,,glad i took the time to read all posts

Some hunters think that DCNR only wants to reduce the herd in areas where they intend to make a cut. But the SCS audit requires that DCNR use DMAP tags to reduce the herd in old growth stands and bioreserve areas. Those areas are over 50% of BOF land and the biodiversity carrying capacity of old growth stands would be considerably less than the CC of forests managed based on a harvest rate of 1%/year.

oh my

What does that mean?

I wonder if the audit will explain why after the herd has been reduced by around 40% , we still need more doe tags than were issued in 2000 ,with a 4 day season, in order to keep the herd stable?

Thats one a 5th grader could figure out!.

Go ahead, give it a try, I bet you can be as smart as a 5th grader