Gary Alt resigns.........
 

http://www.lancasteronline.com/articles/2868.shtm

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

Late reports just in seem to indicate a change of mind or a falure in communications.

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

WOW!

I guess the pressure was just not worth it. I dont hunt PA but was curious to see of these policies would actually lead to better hunting. We may never know now.

Are they going to scrap all of ALt' s policies in 03?

Good riddance!
 

" The most recent flap involved funding for several research studies into the habits of deer. Most are being funded not with sportsmen' s dollars but with over $1 million from five private groups.Both Mohr and Bolgiano say they have not been told which environmental groups are underwriting the work, besides the National Audubon Society." Gary has never told us where the money has come from,' ' Mohr said this morning. " I, as a commissioner, have no idea who is paying for our deer studies."

Just imagine, the work is funded by a group of anti hunting
lobbies and they will then try to pass this " success" off to every other state. Yeah, knockdown the deerherd to so and so level and the remaining bucks will have huge racks and their won' t be anymore overpopulation. Of course it will also mean there won' t be enough deer for everyone to hunt and we' ll have to end up going to a permit/lottery type system that will probably decimate hunting as we know it. The fact that the guy wouldn' t say who funded the research should be raising serious flags in every hunter' s mind. Call me pessimistic, but it seems the outcome of every " Scientific research study" seems to depend entirely on who is funding it.

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

WOW! I never saw that one coming. I have not even heard a peep about it and it has been two days!

I wonder what is going to happen for next year' s hunting seasons. Will antler restrictions be removed? Will the PGC start decreasing doe tag allocations again?

Troubled times.

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

Just when we were getting somewhere.:( I bet the USP is throwing a party. I wonder if he will be replaced or just phased out?

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

Bad news if true.. This means more herds of does and tiny little spikers ...pretty darn pathetic.

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RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

Truely Sad Times for Pennsylvania Deer Hunters. We can only hope his " Team" stays in place and continues to make decisions based on science and research. I' m sure they have an ample supply of Biologists who still believe in the scientific approach to good deer management still working there. Let' s just hope they let them show what they know. I wonder if this would be a good time to flood the commission with letters of disapproval on how they are putting a chock hold on the management program and Dr. Alt, For those of us who believe it was steps being taken in the right direction? And also that we strongly reccommend continuing the studies set forth by Dr. Alt. Don' t forget we buy liscences also, not just the Unifides and other nay sayers. And I truely believe the people for this Change out number those opposed by a big margin. Lets see if we cry loud enough if someone listens to our pleas?:D

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

It appears that Alt will not be leaving, at least for now. It looks like the USP (The Unified Sportsmen of PA) and Commissioner Mohr were too eager to call someone and gloat. Their negative comments about Dr. Alt and the newspaper article prompted this reply from the PA Game Commission:

Subject: Dr. Alt has not retired/resigned

Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 17:24:38 -0400

From: " GM, PGCNEWS" ([email protected])


The Lancaster New Era story that ran on June 19, 2003, stating that Dr. Alt has retired or resigned ' amid controvery over his policies' on deer management is incorrect. With the current contract negotiations for all state employees continuing, Dr. Alt, a state employee for 26 years, was concerned that he might be losing some health benefits if he stayed employed beyond June 30. This is a situation that many of our Game Commission employees, as well as hundreds of other state employees, faced.

However, after some consideration, and in light of the Governor' s Office of Administration announcement today that a 90-day window would be granted for those employees who have not made final decisions because they would like to see the final product of the contact negotiations, Dr. Alt has reconsidered and will take advantage of this window.

Also, Dr. Alt has said that he would very much like to stay employed with the Game Commission, but he doesn' t want to stay if staying will penalize his benefits.

Normally, it is not my practice to discuss personnel matters. However, as this particular matter has become the subject of some media coverage, I felt the need to make all employees aware of the facts.

Thanks, Jerry Feaser
(PA Game Commission spokesman)

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

I had heard mixed emotions about this. Some of the Pa hunters that I have spoken too have stated that they did not want the antler resitrictions and that his supposed resignation was a good thing. They told me that they were meat hunters not antler hunters. On the other side some hunters really wanted the anlter restrictions to help produce larger bucks.
Alot of the anti-restriction hunters said that it is hard enough to kill buck. They said that all the trophy deer would do is bring in more hunters out of state and that there were enough coming into Pa now.
I just thought I would pass along what I have been told. As far as I am concerned I would hope that the Game Commission in what ever decision they make they would be for the betterment of hunting in Pa.
My only other concern is that some hunters and I hope that I am incorrect would shoot a buck walk up to it and not see that points needed and leave that deer lay there to go to waste.
My opinion only.

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

Seems rather funny that after all the hoopla and the change in deer management and the " success" Dr. Alt has in implementing this that he would be that concerned about retirement benefits. A man who has spent his life doing this work would put himself in front of the managment issues that he has been preaching. How much did he have to lose?

Gar

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

I would agree that if my benifits were being tampered with I would way my options weather to stay or go. I know my wife' s job is history as of July first. Thanks to the new budget.[:@] But if there is a chance he may stay and it is true it is directly related to the benifit package rather than political pressure, All the better.:D

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

So, to summarize, Gary Alt was going to quit because of a health benefit related issue but since there is now an extension on making the decision we can safely say that he might not quit if that situation should change...but if it does not then Gary Alt will resign in 90 days. Yes?

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

Frank, That is what I was thinking too. In 90 days he is gone if no benefit package if offered to his satisfaction. I can' t really blame the man for that.

But I will say that this will be very sad indeed if he leaves. [:' (] Just when we were going to see the fruits of his labor especially in the next few years.

I hope he doesn' t leave as PA needs him.

Brian

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

First off Gary Alt should do what is right for himself. If it is a benefits issues then no one can fault the guy for that. It is his livelyhood and as much as we might not like the guys policies we can' t fault him for taking care of his benefits in that regard.

The other issue would be mysterious funding of deer studies? If it was the pros or anti' s the study would be biased either way. I don' t think any of us will live to see the day when a truly honest and fair study will occur. Alt' s antler restrictions are not the end of the world. I hope he can stay on a few years and can see it through. It would be a shame to see it go back to the old way.

Hopefully the number of antlerless permits goes down a bit. Last year' s kill for antlerless deer was 352,000 in the 1999 season there was only 378,000 total deer harvested. So it is maybe a bit excessive.

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RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

think about it guys ,you are going to work a few more years and retire and not get any better package than you will get now .you retire and go into the private sector and make more a year than working for the state .it is a no brainer for mr alt if this is true .he has had so much attention in the deer biology world that he wil easilly make more money out of the state !!!

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

I think the people higher up the ladder should think about retirement. I' m hearing they (some) are the ones giving him grief over his management plan. I did hear him say more than once at his talks that if he met resistance from the commissioners he would pack it in. I do believe his bosses (some) are behind this. If they would let him have the reins and let him run with it with little to no resistance his life would be a lot easier. It' s hard enough trying to change old practices let alone fight a commission who is on the same side you are but cant seem to come to terms. The man just got tired of having to fight the final sayers on this matter. The commission needs to be revamped with people who are more open minded and willing to try things in order to see if they can succed. POLITICS and hunting. Somehow they go hand and hand????????[:@]

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

Not get too off topic...but aren' t there plenty of does to harvest for the proclaimed meat hunters as opposed to taking out 1.5 yr old spikes??

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

First off I would like to say that Gary Alt has done a great job! And I' m glad to see he is staying on. Second of all this all boils down to that IDIOT FAST EDDIE RENDEL being voted in as governor. If it wasn' t for Rendels reckless policies Gary Alt wouldn' t have to worry about loosing his benifits. I have a lot of relatives who live in Philly and they have told me of the messes Rendel left in Philly. And he is doing the same whith the whole State Now. Rendel is a thief and a self promoting lier, who will do anything to make hinmself look good. I bet if Rendel had his way he would try to stop hunting and the shooting sports all together in PA. In my book he is in the same boat as Hillary Clinton, Tom Daschle and the rest of the Gun Grabbing Bleeding heart liberals. Sorry for getting up on my soapbox and preaching but I just had to get that off my chest.

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

Amen PA Hardwoods.

Brian

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I have always said that Rendels makes Slick Willie look like a choir boy...this man wants nothing to do with hunting or gun ownership. Any PA hunter that voted for him should hang his/her head in shame .

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

Don' t feel too bad, we have McGreedy here in the PRNJ. Took Whitman 8 years to clean up Florio' s mess and McGreedy has it all back out on the floor in less than two, what' s next insurance surcharges again.

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

Thndrchiken, You don' t live too far from where I grew up in Lyndhurst.

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

i remember reading something about rendell if i' m correct on these two issues ,being asked about the gun buy back program and he said , " we' re not in the gun buying business , we' re in the gun confiscation business " ' is this accurate , did he really say that , as i can' t stand the guy myself ,

has anybody heard about his plan to save the doctors with insurance problems by haveing the state flip the bill for it, sounds like more taxes if it' s true

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

A big Fat YES to Fast Eddie saying that they are in the Gun Confiscation business. He has gotten an " F" from the NRA on gun issues. Heck he is the one who started the whole craze of suing gun companies for gun crimes. That man is just a plain old crook. He is nothing but a FAT Version of ADOLF HITLER. Anyone ever heard the saying " If you don' t learn from history you are doomed to repeat it?" Adolf Hitler took away the guns from the common german citizen and we all know what happened after that, Just a couple million people were murdered. In his campaign he ran around and was promising all kinds of things to inner city minorities and people who didn' t know any better so they would vote for him, heck most of these people probably never voted before in their lives, you know doing what a true bleeding heart liberal does. And I specifically remember him saying in many of his speeches and campaign commercials that there would not be any tax increases. Well he is only 6 months into his first and hopefully only term and he is already taxing us to death, and has already got the state back in debt, after Ridge and Schweiker dug us out of that hole. I can see it now he is just trying to set himself up for a run at the presidency, everything he does gives me that feeling. Now that would be the death of the United States.

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i agree with you whole heartedly on that one Pa Hardwoods , i just wish schweiker would have ran , it was predicted he would have beat rendell by 18 points , i wish i knew why he didn' t run ( if he said why , i didn' t hear it )

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

whelen, I think I remember Schweiker saying he wanted to spend more time with his kids as they made their way through high school. I think he has two and they both are around high school age. I can respect a person for wanting to do that. He made a very good governor while he was in there. I think if he ran after fast eddie' s first term was up he would murder him at the polls. Especially the way Rendell is recklessly taxing us to death. He is just shifting numbers around to make it look like it we are getting a tax cut when in all reality, He is raising property taxes to make up for the amount he cut from our income taxes. After his 4 years are up I bet he will have next to nothing to show for his coniving ways. Thank God we have a Republican Majority in our state Government to put the kibosh on these idiodic ideas of Fast Eddie' s.

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

i agree with you on that one PaHardwoods , i just hope things actually go that way at the next election . and he doesn' t screw to much up for us in the meantime , he could do a hell of a lot of damage

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Don' t blame me,I didn' t vote for Rendell.{this would make a nice bumber sticker}

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

I' m all in favor of beating up on him for his stance on gun control, but hardly seems fair to beat up on him when he starts acting like he belongs to the GOP and tells public employees they gotta adjust just like the private sector to a poor economy and increasing health care costs.

As I recall, it was Fischer that split the sportsmen' s vote by talking only gun control and not taking a stance on how badly the GOP' s been treating SGL' s, independance of the game commission, sunday hunting, alternative funding, etc, while fast Eddie at least made the right promises.

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

but ruffed-grouse all FAST EDDIE did was make promises and thats it. He hasn' t lived up to any of them yet. What he did was standard procedure for democrats running for office. Promise alot of things to minorities and the elderly, and inner city hood rats and your in. I agree with you that Fisher was not a good republican choice. He is just not siuted for a major public office. I can garantee Rendell WILL NOT live up to any of his promises. Heck he already broke the one were he said there would be no tax increase or new taxes, but I guess most of us forgot that. He is ten times worse than Bill Clinton ever was. God save this state if he gets a second term, it will take 50 years to fix what he will mess up. Rendell is just a typical bleeding heart liberal, Spend Spend Spend and Spend some more, But what he spends OUR money on is useless programs and probably a gold toilet seat for the governors mansion.

Hey Germain great Idea, I also thought of that bumper sticker as soon as Rendell was voted in. I look at it this way. I may live in PA and Rendell may be the governor here but HE IS NOT MY GOVERNOR!!! I didn' t vote for him so he doesn' t represent me. Like I said before Rendell id nothing more than a FAT Adolf Hitler, and I mean every word of it.

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

first off let me say that i truly hope Dr. Gary Alt does not leave the game commission.
BUT, lets say that he does for a moment, for those of you who belive in what he has done for the Pa. herd than why not just keep practicing it and doing your part? it has been said that in order for this plan to work that private land owners would be a big part of its success, well then everyone just keep doing your part and it will be a success story of the century for Pa hunting. " Hunters take herd management into their own hands and it works!!!" that would be great. why is it that we need someone to tell us what to do or make a law for the end to happen, ethics is something that comes into play when we are alone not when someone is watching, and it is the ethical thing to carry on what " we" have started and see it to the end.........

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

PA Hardwood,

ROFLOL.

That much hate can' t be healthy.

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It is not Hate, It is distrust and passion. I just can' t stand it when someone is purposfully using other people and other peoples money to advance himself. And that is what Rendell is doing to this great state of ours. He has pulled the wool over many peoples eyes and I am just pointing out the connections to what he is doing or wants to do to others in history. Sorry if I am coming on strong but I have some very strong opinions and i' m very passionate about things I believe in, Just ask my wife it drives her nuts sometimes.

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Guess you have no problem with our good ole GOP spending the entire rainy day fund last year to meet their budget leaving nothing and not being responsible mangagers of public funds leaving no option but severe cuts or tax increases, the " it' s not a gun registration" stance on the database on gun sales the PSP maintain sanctioned by our GOP legislators and former Gov., the continued GOP lead attacks on State Game Lands, their last minute withdrawal of funding for the F&G agencies last year, their firing of a Game Commissioner, their holding the Fish Commission hostage, witholding a license increase to force out a Commissioner, their stance against Sunday hunting, or the GOP members of the G&F Committee that support opening up game lands 7 days a week to ATV' s and bicyclists while voting against many pro hunting bills.

Perhaps you could address garbage and urban development being two of the major growth industries under our good ole GOP, their refusal to address teachers salaries or government workers salaries and benifits that are among the highest in the nation while PA ranks almost at the bottom in the country for population growth.

Promises may only be promises, but the status quo under our good ole GOP sure doesn' t sound too good for sportsmen. Heck, if you' d study Rendell' s record as mayor of Phila., he sounds more like a Republican than many of our Republicans.

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Come on PA Hardwoods, tell us why this GOP is so good for the sportsmen when all they' ve done for the last several years is take us for granted.

I see the GOP is now pushing a new bill now that would double the payments in lieu of taxes on our State Game Lands despite the fact that Game Lands and other Rural holdings are already paying more than their share of taxes and actually subsidizing urban areas while the Democrats are pushing for subsidies to the Game Commission to offset the demands of all citizens on their resources.

Wake up and smell the roses. PA' s GOP caucus cares little or nothing about the PA Sportsmen. They won' t even make promises about treating us fairly.

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hey you' ve stated your case and you do have some good points but obvoisly you' re a democrat to the end and nothing will change your mind. Hey just remember it is the Rendell administratoin that wants to combine the fish and the game commission. So the game commission has to pick up the fish commissions dead weight. And in the process combining the duties of the game warden and the fish warden and then eliminating the extra wardens. Now If I remember all I have been hearing from the democrats side is them screaming about how they want to create jobs but here one of their plans is to eliminate jobs. Surprise surprise another time the democrats contradict themselves, all I ever hear coming from their mouths are broken promises and lies.[X(]

RE: Gary Alt resigns.........
 

Actually, I think you are wrong on just about every count including me being the one with the closed mind. I' m about as right wing as you can gets but I' m not so blinded by party devotion that I can' t see how in just about every instance except gun control, our state GOP caucus has a miserable track record for sportsmen and I' m not to sure about gun control since they' ve done nothing about the database that they claim isn' t a database that the PSP maintains on gun purchases.

It' s Smith, a GOP legislator not Rendell that pushed the Resolution to study combining the agencies and it' s Smith that lead the attack to push out the Fish Commission leadership. The Resolution to study merging just the enforcement operations did come from a Democrat but you' ll have to point me to the spot where you think it includes size reduction plans cause I' ve read it twice and don' t think it' s in there.

Kind of funny that you should be complaining about downsizing government anyway. Are you sure you' re a Republican?