What could possibly be the argument against controlled burning. Nature and farmers have done it for centuries

Man I am in total agreement with the slob hunters buying all the tags because they were available. The only anterless tag I filled in the past 5 years was last year when my 10 YO grandson I was mentoring harvested it.
As for the burns I didn't hear about that but I am all in favor of controlled burns. It promotes new growth good for a lot of wildlife including deer. I would also like to see some clear cutting in the NC region of the state (WMU 2G) in Sproul state forest. The timber there is rotting away. I guess the revenue from the gas drilling is making the cost of the timber seem meaningless!

NeverWill, It appears to be mostly non-hunters complaining about the burning. You see a lot of "Wasting taxpayer money" mentioned in the published letters. Some complain that the "softwood" trees should be logged and /or chipped and the wood/chips sold to the public. Yes, that is really stupid. The cost difference between logging and burning is huge. Not only that, it defeats the purpose to remove the scrap which will help the soil after burning. The wooded areas here need help. A lot of you may not be old enough to remember the gypsy moth deforestation. It wiped out huge tracts of oak. The object of the burn is to get the brush out of the way and give the slow growing trees a chance to get hold. As far as clear cutting, be careful what you wish for. I have seen an area I hunt in WV be a total failure after clear cutting. I started hunting there about 2 years after it was cut. It has been over 20 years and it is still a worthless brush pile. Nothing of value came back. All the scrap growing out of the stumps choked out the mast trees. Now the scrap chokes itself out. It sounds like a good deer area, but the scrap trees get about 10-15 feet high and die off. It cannot even be used for browse because it is open underneath. Some people say acid rain won't let it regenerate. All I know is some areas just won't work with a clear cut.

Alt was nothing but a salesman for the PGC! I remember when he said PA will be the next Midwest IL with his Grand Deer PLAN. LOL! What a JOKE! Them Guy's with the funny hats shoot everything that moves in the woods. They are also running wild out in Ohio too. They screwed up one of my Ohio spots with their I can do anything I want TUDE! What CRUMBS!!!!! Thank GOD for my NJ lease thats all I can say!

Hatchet Jack

Controlled burns can be great if done properly. If it get out of hand and burns everything you might not get growth for years and have to deal with flooding and soil loss.

C-RAD, The burns are local, not out west. Controlled means they will not burn during a drought. I hunted a mountain in Maryland that used to burn every couple years unintentionally. One year it was during a drought. In areas where the leaves were really deep, the fire burned so hot it cooked the bark off 8" birch trees. The woods was still burning the first day of deer and we were hunting in it. The next year it was hard to tell there had been a fire. In two years you had to look really close to see evidence of a fire at all. All the bigger trees were fine. That was the result after an uncontrolled fire.

Unlike everything else...
 

hunting for some is suppose to be perfect. And so is the half square mile a lot of hunters hunt .
Remember a deer drag in Pa where it was so cold the snow sounded like dried crackers. I never looked at hunting as easy. And hunting sometimes meant total failure, something that probably never happens on the cable tv hunting show.

If your point is that we are not trying hard enough, I totally disagree. 4 mile bike ride and a 1/2 mile walk back and endless scouting around food plots revealed nothing left where 15 years ago there were plenty of deer for everyone and the only difference now is that the forest floor is thicker than it used to be because no deer are around to eat the undergrowth.

Alt's plan of the next Ill was a complete total failure.

Numbers are way down,
Participation is falling
Trophy sizes haven't materially changed.
SGL hunting is all but over with in this part of the state.
Hunters are leaving PA on opening day when they used to come here for opening day.

Good job in ruining a PA tradition Mr. Alt

i sure hope he made some money doing so, if not, what the heck was he thinking

X10!!!!! SPOT ON!!!!!!

Hatchet Jack