wvdeer4u

Whatever deer are left will benefit from the increased food and if it's logged they will benefit from the increased cover. Have you ever seen the black and white pictures of the meat poles from the early 1900's with all of those big bucks they used to kill. That's because the whole country east of the Mississippi river had been clear cut and was starting to regrow and they had unlimited food and because the deer numbers were so low. You couldn't produce that number of big bucks today cause there are way more hunters now than then but with low DD and ample food quality deer can be produced. You just have to hunt a little harder for them.
Look at the quality of the deer in eastern OH compared to western PA. There is a big difference because of deer density, even though they have similar habitats, OH has half the deer. In western PA damage to the native habitat is probably happening at the high levels of that they hold and those deer need reduced. In the mtns there will never be the quality or the quantity of farmland deer. The only way to increase the quality and quantity of the mtn. deer is through large scale timber cutting and clear cutting, and I'm sure that the hunters wouldn't approve of that.

ulysses

sniper: but once the deer nip off the top of those succulent young trees they are shot they will never produce a single acorn.

deaddeer

Can you cite a source to support that claim? Is there any county in Ohio that has les than 12 DPSM?

wvdeer4u

qdma.com on there deer density map it looks like about 63 of 88 counties are below 15 dpsm and the other 25 counties are between 15-30 dpsm. They don't have the mtn counties like PA they have vast farmland with more than enough food but no cover to support a deer herd. The PA mtns have cover but no food. Any type of monoculture is bad for deer even if it is a 1000 acres of soybeans they will be lacking something.(cover) Thousands of acres of forest with no open areas and no timbering just can't support that many deer. All of those deer that ran around the PA mtns years ago when the hunting was "good" was because it was just coming into a closed canopy forest. There was still thick under growth plus the mast trees were starting to come into there prime. At the same time the farmlands were completely open and had no cover for deer but now old farms are grown in and there is a perfect mix of mature forest, thick over grown fields and open ag land. And that is where all of the deer are in the state now.

deaddeer

In NC PA the herd has been reduced significantly in just the last 10 years. Elk Co. went from 30 DPFSM in 1995 to 19 DPFSM in 2003 and it wasn't due to a decrease in the quality of the habitat, it was due to high anterless harvests. The fact is the herd in 2 G is being managed at 2 DPSM below the goal of 15 DPSM. The goal of 15 DPSM is 50% below the max. carrying capacity for 2 G ,so there is more than enough food and cover available to support more deer.

The areas in PA with the best mix of forest and farmland have the lowest OWDD goals of any WMU's in the state. WMU 5 B has a goal of 5 DPSM while the goal in 5 C is 6 DPSM. How many trophy buck will those areas produce when hunters will only be able to harvest 1 buck PSM.

cardeer

Holly Poop Deaddeer thats where I live and hunt. 5c and 5b, You made my day

Lefty Pa

CarDeer if your really interested read this A Conflict between Forest Renewal and White-tailed Deer: A Silviculturist’s Perspective on Values

Susan L. Stout

USDA Forest Service

Forestry Sciences Laboratory

P.O. Box 267

Irvine, PA 16329-0267

sstout/[email protected]


http://www.audubon.org/chapter/pa/pa/Stout11Nov99.htm

Lefty

wingbar

On a link to the Audubon Society, I have serious doubts about anything that orginization would publish in the guise of better deer management.