---

Hunters need answers before making a move


Tools Print this article
E-mail this article
Subscribe to this paper
Larger / Smaller Text


By Bob Frye
TRIBUNE-REVIEW OUTDOORS EDITOR
Sunday, January 16, 2005


If Pennsylvania's deer hunters aren't careful, they're going to get exactly what they're asking for.
And it will kill them.

Some hunters have been shouting for the Pennsylvania Game Commission to abandon its current deer management policy and return to the days of three-day doe seasons and lower doe license allocations.

The Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania have gone so far as to circulate a letter saying they intend to sue the commission if it doesn't reverse course.


All of the complaints suggest the commission's deer management plan has worked too well.

But has it? The truth is no one knows.

Remember, the idea was never simply to drive deer numbers down. It was to drive them down and keep them there long enough for our forests to grow new oaks and beeches and other trees.

We don't know yet if that regeneration is occurring.

Pennsylvania's 2004-05 deer harvest will almost assuredly be down. A couple of wet springs, harsh winters and, yes, liberal doe hunting have all decreased deer populations in many places.

But harvest figures don't tell the whole story. Say the harvest drops 20 percent, from 464,890 in 2003-04 to 375,000 in 2004-05. Those numbers alone won't say if landowners -- including the commission -- can grow new forests without fencing them in first.

The commission's deer management plan can't offer many answers. It's supposed to cover the years 2003 to 2007, but 13 months after it was to go into effect, it's still in the review stage.

The Game Commission is kicking off a study next month to see just what percentage of does in a population are killed by hunters. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources plans to start a regeneration study this year to see how our forests are responding to increased deer harvests.

But we're a year away from getting even the most preliminary results from either project.

Take all of that together and, if the commission changes course now, before it has any evidence that deer numbers are low enough to allow for regeneration, it will get sued and it will lose.

The groups that will be doing the suing -- ironically, the foresters and environmentalists most often at odds with one another -- have science on their side. Look at the Deer Forum report that came out last week. Forget for a minute what it says about the commission and look at the portion focusing on deer impacts. Almost all of the research out there indicates that deer have severely altered forests in Pennsylvania and the rest of the northeastern U.S.

There's no getting around that.

These groups also have the money and expertise to win a war in the courts. They are the same people who routinely stop timbering over issues like the spotted owl and Indiana bat. They will wear the commission and hunters down.

And now, to top things off, they've got the perfect expert witness to present their case.

Some have been crowing about Gary Alt's resignation, as if they tarred and feathered him and ran him out of town. In fact, all they've done is given him a spa treatment, dressed him in new clothes and chauffeured him to the opposition.

Alt is the most highly acclaimed biologist of our age, has a fame that can give him access to every newspaper, magazine and TV station around, and has the communication skills to get his message across.

You don't think he could star in a courtroom as well?

Things don't have to go that way. The commission and hunters can show a little patience, get some answers and strike a balance between those who want too few deer and those who want too many.

That will mean a few years of tougher hunting than we're used to. But if you want to carry a rifle and climb mountains in December without your lungs feeling as if they're about to burst, you've got to start exercising in August.

We've got to make similar sacrifices now if we want better hunting later.

We're close to getting answers. If we stop looking for them while questions remain, we'll only hurt ourselves.


Bob Frye can be reached at [email protected] or (724) 838-5148.

Back to headlines

---

---

Some have been crowing about Gary Alt's resignation, as if they tarred and feathered him and ran him out of town. In fact, all they've done is given him a spa treatment, dressed him in new clothes and chauffeured him to the opposition.

Alt is the most highly acclaimed biologist of our age, has a fame that can give him access to every newspaper, magazine and TV station around, and has the communication skills to get his message across.

You don't think he could star in a courtroom as well?

---

---

I'd actually like to see where our hunting tag fees are being spent

---

---

i think the only way to make sure PA gets the reporting they need with the report cards are to have a rule that people must sent them in or not be able to get a lic the following year....and watch how many send them in....the DMAP tags holders most do that if they want them the following year....it just sounds right.....................bob

---

---

How does the PG prove that the card wasn't lost in the mail?

---

---

ORIGINAL: germain

They aren't timbering more because there's a push from the extremists for old growth forests.And these are the type of people that fast eddie is appointing in high positions.

---

---

T in PA apparently you missed the words in my post UNBIASED REPORT

---

---

ORIGINAL: MikeE51848

And this is where the Audubon Society enters, no? You don't see birdies making nests in sapplings. And Sierra Club members want to hike in mature canopy forests for their outdoor experience.

---

---

Good point,it happens.How about online reporting?

---