Post by cambygsp on Oct 11, 2005 7:21:04 GMT -5
www.heraldstandard.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15337527&BRD=2280&PAG=461&dept_id=468632&rfi=6
Truce needed in state's deer war
By Rod Schoener, Herald-Standard
10/06/2005
"Deer wars in Pennsylvania have to end or the sport of hunting will die."
Those words were first spoken by former Pennsylvania deer management section head Dr. Gary Alt in a visit to Connellsville High School in 1999, where he introduced local sportsmen to his plan and prepared them as to what was ahead for Pennsylvania's deer herd.
That statement by Dr. Alt was harsh, but realistic.
At that time, Alt said, "Pennsylvania has to get a handle on deer management, which has been done in a haphazard way for decades."
Some sportsmen walked out during Alt's talk, others sat and listened and questioned his theories after the presentation.
Many didn't want to hear what Alt had to say, but he accepted a task and said he planned to carry it through to fruition.
Alt did just that, and Pennsylvania's deer herd dwindled.
Many expected to see fewer deer but more bucks - especially larger-racked bucks with antlers that might have a shot at making the Boone & Crockett or Pope and Young record books.
For the first few years of his program, the deer herd was whittled down significantly, but the larger bucks he promised were non-existent.
Besides many unhappy hunters who were not seeing "any" deer, tourism suffered in some sections of the state, where hunting dollars make up a significant portion of the annual revenue.
Last year, for the first time, many wildlife conservation officers even admitted that they believed the deer populations in their areas were down significantly.
Following an outcry from the state's deer hunters, the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania filed a petition on Aug. 16, 2005 in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, alleging capricious and arbitrary deer management by state agencies over the past five years, designed to radically reduce our state animal in pursuit of a political agenda not in the best interest of Pennsylvania sportsmen and its citizens.
The USP suit contends that the Pennsylvania Game Commission under tremendous political pressure from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and with the blessing of Governor Ed Rendell is in violation of Title 34 to provide "adequate opportunities to hunt and trap the wildlife resources of this Commonwealth."
The suit further stated that this radical reduction in the deer herd is unjustified, unscientific, and unprecedented in the history of the Commonwealth. The USP and over 13,000 signatories have petitioned the court to request the aforementioned respondents to present documentation and scientific evidence which supports this massive deer reduction initiative, since it has never conducted a reliable or scientific deer census to substantiate such action.
The USP is requesting the court intervene to prevent future and possible irreparable harm to our deer herd, granting Pennsylvania sportsmen rights of discovery and access to public documents and staff used to justify such a radical attack on the century old tradition of Pennsylvania deer hunting.
I guess it is safe to say that after several salvos (deer seasons) Fort Sumter (Pennsylvania's sportsmen) has responded.
The suit asked for a scientific deer management plan.
The specifics include:
1.) We expect a credible deer census to accurately determine how many deer actually exist in Pennsylvania.
2.) We expect to know how many deer can be killed each year based upon the biological carrying capacity for each WMU, without jeopardizing the social benefit of the deer herd for the citizens who live and hunt there.
3.) We expect to know how many deer are killed each year by implementing mandatory reporting systems.
4.) We expect pH studies of the soil to determine if desired plant species can even grow, before condemning deer for the condition of our forests.
The USP's recommendations for seasons and bag limits are:
1.) Return to the traditional 2 week buck season.
2.) Antlerless deer seasons that would vary in length for each individual WMU, based upon deer densities that exist there.
3.) A dramatic reduction in the antlerless deer permit allocation.
Alt undertook a daunting task in heading the deer management program at the request of Game Commission Executive Director Vern Ross.
During that Connellsville visit, Alt said, "From the 1920s on, just about every biologist who took a strong stand on deer management was fired, transferred or quit."
Alt quit last year, but I would have liked to see him carry through with the program.
I was for the program, and I still am, but have my personal sticking points, foremost of which is the fact that antler restriction is not uniform throughout the commonwealth.
The overall plan had merit, but many sportsmen were not ready for the reality of hunting all day and seeing few, and in some cases not a single deer -yours truly included.
Alt said, "The people wanted the deer at any cost. They just didn't realize that the deer herd had to be kept at a number that the habitat could handle."
I never bought into the "any cost" part of his statement.
I believe the sportsmen would have been flexible, if only given the chance.
In all my years of hunting, I only killed six or seven bucks, and I was happy with the ones I did harvest. I had a couple of long dry spells, where I really had a taste for some venison, but there was always some friend who had too much and offered me a steak or two.
I believe I bought an antlerless deer license just about every year that I've hunted - nearly 50 years.
I killed one doe when I was a teenager and another two years ago after I bought into Alt's program.
In all the years in between, I left far more license envelopes unopened or just threw them away than I ever opened.
The few times I did pin one on my back and take walk in the woods, I missed a couple does with borrowed firearms and just didn't take a shot on a couple of other occasions.
I remember a time about 10 years ago, when I didn't see a deer on opening day after walking and sneaking along from daylight until dark.
I was ashamed to admit that I had not seen a deer, so when I stopped at the club on the way home, I said that I had seen just a few does.
I was not disappointed that day; I was embarrassed that it would reflect on my hunting skills.
On that first visit to the area, Alt did say that his goal "is to improve deer management in Pennsylvania and make us one of the leading states in the United States in terms of deer management."
Alt admitted that he really did not completely understand what all is involved in deer management until he agreed to undertake the project.
He pointed out, "We need to understand the relationship between this animal and the environment. We manage other animals such as bears, turkeys and pheasants for recreation purposes. When we manage deer, it affects influences every person in the state, whether he or she hunts or not.
"This is one animal that does destroy the environment. If we do not keep the deer herd under control, they will eat themselves out of house and home, they will destroy the habitat, and once the deer are gone, you will never get them back until you fix the habitat once again."
With that, Alt pointed out that the whitetail deer is the one animal that decides what other animals will live or die in a forest ecosystem. The deer not only causes other species to decline, but it can also cause songbirds and plants such as wildflowers to become extinct.
While deer management is partly political, it is even more so public relations. Alt said, "As soon as the public realizes what the issues are and how you manage deer, they will sign on to it."
Many sportsmen did sign on, but they weren't ready for the bumpy ride that would follow.
The ride is getting smoother, and the idea of bigger bucks is coming to fruition, as hunters and wildlife conservation officers alike report seeing more trophy bucks this year than in recent years.
Western Greene County Wildlife Conservation Officer Rod Burns told me just last week, "I've seen some nice bucks, but one is, without a doubt, the largest buck I've seen since I've been in Greene County.
Stan Norris echoed the same observations from Somerset County, and the photo of a big road-killed buck from the Fairchance area that appeared on the outdoors page a couple weeks ago is a sure sign that bigger bucks are showing up everywhere.
Alt admitted that the Game Commission did a poor job of communicating just what it was attempting to do in the way of deer management to the ones who counted most - the hunters.
Unfortunately, most sportsmen feel the same thing happened again, and even many who signed on with his program were stunned by the results of three years of open deer season.
Alt noted that we have allowed deer to destroy their habitat, especially in the big woods counties.
Alt suggested that to get better deer, we have to kill more does in October than in December, which would enable the bucks to better mate with the available does in November.
"We are shooting over 100,000 pregnant does. While bucks were busy mating those does, they were unable to mate other does, which are still alive," Alt said.
Why don't we move the open antlerless deer season to October, where we now allow bowhunters, early muzzleloaders, junior and senior hunters to kill does under special regulations?
Alt said, "I'm not talking about further herd reduction. I'm just talking about shooting the does in October, getting out of the woods and let the rut take place. Those does that are living are still going to be around next fall. Most of them will be bred in first estrus, and we should have a huge crop of fawns in May. Predators will take fewer fawns, and the young bucks will grow larger and stronger antlers because of the earlier birth.
"Deer management is designed to give a better quality of deer."
In theory that sounds great, but let's do it. Last time I checked the bulk of our antlerless deer are still being killed in November and December.
Another statement Alt made was, "We have to learn to look beyond deer and look at the habitat. Too many deer can turn a woods into a meadow after its has been clear-cut. Some woods have to be cut down and allowed to regenerate."
"There is not enough food for the deer to eat in many areas. They have destroyed their own habitat, and the habitat is not coming back until we fix it."
This too is great, but the Game Commission's current timber policy does not allow this to happen either.
Improving the habitat will also help grouse to return if aging timber is replaced with the right kind of cover, more songbirds should reappear and wildflowers and native plants will also have more chance to thrive under a warming sun.
Yes, the war continues, but it's time for an armistice, where both sides can discuss terms for peace.
Perhaps the USP lawsuit will be the instrument to bring all sides of the issue together, where a listing peace can be ironed out.
Rod Schoener is the Herald-Standard outdoors editor.
Truce needed in state's deer war
By Rod Schoener, Herald-Standard
10/06/2005
"Deer wars in Pennsylvania have to end or the sport of hunting will die."
Those words were first spoken by former Pennsylvania deer management section head Dr. Gary Alt in a visit to Connellsville High School in 1999, where he introduced local sportsmen to his plan and prepared them as to what was ahead for Pennsylvania's deer herd.
That statement by Dr. Alt was harsh, but realistic.
At that time, Alt said, "Pennsylvania has to get a handle on deer management, which has been done in a haphazard way for decades."
Some sportsmen walked out during Alt's talk, others sat and listened and questioned his theories after the presentation.
Many didn't want to hear what Alt had to say, but he accepted a task and said he planned to carry it through to fruition.
Alt did just that, and Pennsylvania's deer herd dwindled.
Many expected to see fewer deer but more bucks - especially larger-racked bucks with antlers that might have a shot at making the Boone & Crockett or Pope and Young record books.
For the first few years of his program, the deer herd was whittled down significantly, but the larger bucks he promised were non-existent.
Besides many unhappy hunters who were not seeing "any" deer, tourism suffered in some sections of the state, where hunting dollars make up a significant portion of the annual revenue.
Last year, for the first time, many wildlife conservation officers even admitted that they believed the deer populations in their areas were down significantly.
Following an outcry from the state's deer hunters, the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania filed a petition on Aug. 16, 2005 in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, alleging capricious and arbitrary deer management by state agencies over the past five years, designed to radically reduce our state animal in pursuit of a political agenda not in the best interest of Pennsylvania sportsmen and its citizens.
The USP suit contends that the Pennsylvania Game Commission under tremendous political pressure from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and with the blessing of Governor Ed Rendell is in violation of Title 34 to provide "adequate opportunities to hunt and trap the wildlife resources of this Commonwealth."
The suit further stated that this radical reduction in the deer herd is unjustified, unscientific, and unprecedented in the history of the Commonwealth. The USP and over 13,000 signatories have petitioned the court to request the aforementioned respondents to present documentation and scientific evidence which supports this massive deer reduction initiative, since it has never conducted a reliable or scientific deer census to substantiate such action.
The USP is requesting the court intervene to prevent future and possible irreparable harm to our deer herd, granting Pennsylvania sportsmen rights of discovery and access to public documents and staff used to justify such a radical attack on the century old tradition of Pennsylvania deer hunting.
I guess it is safe to say that after several salvos (deer seasons) Fort Sumter (Pennsylvania's sportsmen) has responded.
The suit asked for a scientific deer management plan.
The specifics include:
1.) We expect a credible deer census to accurately determine how many deer actually exist in Pennsylvania.
2.) We expect to know how many deer can be killed each year based upon the biological carrying capacity for each WMU, without jeopardizing the social benefit of the deer herd for the citizens who live and hunt there.
3.) We expect to know how many deer are killed each year by implementing mandatory reporting systems.
4.) We expect pH studies of the soil to determine if desired plant species can even grow, before condemning deer for the condition of our forests.
The USP's recommendations for seasons and bag limits are:
1.) Return to the traditional 2 week buck season.
2.) Antlerless deer seasons that would vary in length for each individual WMU, based upon deer densities that exist there.
3.) A dramatic reduction in the antlerless deer permit allocation.
Alt undertook a daunting task in heading the deer management program at the request of Game Commission Executive Director Vern Ross.
During that Connellsville visit, Alt said, "From the 1920s on, just about every biologist who took a strong stand on deer management was fired, transferred or quit."
Alt quit last year, but I would have liked to see him carry through with the program.
I was for the program, and I still am, but have my personal sticking points, foremost of which is the fact that antler restriction is not uniform throughout the commonwealth.
The overall plan had merit, but many sportsmen were not ready for the reality of hunting all day and seeing few, and in some cases not a single deer -yours truly included.
Alt said, "The people wanted the deer at any cost. They just didn't realize that the deer herd had to be kept at a number that the habitat could handle."
I never bought into the "any cost" part of his statement.
I believe the sportsmen would have been flexible, if only given the chance.
In all my years of hunting, I only killed six or seven bucks, and I was happy with the ones I did harvest. I had a couple of long dry spells, where I really had a taste for some venison, but there was always some friend who had too much and offered me a steak or two.
I believe I bought an antlerless deer license just about every year that I've hunted - nearly 50 years.
I killed one doe when I was a teenager and another two years ago after I bought into Alt's program.
In all the years in between, I left far more license envelopes unopened or just threw them away than I ever opened.
The few times I did pin one on my back and take walk in the woods, I missed a couple does with borrowed firearms and just didn't take a shot on a couple of other occasions.
I remember a time about 10 years ago, when I didn't see a deer on opening day after walking and sneaking along from daylight until dark.
I was ashamed to admit that I had not seen a deer, so when I stopped at the club on the way home, I said that I had seen just a few does.
I was not disappointed that day; I was embarrassed that it would reflect on my hunting skills.
On that first visit to the area, Alt did say that his goal "is to improve deer management in Pennsylvania and make us one of the leading states in the United States in terms of deer management."
Alt admitted that he really did not completely understand what all is involved in deer management until he agreed to undertake the project.
He pointed out, "We need to understand the relationship between this animal and the environment. We manage other animals such as bears, turkeys and pheasants for recreation purposes. When we manage deer, it affects influences every person in the state, whether he or she hunts or not.
"This is one animal that does destroy the environment. If we do not keep the deer herd under control, they will eat themselves out of house and home, they will destroy the habitat, and once the deer are gone, you will never get them back until you fix the habitat once again."
With that, Alt pointed out that the whitetail deer is the one animal that decides what other animals will live or die in a forest ecosystem. The deer not only causes other species to decline, but it can also cause songbirds and plants such as wildflowers to become extinct.
While deer management is partly political, it is even more so public relations. Alt said, "As soon as the public realizes what the issues are and how you manage deer, they will sign on to it."
Many sportsmen did sign on, but they weren't ready for the bumpy ride that would follow.
The ride is getting smoother, and the idea of bigger bucks is coming to fruition, as hunters and wildlife conservation officers alike report seeing more trophy bucks this year than in recent years.
Western Greene County Wildlife Conservation Officer Rod Burns told me just last week, "I've seen some nice bucks, but one is, without a doubt, the largest buck I've seen since I've been in Greene County.
Stan Norris echoed the same observations from Somerset County, and the photo of a big road-killed buck from the Fairchance area that appeared on the outdoors page a couple weeks ago is a sure sign that bigger bucks are showing up everywhere.
Alt admitted that the Game Commission did a poor job of communicating just what it was attempting to do in the way of deer management to the ones who counted most - the hunters.
Unfortunately, most sportsmen feel the same thing happened again, and even many who signed on with his program were stunned by the results of three years of open deer season.
Alt noted that we have allowed deer to destroy their habitat, especially in the big woods counties.
Alt suggested that to get better deer, we have to kill more does in October than in December, which would enable the bucks to better mate with the available does in November.
"We are shooting over 100,000 pregnant does. While bucks were busy mating those does, they were unable to mate other does, which are still alive," Alt said.
Why don't we move the open antlerless deer season to October, where we now allow bowhunters, early muzzleloaders, junior and senior hunters to kill does under special regulations?
Alt said, "I'm not talking about further herd reduction. I'm just talking about shooting the does in October, getting out of the woods and let the rut take place. Those does that are living are still going to be around next fall. Most of them will be bred in first estrus, and we should have a huge crop of fawns in May. Predators will take fewer fawns, and the young bucks will grow larger and stronger antlers because of the earlier birth.
"Deer management is designed to give a better quality of deer."
In theory that sounds great, but let's do it. Last time I checked the bulk of our antlerless deer are still being killed in November and December.
Another statement Alt made was, "We have to learn to look beyond deer and look at the habitat. Too many deer can turn a woods into a meadow after its has been clear-cut. Some woods have to be cut down and allowed to regenerate."
"There is not enough food for the deer to eat in many areas. They have destroyed their own habitat, and the habitat is not coming back until we fix it."
This too is great, but the Game Commission's current timber policy does not allow this to happen either.
Improving the habitat will also help grouse to return if aging timber is replaced with the right kind of cover, more songbirds should reappear and wildflowers and native plants will also have more chance to thrive under a warming sun.
Yes, the war continues, but it's time for an armistice, where both sides can discuss terms for peace.
Perhaps the USP lawsuit will be the instrument to bring all sides of the issue together, where a listing peace can be ironed out.
Rod Schoener is the Herald-Standard outdoors editor.
