During the past few years, the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Deer Management Program has been under fire by numerous sportsmen from throughout the state. More and more complaints are heard of the serious decline in the deer population in the traditional northern deer ranges.
In recent years, petitions signed by thousands of concerned sportsmen and non-hunters are sent to the P.G.C., the Governor, or various legislators requesting the suspension of antlerless deer seasons in counties such as Potter, Tioga, Clinton, Lycoming and others.
Survey returns from our own members and sportsmen visiting our show displays indicate a serious lack of faith in and growing resentment toward the P.G.C. and it’s Deer Management Programs.
The officers and directors of the P.D.A. feel it is time that we respond publicly to this Issue. The following is our official Policy Statement on whitetail deer management in Pennsylvania, so that our members, potential members, the sportsmen and concerned citizens of the state, and the P.G.C. know how we, as an organization, stand on current issues and will stand on future issues regarding the management of the whitetail deer in Pennsylvania.
1. The whitetail deer in PA should be managed for the good of the deer! Deer populations should be maintained at a level that is in balance with the local available habitat, and compatible with other land uses. This means healthy, well fed deer. In a reasonable balanced sex ratio, reproducing at or near maximum capacity. This will not only result in an ample supply of deer for hunting and public viewing, but also keep crop and timber damage at acceptable levels.
2. The controlled harvesting of antlerless deer by licensed hunters should be the principle tool for maintaining the deer population at the proper level. Weather, disease and parasite related deaths, accidents, crop damage and poaching losses should be minimal.
3. Deer management (as well as that of all other wildlife) is a science best left to professionals. Deer hunters, no matter how avid or how much time they spend afield, are not qualified to determine proper deer population levels or dictate deer management policy.
The P.G.C. is the sole agency responsible for managing the deer and other wildlife in PA. This agency has proven itself as a capable and competent steward of our state’s wildlife resources for nearly a century and continues to do so today. Deer population and harvest levels have stabilized near all-time highs, although a shift in high populations away from the traditional north central deer range is apparent. This is not the fault of the P.G.C. or anyone else but simply the result of changes in the habitat due to natural succession. This trend should reverse itself In the near future as increased timber harvesting returns the habitat to a state of succession more supportive of deer.
4. Deer management should not be based on political factors or political boundaries that Ignore biological realities. The P.G.C. should discontinue use of political geographical units (counties) in issuance of antlerless deer permits and publication of use and harvest data. Rather, management of the resource, via seasons, harvest limits, harvest permits, public Information, and habitat manipulation should be based on similarities and differences in ecological/geographical "units" in the Commonwealth. Categorization of units should include evaluation of geography, habitat, land ownership, land access, land and water use, resident human populations, transient human populations, and deer heard quantity and quality.
Deer management units based on habitat, land use, access etc. will allow the P.G.C. to address special problems such as widespread crop damage, forest destruction on private lands, excessive deer populations in remote areas, and over-harvest of antlerless deer on easily accessible public lands, and to "fine tune’ its programs to deal with such problems on a more local, individual basis than the county-wide system presently used.
The PGC should, as a first step in "unit management, discontinue Issuance of antlerless deer permits by county officials. All antlerless deer permits should be issued on a management unit" basis, by Game Commission personnel.
5. The P.G.C. should not engage in winter feeding programs to maintain artificially high deer populations in areas of poor habitat. However, camp owners and sportsmen's clubs should not be discouraged from feeding on a local basis. The P.G.C. should become more actively involved with the P.D.A. and other wildlife organizations, sportsmen's clubs youth groups, and state agencies in a habitat improvement program.
6. The sportsmen of Pennsylvania should continue to wholeheartedly support the P.G.C. both ideologically and financially. The agency is not perfect and cannot begin to please all of us all of the time, but its record speaks for itself. Pennsylvania s still regarded as one of the best hunting states in the nation, and the P.G.C. is considered by other similar agencies as a leader in its field.
If the growing faction of so called ‘sportsmen" fighting the P.G.C. over petty selfish issues such as season lengths, license fees, special seasons, and local low game populations succeed in their attempts to discredit and financially cripple the P.G.C. all the sportsmen and wildlife of the state will suffer immensely. Not only will valuable research and experience be wasted, but also the "sportsmen" themselves will accomplish what the anti-hunters have been trying to do for years: take wildlife management out of the hands of qualified, trained professionals and trust it to those who would base their decisions on emotion, hearsay, greed, and public opinion. If those "sportsmen" would direct their seemingly limitless energy and finances toward more tangible, long term projects such as habitat improvement, land acquisition, research, and education, the future of the wildlife and the sportsmen in Pennsylvania would be much brighter.
The Pennsylvania Deer Association Is a non-profit, pro-hunting, educational, conservation organization founded to promote the wise management of our deer resource for the benefit of the deer, people, and the land they both share.
If you are interested in the welfare of the whitetail deer in Pennsylvania for any reason (hunting or non-hunting) and would like to promote the better understanding of the P.D.A.’s Deer Management programs, and learn more yourself, please support the only deer and deer hunting organization In Pennsylvania that works on behalf of the deer, the deer hunter, and the land owner.