The buzz around Pennsylvania at the inception of  HR(Herd Reduction) was that of a positive outlook. Based on research and presentations by biologists, we the hunters were sold that much of our land was overpopulated. It was easy for the dedicated hunter to recognize the impact. At just 4ft off the forest floor there was a distinct browse line, the regeneration failed to exist on the floor. There was only one possible solution in the eyes of forestry experts such as DCNR and that was to kill as many overwinter deer as possible to prevent everything from being consumed. The premise was that, when regeneration occurred, wildlife of all species would flourish.

Hunters for years wondered why the state had a three day doe season. Many often felt that the better way of accomplishing things was to combine the season to an either sex harvest. Eventually the governing bodies implemented just that. This put a smile on many peoples faces but some also failed to realize that the allocations of doe tags had sky rocketed! What was about to happen no one could foresee. Die hard hunters did exactly as we were instructed, we harvested as many deer as possible. Dont get me wrong, certain areas of the state need the maximum attainable harvest, areas around the suburbs quickly come to mind. The problem herin lies with access. You can issue a million tags if you want too, but if most people cant access the areas where high numbers are they will go somewhere else. That somewhere else is often open to the general public. What resulted in some areas is what some refer to as a “slaughter”. The days of the past where seeing ten whitetails in a day is almost non existent on many public tracts of land. The PA Game Commission has moved to a new wildlife management unit which encompasses more area than the previous county based tag system. While the northern tier of a specific WMU may not be able to sustain a high harvest the southern tier may. This is where the problem lies, because many hunters myself included just do not have the time or finances to consistently travel large distances to hunt the whitetail, as much as we would like anyhow.

The state foresaw this problem in one area and split rifle season three years ago. While the results have yet to be released, they have preliminarily proposed the same for more areas. There is also buzz the allocations will return to a lower level. Why you might ask? All you need to do is talk to ten hunters and you will find out the majority of them are no longer seeing deer like the used too. Im not talking about the days of thirty in one field, some hunters go an entire season and dont see anything. Some days, on some properties its almost impossible to find evidence they exist. With the amount of food sources in some places it leaves people scratching their heads searching for answers.

Once a common attitude of “If I dont shoot it the next guy over the ridge will” needs to come to an end folks. Reality is that we the hunters make the final decision of which area is best to harvest the animal for our license from. We need to recognize when an area has a problem and consider giving it a rest. These problems will not self remedy themselves even with a shorter season. Allocations play the major deciding factor. So ask yourself the next time that your in the woods whether you truely think the area you are in can handle you and your buddies all harvesting a deer. Should you go somewhere else, should you limit what you take? We as a group need to stand strong and turn this program around. Recruitment is an all time low, predators are at a higher level than ever and now that our voice has been heard lets not repeat history in diminishing the HERD!

~Jeremy Hoffman

http://www.outdoorintegration.com