Deer Density Study Advertisement

[Bang]

Government surveys are worse than a joke. They adversely affect everyone. Example....government set up a tuna fishing boat and fished the target grounds. It reported a poor catch, tied it to reasons, always ends up with take less fish or shorten a season. Meanwhile, as the survey boat was fishing and doing poorly, several miles away a real tuna boat filled their hull. True story appeared in National Fisherman a few years ago.

[markshere2]

Follow the $

Deer accidents cost millions in insurance costs.

How hard is it to bribe "civil servants" into writing game laws that decimate* the deer herd?

I KNOW there are far fewer deer than 30 years ago. I dont care what a PGC Politicaian says... I live in the boonies and I have hunted.
Far fewer deer are visible than there used to be.

Killing a bunch of does is a great way to reduce the herd.

It worked.

*news folk version of the meaning of decimate, not the killing of 10%. More like the killing of 40%

[eatmydust]

This is one man's opinion backed up with 43 years of hunting experience and lots of reading about wild game.

Deer are not a deep woods, mature canopy species, they prefer and thrive in broken up, wood lot habitats with plenty of grazing for the does and browsing for bucks. Unless there is plenty of grasses, forbes and tender growth to support the health of the does, they cannot reproduce in high numbers.

Down here in Chester County, the deer herd is thriving because farms and smaller wood lots offer superior habitat that contains the feed necessary for large numbers of does giving birth to twins and triplets regularly. Proximity to homes limits hunting in much of the county, which gives deer protection, plus the lawns and shrubery in the neighborhoods are deer magnets.

My belief is that lower deer numbers in the northern tier of PA is due more to forest successional growth and the maturation of previously lumbered terrain that has matured to be better habitat for bear and turkey, than for the deer. Look at the population and harvest numbers for those species over the last 20 years or so. If you want to hunt deer, find land down here in the more broken up, wood lots of the southern counties, if you want to hunt bear and/or turkey, head for the "Big Woods". Good luck.

[gghbi]

This is one man's opinion backed up with 43 years of hunting experience and lots of reading about wild game.

Deer are not a deep woods, mature canopy species, they prefer and thrive in broken up, wood lot habitats with plenty of grazing for the does and browsing for bucks. Unless there is plenty of grasses, forbes and tender growth to support the health of the does, they cannot reproduce in high numbers.

Down here in Chester County, the deer herd is thriving because farms and smaller wood lots offer superior habitat that contains the feed necessary for large numbers of does giving birth to twins and triplets regularly. Proximity to homes limits hunting in much of the county, which gives deer protection, plus the lawns and shrubery in the neighborhoods are deer magnets.

My belief is that lower deer numbers in the northern tier of PA is due more to forest successional growth and the maturation of previously lumbered terrain that has matured to be better habitat for bear and turkey, than for the deer. Look at the population and harvest numbers for those species over the last 20 years or so. If you want to hunt deer, find land down here in the more broken up, wood lots of the southern counties, if you want to hunt bear and/or turkey, head for the "Big Woods". Good luck.

I believe you are on to something. We used to say corn fed deer (Lancaster county). got the best racks, and lots of meat.

[markshere2]

This is one man's opinion backed up with 43 years of hunting experience and lots of reading about wild game.

Deer are not a deep woods, mature canopy species, they prefer and thrive in broken up, wood lot habitats with plenty of grazing for the does and browsing for bucks. Unless there is plenty of grasses, forbes and tender growth to support the health of the does, they cannot reproduce in high numbers.

Down here in Chester County, the deer herd is thriving because farms and smaller wood lots offer superior habitat that contains the feed necessary for large numbers of does giving birth to twins and triplets regularly. Proximity to homes limits hunting in much of the county, which gives deer protection, plus the lawns and shrubery in the neighborhoods are deer magnets.

My belief is that lower deer numbers in the northern tier of PA is due more to forest successional growth and the maturation of previously lumbered terrain that has matured to be better habitat for bear and turkey, than for the deer. Look at the population and harvest numbers for those species over the last 20 years or so. If you want to hunt deer, find land down here in the more broken up, wood lots of the southern counties, if you want to hunt bear and/or turkey, head for the "Big Woods". Good luck.

There are a LOT of un_ used fields north of I 80 that are growing back to scrub woods (Good deer habitat)
the lumber management is alive and well and aggressive. There are clear cuts and selective cuts happening all the time.

This ain't ancestral, big tree woods up here.

There are lots of farms, but fewer than 40 years ago. I remember seeing Huge deer herds around Dubois in the 70s. We would go spotting in the evenings and see 40 to 100 eyes in a field.

I think opening up the doe population and selling so many permits has knocked the population down. A lot.

[jlb0305]

The area in and around Philly seems to have plenty of deer. All of course where they can't be hunted.

Huge growing herds in school yards around me and in South Philly at the Naval Business Center. Also see them all over woods and fields in Bensalem and Bristol... all areas restricted to hunting.

[bigandy1966]

bow hunt.

[jlb0305]

bow hunt.

I do but all those areas are still restricted for bows too. Either by policy/law or by population density (houses).