Is It 1946 or 1965?

[Outdoor Talk Network by Jim Slinsky]
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Is It 1946 or 1965? ©

By Jim Slinsky
01/16/10

Coming off the worst deer season in anyone’s memory, the homeboys are just a wee-bit upset. My phone has been ringing off the hook, the language of most is not printable and the hunting stories sound like the proverbial broken record. No shots heard, no tracks found and no deer seen. The PGC will claim these observations are purely anecdotal and have no relevancy to the size of the PA deer herd. I beg to differ. Put 600,000 people in the woods on the same day at the same time and you have the first step of a deer study. Field observations are utilized all the time for grouse, pheasants, ducks and even songbirds. It’s funny how field counting is valid for every species except deer.

Frustrations with the deer program should become glaringly obvious at the January 24, 25, 26 Game Commission meeting held at PGC headquarters in Harrisburg. I am hearing stories of busloads of hunters coming to town to blast the Commissioners. This is always interesting. I wonder if DCNR’s foresters will speak again and claim we haven’t killed enough deer. I wonder if the hardwood industry boys will grab the podium and insist we must keep the killing going. These people don’t represent the public. These people represent an industry. I never did understand why PGC Agency personnel are seated on the stage with our Commissioners. Isn’t the PGC Agency and the PGC Board of Commissioners two separate entities? Why are the Agency people and the Commissioners co-mingled on the stage? This will be a meeting you should not miss.

The audit of the PGC’s deer program by the Wildlife Management Institute should be available very shortly. It was completed, but sent back for “clarification” of a few points. The PGC will have two weeks to review it before it becomes public. Am I concerned? Yes, I am, but we will ask for the notes and worksheets of any declarations that we feel are wrong.

The lawsuit by the Unified Sportsmen of PA is moving along, slowly, but quite nicely. Carl Roe, Cal DuBrock and Chris Rosenberry were all deposed. I am told their answers were literally embarrassing. They don’t know how many deer we have. They don’t know how many deer we harvest. None of that seems to stop them from issuing over 800,000 doe permits per season, concurrent buck and doe without losing a minute worth of sleep. I am unable to determine if the Elmerton Ave boys are aware that if this audit and lawsuit finally uncovers the truth, they will all need new jobs. Rest assured there will be a statewide outcry to replace them all with a brand new management team. There will also be an outcry to restock this state with deer. My hope is the legislators will step up and pass the legislation necessary to insure this deer debacle will never happen again.

Speaking of getting to the truth, it is time to reinstate the “game take survey” in a big way. I could be wrong, but I remember Gary Alt suspending this system. Michigan has a mail-in harvest card system as we do, but they double-check their reporting rate by contacting thousands of hunters after the season. I recall we contacted about 2000 hunters after the season to determine if and what they harvested. With approximately 600,000 hunters in this state, we are contacting a mere one-third of one percent. I am proposing we contact at least 6000 (1%) or possibly 2% to 3%. Let’s make this endeavor statistically valid.

You are probably wondering at this point how does 1946 or 1965 fit into this discussion. Well, in 1946 the year after the big one ended, the boys and girls of PA bought 600,000 hunting licenses, approximately the same number of license we purchase today. And in that joyous year of 1946, PA hunters harvested 31,110 bucks. This is a success ratio of about 5%. Admittedly, it is speculation on my part, but also quite possible that we harvested as few as 31,000 bucks in 2009. At a 10% success ratio and a harvest of 60,000 bucks we would still be turning the clock back to 1965.

Whatever year it may be, the PGC needs an exit strategy to abandon this fatally flawed deer management plan. They need to return to numbers to give the program some semblance of credibility. They need to cut loose the US Forest Service and their regeneration study.

Actually, the PGC needs to wake up, smell the coffee and get real before they all have trouble buying gas with cash.

Jim Slinsky is the host and producer of the “Outdoor Talk Network”, a nationally syndicated, outdoor-talk radio program. For a station near you or to contact Jim, visit his website at www.outdoortalknetwork.com.

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