Dietz on Deer ===

QDMA founder has message of hope for Pa. deer hunters
Published: March 6, 2011



Quality Deer Management Association founder Joe Hamilton makes a point during the question-and-answer portion of his presentation on the state of the deer herd and deer hunting in Pennsylvania last weekend in Allentown


ALLENTOWN - Maybe it is true that one has to be looking in from the outside to see how good things are for those on the inside.

During a rewarding journalistic career that spanned more than five decades of covering scholastic sports, I found that was often the case when athletes and coaches were more appreciated by opponents than their home fans. That certainly is the case when talking about any-and-all aspects of whitetail deer in Pennsylvania.

As this is an outdoors column, I'll cut to the chase and focus on the hardcore hook-and-bullet subject of hunting deer. And, quite frankly, I've just about reached the fed-up-to-here point of having people tell me - including friends, fellow outdoors writers and, yes, even members of the Pennsylvania Game Commission board of game commissioners - how bad deer hunting is in Pennsylvania.

Well, last weekend, Quality Deer Management Association founder Joe Hamilton brought a different message to those attending his presentation "The State of Pennsylvania's Whitetail" at the Roadway Inn Convention Center. And this North Carolina native is clearly more qualified to talk about Pennsylvania's deer herd than some of its native-born critics.

As a high school student in the early 1960s, Hamilton began reading every article he could find on Potter County and Pennsylvania deer hunting. In 1992, he first came to Pennsylvania to work on solving deer problems as a biologist with the International Paper Company, discovering the Potter County he had read about was long gone and the deer herds were starving and dwindling in the state's big woods.

"I'm here to tell you that Pennsylvania still has a lot of work to do, but I also know this state has come a long way and right now the deer-management program is headed in the right direction," Hamilton said. "For a state whose detractors say has no deer, Pennsylvania is one of just six states that annually takes more than 300,000 during its hunting seasons.

"In 2009, for the first time in history, 51 percent of the bucks taken in Pennsylvania were 2½ years old or older, compared to 80 percent of the bucks taken between 1989-94 being yearlings. Also, as of '09, Pennsylvania averaged 2.4 bucks per square mile, compared to 2.0 for the rest of the Northeast, and averaged 4.4 doe per square mile, compared to 3.2 for the rest of the Northeast.

"What is happening right now in Pennsylvania is that deer simply aren't where they once were, but it seems some of the critics refuse to accept that and keep hunting where there aren't any deer. Nationally, seven percent of the population buys hunting licenses and just three percent belong to a recognized anti-hunting organization, but those anti-hunters work together and are organized, which is why they raised $300 million last year."

Hamilton made it clear there is no way to feel sorry for someone because they didn't see any deer, or they didn't kill a buck. It's time those hunters should look into another area because - as they are all excellent woodsmen - obviously the deer herd has been reduced in the area their family has always hunted.

I wish the rhetoric from the malcontents, especially the leadership and propaganda minster of the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania, left me comfortably numb, but as this point, I'm dazed and confused. A few weeks ago I was hopeful that the ruling by Senior Commonwealth Court Judge Barry Feudale, a graduate of Lourdes Regional, disallowing a third attempt by the Unis to sue the Pennsylvania Game Commission would bring them to their senses and create a new direction or working with - rather than against - the PGC in the matter of deer management.

"Comparison of the deer-management programs and processes in eight states, including Pennsylvania, indicated that, while there were a few differences in procedures and techniques among the states, all eight addressed management of white-tailed deer in a very similar manner," Judge Feudale wrote. "Wildlife Management Institute (which audited the Game Commission's deer program) found nothing in this comparison that would be considered problematic in the commission's general approach to deer management by professional wildlife biologists. The commission even appears to be at the forefront of developing techniques to assess impacts of deer on forest-habitat quality.

"The commission continues to be subjected to considerable criticism from hunters about deer-management programs. Most states have had a period of time when deer-management goals, practices or decisions were controversial, but Pennsylvania is unique in that period of controversy seems to never have waned.

Judge Feudale also expressed the opinion that those alleged sportsmen are doing themselves, the rest of us and the image of hunting a total disservice by casting hunters as selfish bores. In this day and age, now more than ever, image is everything.

In response, the Unis have re-filed their suit and accused Judge Feudale of being in the PGC's pocket. Furthermore, a petition that claims to be from the Unis (I'm actually going to give them the benefit of the doubt here because I can't believe they are so misguided) is being circulated that calls for a three-year moratorium on killing doe and that hunters are allowed to kill one buck.

This petition is so ambiguous it's not clear if that's just one buck per hunter during the next three years or one buck in each of the three years. Obviously, no intelligent sportsman who has the welfare of the deer herd in mind would sign such a petition, so this must be the work of taxidermists looking for more work, stockholders of insurance companies looking to raise rates or owners of fencing companies.

Assuming that all hunters pursue deer for the primary purpose of sport, for argument's sake, we are then divided into "trophy" hunters and "meat" hunters.

Well, I'm darn proud of my two trophy 5-point rack bucks, but I'm even happier to say that our household has been blessed to take at least one plump, tasty, mature Pennsylvania doe since 1982. Because of herd reduction, loss of habitat and urban sprawl, I no longer hunt many of the areas that produced deer as recently as five years ago.

That was a conscious decision I made that was a matter of common sense. It sure was comforting, however, to hear someone as qualified on deer management as Joe Hamilton to reinforce that decision and ignore the rants of malcontents.

(Dietz is outdoors editor)

And, quite frankly, I've just about reached the fed-up-to-here point of having people tell me - including friends, fellow outdoors writers and, yes, even members of the Pennsylvania Game Commission board of game commissioners - how bad deer hunting is in Pennsylvania.

ORIGINAL: World Famous

I love it, go hunt somewhere else. Mr. Genius hasn't thought that through real well. Go to where the deer are and soon they won't be there either....WF

I'll bet the anti-hunters just love going by and reading that sign !!!