Interesting Whitetail Article

Pretty balanced article, from what I read. I would be interested in reading the results of the full study.

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/documents/PA_DCNR_FIA.pdf


Something S-10 said made me do some searching and ran across this. Didn't find what I was looking for but thought this was interesting reading as well

Partners
The PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’
Bureau of Forestry and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
Forest Service developed this publication along with the
following cooperating agencies and organizations:
10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Conservation and Natural Resources Advisory Council
Pennsylvania Audubon Society
Pennsylvania Environmental Council
Pennsylvania Hardwoods Development Council
Pennsylvania Game Commission
Penn State School of Forest Resources Cooperative
Extension
Pennsylvania Forest Products Association
Sustainable Forestry Initiative of Pennsylvania
The Nature Conservancy
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy

At least they listed who is running deer management in Pa. Pretty deer friendly bunch Id say.

Why is there no Cheery trees outside the fence if the deer do not like them.


One critter that is very hard on sprouting Cherry trees is Turkeys.
The company I work for was doing a plot study of Cherry regeneration and had a couple plots with substantial Cherry trees sprouting. The next time they checked it the Turkeys had come through and just hammered all those fresh little sprouts.

Mabee that's why we have no problem getting Turkey season off.

ORIGINAL: bingsbaits

Why is there no Cheery trees outside the fence if the deer do not like them.


One critter that is very hard on sprouting Cherry trees is Turkeys.
The company I work for was doing a plot study of Cherry regeneration and had a couple plots with substantial Cherry trees sprouting. The next time they checked it the Turkeys had come through and just hammered all those fresh little sprouts.

Mabee that's why we have no problem getting Turkey season off.

 
In the area of the fence picture the forest type is mixed oak so there weren’t a lot of mature black cherry in the area to provide a seed source. Even inside the fence it was, and still it is, mostly maples, oak and pin cherry with some tulip poplar, cucumber magnolia, sassafras and American beech mixed in.
 
Outside the fence now, fifteen years after it was cut, the area finally has some regeneration but it is mostly beech, black birch and mountain laurel, probably because those aren’t highly preferred deer browse species.
 
We still use that fence as one of the demonstration areas on our Game Lands/Deer Management Tours.
 
R.S. Bodenhorn
 

RSB
   The second article  asserts that Deer eat seedlings inhibiting the regrowth of forests=we can surely agree with that - it goes on to say that Ferns and Striped Maple are NOT favored foods and continue to grow in experimental areas- there is no mention of the Cherry which would cause one to believe that it is not an unfavored food- the Cherry is mentioned throughout the article in other areas but is left out as an unfavored food source.
     By virtue of its NOT being included it kinda leads one down the path of thinking Deer eat the Cherry- at least as it begins to grow as a seedling be it a Winter food source or on a regular basis- they eat it.
     Also by virtue of its being left out of  second report it kinda implies a great difference of importance in regard to Deer predation  than the opinions stated in the first report.
   10 reports the planting fertilizing and fencing to the Cherry and I have no reason to doubt his observations as this is clearly a cash crop and desired by many. In both reports it is indicated IMHO as being found in healthy numbers in PA.
   Remember the first report indicated the increase in the Cherry was a reason for the decline in numbers of songbird populations and the Deer NOT feeding on Cherry was a primary reason given.
  They blamed the Deer yet in the second report the Deer issue is a byline if anything at all.
   It would seem reading the second article that the Cherry is a highly favored cash crop and never mentioned as a seedling NOT eaten by Deer when such food sources were in fact listed. =thus making one wonder----
    Not takin issue with the probable fact that the abundance of the Cherry may be problematic to songbird populations   but the blaming of the Deer for a cash crop tree being very sucesful IMHO may go a bit too far as there are many factors at work here including, what may be a good thing to many, as  long range forest  regeneration for the cash crop.

   One would think that a lot has to do with the number of DPSM and the availability of  other Winter food sources aside from young Cherry.
The Deer out back of me are already on Hemlock and Cedar even without snow due to a severe lack of mast crop this year. If we had any number of Cherry or any other third choice food source they would now be on that too.
In areas of no agriculture and mature forest their predation can certainly affect future tree growth and how the woods will look 50 years from now.
Might just be one aspect of the 'wars' issue.
  As the woodlands mature  and the farming in many areas is reduced significantly things are a changin.
  Drove through an area of Southern NY  in the Cats I hunted 40 years ago when it was  turning over from old farmlands. - had lotsa Deer back then- now - canopy and the folks I know there say the Deer pop. is way way down.