Time To Protest 'Doe' Licenses
To the editor:

The Pa. Game Commission has announced an increase of nearly 40% in antlerless deer license sales for Management Area 2G, from 19,000 to 26,000 for 2007.

If you are concerned about the reduction in deer populations locally and the negative impact this irresponsible deer management plan is having on our area, please contact members of the Pa. General Assembly.

We must call our lawmakers' attention to the deplorable state of our deer-hunting. At the insistence of the DCNR, our Game Commission has reduced the local deer herd to virtually unhuntable numbers in many parts of the state, but especially in the state game lands and state forest lands, which have been paid for by hunters.

This has resulted in a 12% decrease in hunting license sales since 1995 and has adversely affected the $5 billion economic impact and 43,000 jobs that hunting once generated each year.

This, of course, has had a negative impact on our rural communities, which rely very heavily on the revenue generated by hunters.

To say we have a deer management crisis is an understatement. Unfortunately, the Game Commission, with DCNR cheering it on, is not listening to hunters. The legislature is our only hope of salvation.

We respectfully ask that state lawmakers intervene and support curative legislation that may be written to address this threat to our time-honored sporting traditions.
Jack Dillon
Emporium