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Too Many Deer

To the editor:

Here we go again - politicians sticking their uninformed noses into the scientific management of the deer herd.

Your "My Side" by Rep. Sam Rohrer calling for a oneyear suspension of antlerless deer hunting is very revealing about the depth of his knowledge and the direction we're heading.

Between state lawmakers hustling for votes and the Unified Sportsmen of Pa. continuing their all-out assault on the Game Commission, it's amazing to me that the governor can find anyone willing to serve on that agency.

Behind all of the shouting, the grandstanding and the nostalgic calls for "deer hunting the way it used to be," what we have is a deer herd that is still too populous for its habitat in many areas.Why so many people question the science is beyond me.

These biologists and other experts don't have anything to gain personally by twisting the facts. Those who question their methodology had better come up with better arguments than the usual patter they use to constantly discredit and berate them. Standard operating procedure: if you don't like the message, blame the messenger!

Not to confuse these people by stating facts, but a study by DCNR's Bureau of Forestry showed three-quarters of the state's 2.1-million-acre state forest system have moderate or severe deer damage, with nearly half of surveyed areas showing no new growth at all.

To quote DCNR Secretary Michael DiBerardinis: "It would be premature to draw any conclusions that would support an increased deer herd, even in areas where we observed relatively lowbrowse damage. Across the entire state forest system, less than 25 percent of plots showed desirable regeneration, and almost 45 percent of the plots lacked any new, woody growth."

Like many others, I long for the days when we could drive the back roads of the Northern Tier and see fields full of deer. That was then; this is now.

Do we really want our deer to have to scrap for enough food, wrecking our forests in the process and starving the next time we have a harsh winter?

Paul Molnar Philadelphia