I live on the edge of SGL176 in Centre County and hunt pretty much out my back door. The SGL is comprised of about 8600 acres, and a lot of it isn't hunted real hard since folks can't drive in with their pickups and FWD's. Have to drag the durned thing a bit, and they're too lazy. Plus there is still a lot of public land around here. I spend a lot of time out in the woods and the deer herds around here seem healthy and decent sized. They aren't the huge herds I'd gotten used to seeing the last few years; but still healthy. My Neighbor had no problem during archery, and I"m seeing my share during small game/turkey(lots of turkeys). I think folks have gotten spoiled over the years, and sorta got used to standing around for a half hour and shooting something; buck or doe. There's more to think about than just killing a deer; there's the overall health of our forests and the other animals in it. The deer HAVE been overbrowsing and both the land and the other animals who subsist on the same feed have suffered some for it. No, I don't work for the Game Commission by the way. During the summer a friend of mine who is a teacher was taken on a tour with other teachers to 5 sites that the GC had fenced off in the middle of various woods in the area. The idea was to show teachers, who are often a trifle on the liberal/hunting-is-cruel side, the effects of what can happen when man helps to create an imbalance, and the need to correct that(again) by thinning the herds down. The fencing had been done 5 years ago, and the average fenced in area was between an acre and five acres.. There were plants growing in those plots that had been considered either extinct or endangered in PA. We hunters, I believe, are the true conservationists in this country. I personally feel a tad better knowing the herds are down. Might have to hunt harder, but then seems like hunting skill, in some cases, went away with overpopulated deer herds. Easier to just have a lot of targets. These are obviously generalizations on my part, and there's probably all sorts of exceptions to the rule....however I don't think exceptions MAKE the rule. By the way, that teacher, who doesn't hunt, buys a liscense now to help support our way of life.
