Alt retires, your thoughts?

[Hoyt03]

Probaly from all the stress and crap he's getting from all the people who are not seeing any deer this year (me included ) I hope with him retiring we go back to the way things were, except for the antler restrictions. He had very good ideas and efforts I just think that his one plan couldnt accomodate the entire state, so thats why we are seeing mixed results. Atleast I still have some private ground that I hunt or else my deer killing days would be few and far between if having to hunt only public grounds. Feel bad for those guys

[Doc]

What is the "Deer Management Assistance Program" that is mentioned in the article?

Doc

[DJR]

I heard that they wanted to go back to the way it was before?? the Pittsburg Pst Gazett said that the next meeting was going to be a big one and thats when they wew going to vote

[LifeNRA]

[ QUOTE ]
Good for him. Now he can go and hunt his butt off!
He deserves it!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

What is he going to hunt for? He helped kill off a major portion of the deer heard!!!

I glad to see him go! I liked his AR program, but not the HR! I only saw one deer on the opening morning. I want to see more deer than that! I just bought my first hunting bow in 25 years! What is it going to be like out there next fall too see no deer. Ill be very pissed off to mention that!

[Doc]

Well, here's a question for all you PA hunters. If his successor wants to put everything back the way it was (i.e. no herd reduction and no antler restrictions) would you be happier than you are now?

Doc

[JimT]

Alot of guys are not happy with this guy for sure. However, I think most of them were just to used to seeing several deer on every outing. I would rather see 4-5 nice buck then 100 does and spikes in a season. I do think he whacked way to many does in a hurry though. He should have worked towards reducing the amount of does over a longer period of time, and not taken as many. Deer hunting is huge business, and I am will to bet alot of guys that usually go there to hunt from out of state probably wont next year if they are in the know. As far as not being able to do his job, I bet alot of us here could.

[bowhunter56]

I am 58, i remember how it use to be, before the bonus doe tags, and combined buck,doe season, at least you would see deer, and usually all day, and had the hoped of seeing a buck or two, but now, you see little or nothing, last year i saw 6 or 7 deer in bow season, and one non legal buck in rifle season, this year i saw 7 deer in bow season, and one doe in rifle season, which i shot. I believe Alt did a excellent job with the state bear population, and he is not the fault of our deer herd being what it is. I believe that should go back to the old way it use to be, 3 day doe season, 2 week buck season, no bonus tags.

[buckbuster11]

Wow!!! This is the first I have heard of this. I dont know if this is a good or a bad thing yet...it depends on who the replacement is and if the policies are changed. I for one would be happy to see the herd reduction program be taken out. I've got a feeling we arent going to see many changes though.

[G-Daddy]

I've been hunting in PA for over 40 years. When I started you could hunt every day for the two week buck season and see the same doe and fawn every day and little else. I went for six seasons in the late '60s and early '70s without even seeing one buck in the season. Now we are trying to reduce our herd by shooting our limit of does and cannot even seem to make a dent in our local population. I understand there are areas in the state where HR has had a big impact, but I think many of these areas were headed to disaster due to habitat damage resulting from too large of a herd. It will take some time for the habitat to recover in many parts of the state where there is absolutely no browse.

[LifeNRA]

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I'd like to see it go back the way it used to be. Two week buck season, three day doe season. Get rid of all those other early seasons. Except bow season, of course.

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I agree, but I still want AR! I hate the doe season mixed in with buck season! I feel its too dangerous!!! Too many IDIOTS with the mentality of "Its Brown, Its Down"!!!

[LifeNRA]

Yes I did! LOL!!! But its been horrible the last few years!!! I agree, some places are loaded, and some places have no deer! So control each WMU separate.

[Doc]

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As for not seeing deer on public lands, I think that is due to the fact that more and more people are cramming into these places to hunt and the deer just aren't accessible.

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Each parcel of public land should be treate as a separate unit and be managed separately. Public land is unique in that it generally receives enough intense hunting pressure as to cause long-term damage to the herd. Antlerless permit numbers should be issued accordingly.

Doc