Audubon Pennsylvania this week urged the Game Commission to allow hunters to take more antlerless deer before tagging, rather than limiting the hunting of antlerless deer in certain areas and for the elimination of the state’s feral swine population.

The recommendations were made by Kim Van Fleet, Important Bird Area Coordinator for Audubon Pennsylvania, in response to a proposal before the Game Commission to limit the number of days hunters can take antlerless deer in Wildlife Management Units 2D, 2G, 3C, and 4B.

Video Blog: Kim Van Fleet Gives Comments Before Game Commission

“Less than a year ago, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources issued a report documenting the continued lack of regeneration on state forest lands in many of the areas affected by the proposed change,” said Van Fleet. “Now is not the time to limit the number of days available to hunters to harvest antlerless deer in these areas where the habitat is poor and deer vulnerability is low.”

“We ask you on behalf of Audubon’s 30,000 members in Pennsylvania to please support the staff recommendation to allow hunters to harvest more than one deer at a time before tagging the deer where multiple daily harvests are permitted in Wildlife Management Units 2B, 5C, and 5D,” said Van Fleet. “This additional tool will allow recreational hunters to be much more effective in utilizing their antlerless tags for their intended purpose – controlling the population. Indeed, we would support expanding this useful practice to the rest of the Commonwealth.”

Van Fleet noted Audubon Pennsylvania has supported the Game Commission’s scientific approach to managing the state’s overabundant deer population, but noted there was no scientific data released demonstrating the need for the proposed change.

“At the very least, table the recommendation until your next meeting pending the public release of data supporting the change,” Van Fleet told the Commission. “As we have testified in the past, credible natural resource management must be based on science that is shared with the public.”

In addition to severely damaging forest habitats, deer cause an estimated $90 million in crop losses and $70 million in forest damage each year, according to the Department of Agriculture, over $78 million in property damage from over 39,000 deer/vehicle collisions each year and are responsible for the dramatic increase in Lyme disease in the state, according to the Department of Health.

The Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmens Club’s Melody Zullinger echoed some of the same concerns about making wildlife decisions based on sound science, but her group tentatively supported the proposal pending the review of more information.

Video Blog: Melody Zullinger Presents Game Commission Comments

“Our Board agreed to support such a proposal at this time provided it is justifiable and based on sound science,” said Zullinger. “From the beginning of this deer management program, PFSC has been supportive of following the biologists recommendations when they were made based on sound scientific data with the criteria of healthy deer and healthy habitat.”

In action the next day, the Game Commission gave tentative approval to the deer management programs to have a five day antlered deer only season in Wildlife Management Units 2D, 2G, 3C and 4B starting the Monday after Thanksgiving, followed immediately by seven days of concurrent, antlered and antlerless deer hunting.

The proposed package retains the two-week (12-day) concurrent, antlered and antlerless season in the remaining 18 WMUs. The change to the four WMUs is to evaluate the impact of changed season length on hunter success rates for future use as a new management tool.

"The goals of the deer management plan have not changed," said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission executive director. "The proposed changes to these four WMUs will give us another 'tool in the toolbox,' as we move forward with our deer management plan."

The Board specifically directed staff to prepare a four-year study to determine the impact and effectiveness of the proposed five-day antlered/seven-day concurrent season on the deer management plan before additional WMUs may be considered for this season configuration.

Final approval will be considered at the Commission’s meeting in April.

Noting Pennsylvania now has a growing population of feral swine in five counties that can quickly destroy crops, wildlife habitat and spread disease in Pennsylvania’s pork industry, Audubon Pennsylvania also called on the Commission to support plans for eradicating the feral swine population.

“We join with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, other conservation groups, the agriculture industry, sportsmen organizations, and state agency staff in calling for the immediate eradication of existing populations and measures to prevent the additional introduction and spread of feral swine in Pennsylvania,” said Van Fleet, noting the Governor’s Council on Invasive Species called for the development of a Rapid Response Plan to deal with feral swine by April 1.

Feral swine found in Pennsylvania forests have either escaped from game farms or were deliberately brought into the state illegally. They can grow to be 400 pounds or more in size and have at least two litters of eight to 12 young each year. They are presently found in Bedford, Cambria, Montgomery, Union and Warren counties, with unconfirmed sightings elsewhere.

“Across the county where these animals have established breeding populations, they out-compete birds and game species such as deer and black bear for food, prey upon native species, severely restrict forest regeneration, destroy habitats, spread disease, damage agricultural crops, and threaten human safety,” said Van Fleet. “They are as bad as they sound.”

Van Fleet recommended against allowing the incidental taking of feral swine during existing hunting seasons saying it would only serve to scatter swine populations into new areas, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Zullinger, from PFSC, also supported the eradication of the feral swine population saying, “We have serious concerns establishing seasons and bag regulations may create a mindset among hunters that these are game animals and that they are here to stay. Your goal should be to eradicate these animals.”

“We applaud the Commission for moving in the direction of a more science-based deer management program focused on indicators of both forest and deer health, and we are appreciative of your commitment to putting the long-term interests of forested ecosystems and wildlife at the forefront of your decision-making,” said Van Feet. “You have stood up for Pennsylvania’s wildlife and habitat resources, and we are grateful.”

Citing serious concerns about funding for the Game Commission, Zullinger said PFSC would continue to work to get the Commission more financial resources.

“We are disappointed and discouraged that the current legislative body appears to have little interest in taking their role of fiduciary oversight seriously, other than to use it as leverage for personal agendas and to work against agency polities” said Zullinger. “Allowing wildlife management to be controlled by politics or emotion and personal desires over sound science only brings us closer to allowing those with the most money or political clout to set all wildlife management regulations.”

Pennsylvania Audubon has designated 85 Important Bird Areas across the state and is working actively to promote local efforts to monitor and protect these areas.

According to a recent survey, Audubon Pennsylvania’s 30,000 members are 53 percent more likely than the general public to be hunters.

For more information, visit the Pennsylvania Audubon Deer Management Forum webpage or call 717-213-6883.

NewsClips: Game Panel Hears More Complaints About Deer

Editorial: Lack of Foresight in Deer Troubles

Link: Deer Management is Vital to Ensuring Wildlife Diversity

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