ORIGINAL: Screamin Steel

Sure. Let's take your eco warrior stance here. Who will be leading the charge to reintroduce bison, timber wolves, (how about mt lions?), surely someday science will allow cloning dinosaurs and other prehistoric monsters.....where will it end? Do you support, then, the reintroduction of EVERY species that has ever come and gone from our region? Hand in hand with that extremist mantra is the elimination of every non native species that would include the ringnecked pheasant, brown and rainbow trout, and many other popular but transplanted species. When will the PGC stop holding hands with the birdwatcher/ conservation romantics? Fishers are NOT needed in a predatorial role today and neither were coyotes whether you believe their expansion was natural or manipulated. MAN is the number one predator of deer, now. Turkeys already suffer high enough predation rates that coupled with cyclic populations due to fluctuation of nesting successes, and managed seasons keep the birds in check.
If you couldn't see the satire and humor in my previous post, then I point it out to you now. But your post seems to be intended seriously, and I find it more ridicuous than my humorous one. Now that's irony.

The hunters wish for animals with large antlers and large horns, and yet their actions are making that harder to achieve," says Richard Harris, a conservation biologist in Montana. As a hunter, Harris knows that the outcome of this trend will satisfy no one, the Teddy Roosevelts of the next generation least of all.

ORIGINAL: Screamin Steel

BTB, you seem to be a self described trophy hunter. The kind that draws more fire from PETA and their cronies than meat or subsistence hunters. Many trophy huntesr including some that I know personally give away the majority of their meat to others, showing their own lust for antlers and bloodsport above all else. Do you accept responsibility for the demise of the fishers in earlier generations, or the extinction of the dinosaurs even before the dawn of man?Yes, hunters have quite proudly been the tool for the reintroduction and prliferation of many species, ....but most HAVE been game species, as that is where their interests lie primarily. Why does that seem so sinful to you? We hunters and the PGC work with a limited amount of resources. We have done much good. Habitat improvements costing millions of dollars and countless volunteer hours, that while primarily itended to improve game hunting have also been very beneficial to a diverse spectrum of wildlife. But I am being realistic. With those limited resources priorities must be carefully assessed. Lets us not forget as well tha the PGC was instituted to manage huntable game, specifically to regulate the deer harvest after years of unchecked market hunting. There is much room for improvementin game mgt( not to mention protecting threatened non game species) that should be addressed before reintroduction of species that have been gone for decades or centuries. This is a clear and frightening example of the current direction of the PGC. It has lost most of its identity as a Game Commission as it becomes further entagled with anti hunting nature protection groups. Your apparent ignorance of these matters reflects your own selfish trophy hunting mentality. As long as you get your next P&Y for the wall, you could care very little else about deer mgt in PA, or anywhere else for that matter. AR's to offset the herd slaughter orchestrated by the birdwatchers. Put a smile on your face, didn't it?

Do you accept responsibility for the demise of the fishers in earlier generations, or the extinction of the dinosaurs even before the dawn of man?

Lets us not forget as well tha the PGC was instituted to manage huntable game, specifically to regulate the deer harvest after years of unchecked market hunting.

ORIGINAL: Screamin Steel

BTB, you seem to be a self described trophy hunter. The kind that draws more fire from PETA and their cronies than meat or subsistence hunters. Many trophy huntesr including some that I know personally give away the majority of their meat to others, showing their own lust for antlers and bloodsport above all else. Do you accept responsibility for the demise of the fishers in earlier generations, or the extinction of the dinosaurs even before the dawn of man? Yes, hunters have quite proudly been the tool for the reintroduction and prliferation of many species, ....but most HAVE been game species, as that is where their interests lie primarily. Why does that seem so sinful to you? We hunters and the PGC work with a limited amount of resources. We have done much good. Habitat improvements costing millions of dollars and countless volunteer hours, that while primarily itended to improve game hunting have also been very beneficial to a diverse spectrum of wildlife. But I am being realistic. With those limited resources priorities must be carefully assessed. Lets us not forget as well tha the PGC was instituted to manage huntable game, specifically to regulate the deer harvest after years of unchecked market hunting. There is much room for improvementin game mgt( not to mention protecting threatened non game species) that should be addressed before reintroduction of species that have been gone for decades or centuries. This is a clear and frightening example of the current direction of the PGC. It has lost most of its identity as a Game Commission as it becomes further entagled with anti hunting nature protection groups. Your apparent ignorance of these matters reflects your own selfish trophy hunting mentality. As long as you get your next P&Y for the wall, you could care very little else about deer mgt in PA, or anywhere else for that matter. AR's to offset the herd slaughter orchestrated by the birdwatchers. Put a smile on your face, didn't it?

ORIGINAL: Screamin Steel

Yes, it is....and I bet YOU know that for a fact. The PGC was formed at the turn of the century specifically to protect plummeting deer populations and provide regulation , ending the market of venison and hides. I'll have to get some links, but surely you as a WCO must have learned SOMETHING of PGC history during your training. ........Sadly there isn't much online about PGC history, but there is a terrific book -" History of the Pennsylvania Game Commmision 1895-1995." I've read the book many times, and it clearly outlines the severity of the uncontrolled deer market of the late 1800's (at the PGC's conception the statewide deer pop. was estimated as low as 500 animals), and emphasizes the focus onGAME mgt as the driving force behind the formation of the agency SPECIFICALLLY deer. This is apparent to anyone but an idiot. Granted the agency has grown over the years to encompass mgt of many other non game species, but it's originalmission was most assuredly game mgt, with deer being foremost in their minds at the time.