Curious Pa deer food question
#21
Spike
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Wellsburg, West Virginia
Posts: 77
RE: Curious Pa deer food question
Whatever deer are left will benefit from the increased food and if it's logged they will benefit from the increased cover. Have you ever seen the black and white pictures of the meat poles from the early 1900's with all of those big bucks they used to kill. That's because the whole country east of the Mississippi river had been clear cut and was starting to regrow and they had unlimited food and because the deer numbers were so low. You couldn't produce that number of big bucks today cause there are way more hunters now than then but with low DD and ample food quality deer can be produced. You just have to hunt a little harder for them.
Look at the quality of the deer in eastern OH compared to western PA. There is a big difference because of deer density, even though they have similar habitats, OH has half the deer. In western PA damage to the native habitat is probably happening at the high levels of that they hold and those deer need reduced. In the mtns there will never be the quality or the quantity of farmland deer. The only way to increase the quality and quantity of the mtn. deer is through large scale timber cutting and clear cutting, and I'm sure that the hunters wouldn't approve of that.
Look at the quality of the deer in eastern OH compared to western PA. There is a big difference because of deer density, even though they have similar habitats, OH has half the deer. In western PA damage to the native habitat is probably happening at the high levels of that they hold and those deer need reduced. In the mtns there will never be the quality or the quantity of farmland deer. The only way to increase the quality and quantity of the mtn. deer is through large scale timber cutting and clear cutting, and I'm sure that the hunters wouldn't approve of that.
#23
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 491
RE: Curious Pa deer food question
Look at the quality of the deer in eastern OH compared to western PA. There is a big difference because of deer density, even though they have similar habitats, OH has half the deer.
#24
Spike
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Wellsburg, West Virginia
Posts: 77
RE: Curious Pa deer food question
qdma.com on there deer density map it looks like about 63 of 88 counties are below 15 dpsm and the other 25 counties are between 15-30 dpsm. They don't have the mtn counties like PA they have vast farmland with more than enough food but no cover to support a deer herd. The PA mtns have cover but no food. Any type of monoculture is bad for deer even if it is a 1000 acres of soybeans they will be lacking something.(cover) Thousands of acres of forest with no open areas and no timbering just can't support that many deer. All of those deer that ran around the PA mtns years ago when the hunting was "good" was because it was just coming into a closed canopy forest. There was still thick under growth plus the mast trees were starting to come into there prime. At the same time the farmlands were completely open and had no cover for deer but now old farms are grown in and there is a perfect mix of mature forest, thick over grown fields and open ag land. And that is where all of the deer are in the state now.
#25
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 491
RE: Curious Pa deer food question
All of those deer that ran around the PA mtns years ago when the hunting was "good" was because it was just coming into a closed canopy forest. There was still thick under growth plus the mast trees were starting to come into there prime
At the same time the farmlands were completely open and had no cover for deer but now old farms are grown in and there is a perfect mix of mature forest, thick over grown fields and open ag land. And that is where all of the deer are in the state now.
#27
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location:
Posts: 28
RE: Curious Pa deer food question
CarDeer if your really interested read this A Conflict between Forest Renewal and White-tailed Deer: A Silviculturist’s Perspective on Values
Susan L. Stout
USDA Forest Service
Forestry Sciences Laboratory
P.O. Box 267
Irvine, PA 16329-0267
sstout/[email protected]
http://www.audubon.org/chapter/pa/pa/Stout11Nov99.htm
Lefty
Susan L. Stout
USDA Forest Service
Forestry Sciences Laboratory
P.O. Box 267
Irvine, PA 16329-0267
sstout/[email protected]
http://www.audubon.org/chapter/pa/pa/Stout11Nov99.htm
Lefty
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