Shots Fired Across the Bow

[Outdoor Talk Network by Jim Slinsky]
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Shots Fired Across the Bow ©

By Jim Slinsky
03/10/07

March 5, 2007 may be remembered as a turning point in the current deer management war. It may not. It was that time of the year when the PGC answered questions by our House Game and Fisheries Committee legislative members about their current state of affairs. Yours truly was seated in the second row off to the left. The anticipation was building for weeks. Word on the street was the PGC was going to get clobbered.

PGC Executive Director Carl Roe fielded the questions. Considering the deer program is indefensible for even the unscrupulous, Mr. Roe endured the beating In the most professional manner I have ever witnessed, our legislators came down on Carl Roe like a proverbial ton of bricks dropped in the bed of a half-ton parked pickup truck. For three hours there was a constant barrage of shots fired across the bow. At times, Mr. Roe’s left cheek was cherry red.

Undoubtedly, most questions were about the deer program. A few were about baiting and feeding, law enforcement abuses, youth hunter recruitment, declining license sales and timbering. Our legislators pressed the issue of our current deer population. Mr. Roe was forced to admit the PGC doesn’t know how many deer we have. No big surprise to us, but our legislators weren’t happy with that revelation. The obvious on everyone’s mind was the once Commissioner approved “stay the course” back in January. Another two weeks of concurrency and 860,000 doe permits and you don’t know how many deer we have? Somebody pinch me. Is this a dream?

Mr. Roe defended the deer program by explaining their new mantra, “healthy forests, healthy deer”. The PGC doesn’t use density numbers any longer. They look at sample tree sites across the state. If the trees are not sprouting, we must have too many deer. The killing will continue. This new qualitative instead of quantitative deer management is not practiced by any other state in the nation.

Let’s be honest. “Healthy forests, healthy deer” is ambiguous, subjective, perfect for political takeover and an ideal hiding place for special interest agendas. Did someone say they saw a turnip truck pass by? Mr. Roe let it be known DCNR is not getting regeneration on our State Forest Lands. We know regeneration has not improved substantially, anywhere. After killing millions of deer and jeopardizing the entire future of deer hunting and the PGC, we are still not getting regeneration. A high school sophomore would have realized by now that deer are not the problem.

If you can read between the lines a classic showdown is coming together. Our legislators are politely and sometimes not so politely, trying to tell the PGC they have seen and heard enough. Will the PGC listen and display the integrity and courage to stop the program and reverse their course? If they do not, will our legislators have the resolve to intervene and force the PGC to stop the program?

The April PGC Commissioner meeting is around the corner. Will the PGC submit to the Board a “stay the course” plan and will the Commissioners once again approve it ignoring our legislators and hunters?

While this intriguing drama plays out, our hunters know exactly what must be done. They tell me almost everyday with their emails and phone calls. Our legislators must demand an outside audit of our deer management program before the 2007 doe season can go forward. We want to know how many deer we have before we go on another killing spree. If the PGC rejects the audit demand, doe season will be closed for 2007 and will stay closed until the audit is completed. If Wildlife Chief Cal DuBrock doesn’t like it, he should seek employment elsewhere. If Carl Roe doesn’t like it, he can express his dissatisfaction by seeking employment elsewhere, as well. By the way, Carl Roe isn’t running the PGC, his bureau chiefs are.

Who knows how many years any of us have left on this earth. To spend our last years’ fighting with the PGC for sensible, professional, quantifiable deer management is total absurdity.

I truly hope our legislators have indeed seen and heard enough. I know our hunters have.

Jim Slinsky is the host and producer of the “Outdoor Talk Network”, a nationally syndicated, outdoor-talk radio program. For a station near you or to contact Jim, visit his website at www.outdoortalknetwork.com.

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