Ever since the Pennsylvania Game Commission in 2000 launched a deer management program aimed at balancing deer numbers with the available habitat, one of its biggest supporters has been the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

However, two actions taken by the Board of Game commissioners Tuesday threaten to put the agencies at odds with each other.

By a 6-2 vote, the commissioners gave preliminary approval to a proposal that would cut the 2010 firearms antlerless deer season from 12 days to seven in four wildlife management units (WMU). Four WMUs already have seven-day seasons.

If the measure wins final approval from the board at its April meeting, all eight units would have a five-day firearms buck season from Nov. 29 through Dec. 3, followed by a concurrent buck and doe season from Dec. 4 through Dec. 11.

In Pennsylvania's 14 remaining WMUs — which includes Lancaster County — the firearms buck and doe seasons would run concurrently for the full two-week period from Nov. 29 through Dec. 11.

DCNR has thousands of acres of state forests and state parks in the eight affected units.

"This strong move away from concurrent seasons in much of the center of the state flies in the face of previously stated (Game Commission) deer management objectives," said Dan Devlin, DCNR's state forester.

"It is disturbing to see six of the eight Pennsylvania Game Commissioners' deer management decisions shaped by disgruntled hunter emotions rather than the science-based recommendations of their biologists and foresters."

The season reduction was proposed by the commissioners, not the agency's team of deer management biologists.

The commissioners who supported the move said they hope it would make the deer-hunting experience in these affected areas more enjoyable to hunters who have loudly complained in recent years about a lack of deer there.

Commissioners David Schreffler and Gregory Isabella cast the lone votes against the proposal, saying it panders to disgruntled hunters and doesn't follow the science generated by the Game Commission's team of deer biologists.

Also Tuesday, the board of game commissioners directed agency staff by the April meeting to draft regulations aimed at eliminating the deer management assistance program (DMAP) on all public lands in the state that do not have agency-approved habitat management plans.

DMAP allows large landowners to issue doe tags in addition to the Game Commission's allotment for use by hunters on their own lands.

"What my concern is right now and, quite candidly, it's my perception that stewards of some of the public lands are just automatically applying for what they are entitled to receive without taking into consideration the impact it's having on the resource," Commissioner Tom Boop said. "What's the point of continually taking the deer numbers down in those areas" if the owners have no intention of creating more deer habitat?

As the owner of nearly 2.4 million acres of state forests and state parks, DCNR is one of Pennsylvania's largest public landowners and is the largest user of DMAP.

"DMAP is our most effective tool in steering hunters to areas where we have too many deer and too little forest regeneration," Devlin said. "The stance that we should accelerate timber harvesting and begin installing food plots on state forestlands to justify DMAP allocations seems to run contrary to the very intent of the DMAP effort."

With over 1.4 million acres of state game lands across the state, the Game Commission also is one of Pennsylvania's largest landowners.

None of the Game Commission's properties are enrolled in DMAP.

"When we approach the game lands, we do habitat management plans as opposed to timber management plans," said Carl Roe, the Game Commission's executive director. "Timber management plans are part of the habitat management.

"But that's our mission. Our mission on game lands is to optimize the amount of game. I would offer that DCNR has a different mission."

One of the principle elements of the DCNR Bureau of Forestry's mission statement is to manage state forests for "sustained yields of quality timber," in addition to providing "habitats for forest plants and animals."

How land-management plans must look in order for a public landowner to win access to DMAP "will be the subject of much debate over the next few months," said Jay Delaney, president of the game commissioners.

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