Curbing Deer, Saving Forests.

A unique management plan that adds hunters yields better forest and a spirit of cooperation.

The deer bologna must have been a yard long. Three hunters and their families brought it to us shortly after Christmas, a thank you for the numerous bucks and does they had gotten on our property.

The good relations we have developed with the people who hunt on our land each year are in sharp contrast to nine years ago, when hordes of mostly unknown folks dressed in orange ranged over our property. Before we posted our 640 acres for hunting by written permission only, those hordes ran herds of deer this way and that but didn't seem to kill many. As a result, our forest suffered from overbrowsing and a loss of biodiversity. (Before, we'd see about 50 deer feeding on a field; now there are about seven.)

We are not hunters, but when we moved to our wooded central Pennsylvania property in 1971 we kept the land unposted, as was the case with some of our neighbors. But one by one their thinking changed, and before long ours was one of the last unposted woodlands in our part of the township. We soon had too many deer and too many hunters, many of whom we didn't know. Most had never asked permission to be there.

Problems soon began, and our woods no longer felt safe during hunting season. Our boys' pet dog was shot not far from the house. During antlerless season I watched from my kitchen window as a dozen hunters, regardless of well-posted safety zone signs, blazed away at does bedded down in mountain laurel.

When our deputy game warden stopped a young man with an untagged deer on our property, we knew things had to change. The young man, whom my husband had met briefly and had given permission to hunt, turned out to have an arrest record and be considered potentially dangerous.

And, despite everything, we still had too many deer on the mountain.

A biologist friend, an authority on deer management, confirmed our suspicions. An overpopulation of deer was slowly destroying our forest. Tree seedlings, wildflowers, and shrubs were nipped off as soon as they germinated. Other animals were having a hard time competing.

Our friend recommended having 30 to 40 deer taken off the land each year.

But a 3-1 hunter-deer ratio would mean having 90 to 120 hunters on our land each year. That, we thought, would be unbearable.

In 1991-92, an adjoining neighbor almost completely clearcut his 128-acre tract of steep woods, leaving only crooked and "trash" trees. Our 520 acres nearly surrounded his land, and with the weather unusually dry, we feared the logging debris and a careless match could burn off the mountain. We posted our land that hunting season.

But permanently posting the property was not a solution; the health of the forest depended on controlling the deer herd. We needed a few good hunters who would be safe, careful, and effective. We decided to limit public hunting to a written-permission-only basis. By getting to know the people who hunted on our land, we reasoned, we could overcome the safety issue. And with enough good hunters, we might surpass the number of deer taken off in previous years.

We began to compile a list, starting with four hunters who years before had helped us with a vandalism problem. At the time we hadn't known them, but they hunted on our property and heard about our problem through a mutual friend. Those men and their families were always welcome on our property, even the year we posted.

Many people approached us, but we decided to be careful. We talked to others in the community for suggestions and for comments about the people we were considering. Our eldest son urged us to accept local brothers he knew from school. Our brother-in-law, a lifelong resident of the area, vouched for a few others. To that core list we added neigbbors who had been friendly and helpful over the years. Altogether, the list totaled about 20 hunters.

Then my husband Bruce devised his own deer management plan for our property, which by then also included our neighbor's clearcut tract. All the chosen hunters were invited to what has become an annual meeting on a Sunday afternoon in September.

At that meeting each family receives a map of our property, with the request that they mark where they kill bucks or does and send it back at the end of muzzleloader season. That allows us to monitor the progress of our deer control program. Bruce brings up issues of concern to us, and everyone discusses problems or makes suggestions. The discussions are open and frank, and the importance of obeying the game laws underlies all possible strategies.

Each family also has a key to our gate so they can drive up our mile-and-a-half road and park next to the derelict house where the logging took place. This makes it easier for them to cover the entire property and retrieve their deer, and perhaps encourages them to hunt on our land.

We have made a few changes, like increasing hunters during antlerless season to take off more does. Then we allow our hunters to bring along--and take responsibility for--their trusted friends and relatives. The year we made that change the number of does taken jumped dramatically. Our friends have killed about 30 deer each year since, three times the number reported for our county.

Several of our hunters visit with their families year-round; they walk the property and learn the habits of the deer, as well as other wild creatures. An exclosure we erected allows them to see the difference between deer-free and deer-inhabited forestland. A few rare orchids we've fenced have brought more questions about deer herbivory on the undergrowth.

We joined Pennsylvania's forest stewardship program for educating private landowners and are active members of the VIP-Coverts. We proudly display our Stewardship Forest sign and last summer hosted the statewide VIP-Coverts meeting. To further educate our hunters, we asked them to help with the meeting and participate in the field trips we organized.

Two that help with trail maintenance led a walk on that subject; others assisted with parking, registration, and traffic control along our road. After we gave our deer management talk to the 130 participants, our hunters were available to give landowners their view of our deer management program.

Their enthusiasm was heartening. Many feared the landowners would be hostile to hunters, but instead the participants were eager to try their own deer management plan. Our hunters are now far more interested in their role in protecting the forest and in learning what's happening to the forest as a whole.

Imagine the excitement of one hunter who watched a foraging bear in the woods from the safety of his portable deer stand or the family that came face to face with a gray fox. Another hunter reported a close-up view of the only mink ever seen on our property.

Our hunters come from all walks of life. One is a social worker, another a master mechanic. We have a teacher, police detective, glassblower, two foremen at Norfolk/Southern railroad, and a worker at the local sewage treatment plant. One young man, who has hunted here with his father since he was old enough to get a license, is now in college majoring in wildlife management.

One of our best hunters, a full-time mother of three, has decided to learn all the trees, birds, and wildflowers she sees on our property. She spends many hours on our trails, alone or with her children.

Many use their talents to help us with property goals--new trail building and road maintenance. The mechanic has often helped my husband fix our machines; he and his brother, the glassblower, have built wooden bridges over our stream. The sewage treatment plant worker and the glassblower have designed and built four wooden benches and a large wooden sign that welcomes visitors to our Plummer's Hollow Private Nature Reserve.

The hunters also help post and patrol our property. Each carries a list of the hunters and a written permission slip to hunt on our property. When they encounter strangers, they stop them and ask if they have permission to hunt here. Usually that is all that is needed to convince trespassers to leave.

Since we initiated our deer management plan, we have watched our forest develop a thicker under-story. For the first time in nearly 30 years, a lot of tree seedlings are not only surviving but thriving. So too are many more species and numbers of wildflowers and shrubs. To our delight, our uneven-aged forest has become a showplace of bio-diversity for both forest professionals and forest landowners who are interested in managing forests for posterity.

Marcia Bonta is a freelance magazine and book nature writer. She and husband Bruce own a 648-acre woodland in central Pennsylvania.