Dr. Nicholas Spock can sympathize with people who say they have deer problems. The Shamokin, Northumberland County-area physician and member of the Pennsylvania Game Commission board has himself been victimized by deer with a hunger for easy pickings.
Deer have to eat, that's the bottom line, and they'll go where the food is.
All too often, that means hanging out in places hunters can't access. It also means, say some, that Pennsylvania's problem of having too many deer applies to private property, but not necessarily to public ground. Commissioner George Venesky, who represents eight counties in the northeastern corner of the state, points to Hemlock Farms, an upscale housing development on the border of Pike and Monroe counties, as an example of that dichotomy. Hemlock Farms is a gated community comprised of mostly second homes owned by people from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. BMWs, Volvos and giant SUVs fill its driveways.