At this point nothing's cast in stone. But he's got some ideas. He wants to try some new stuff. And he wants to know more about Pennsylvania's deer herd. So he's mounting what he calls the most massive deer research effort in the history of the state.
Whitetails give birth to about equal numbers of buck and doe fawns.
But any deer hunter who spends opening mornings on stand knows that our herd is dramatically skewed in favor of females. Only one buck in 100 sees its fourth birthday. Alt says he's personally aged 15,000 bucks during his annual visits to butcher shops during the deer seasons, and the oldest buck he's ever examined was 6 years old. He suspects that the repercussions from this unnatural situation are more pervasive than we realize. Timing is critical here in the north country.