DMAP

President Palone, Commissioners, Executive Director Roe, Commission staff, I am Henry Karki.  I currently serve as Chairman of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau State Wildlife Committee, and also serve on the Board of Directors for Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is a statewide general farm organization representing more than 44,200 farm and rural families in the Commonwealth. On behalf of Farm Bureau, I want to thank you for this opportunity to offer testimony today.  I also am a member of, but am not representing the NRA, Ducks Unlimited, and Castlewood Rod and Gun Club. I own and operate a beef farm in Lawrence County.

We ask that you vote favorably to provide farmers and landowners in the four bifurcated Wildlife Management Units the ability to utilize DMAP permits to include open seasons for antlered deer. Allowing DMAP enrolled properties to continue permit usage during the full 12-day season would allow DMAP continue to work when and where deer are causing the most problems. Farmers in those WMU’s have expressed deep concern about the potential impacts on DMAP properties and adjacent farms without this provision.

And, as we have requested in previous testimony, we would ask that you give serious consideration to allowing farmers in the bifurcated WMU’s who can demonstrate deer damage to the PGC Regional Office the ability to enter Red Tag without having to meet the two-year requirement for enrollment of their lands in public hunting access programs.  It is very difficult for farmers whose farms are not enrolled to have to suffer through two years of damage before they can control deer populations through Red Tag. 

Relief from the two-year requirement would allow landowners to address damage by using hunters.  Without the change, farmers’ only recourse to control deer is to use the Section 2121’s self-help measures to shoot deer for crop damage. This change could help hunters gain access to privately held properties and farmers or land owners immediate relief and the continued engagement of hunters in solving farm damage, and utilization of the resource.

Please also support the final passage of language that will allow the immediate tagging after the lawful harvest of several deer at one time within “Special Regulations Areas”, when those harvests are authorized. As discussed before this will further enhance efforts to control large urban populations of deer and improve the utilization of permits.

Thank you for the opportunity to share the views of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.