UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- In Pennsylvania -- where nearly three out of every four forested acres is privately owned and where hunting is the primary tool for managing the huge white-tailed deer population -- hunter access on private property has become a critical concern. A study of landowners done this year by Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences drew some eye-opening conclusions.

A survey of 1,900 owners of more than 20 acres of forested land in three diverse counties -- Greene, Pike and York -- revealed that nearly seven out of 10 posted their land with signs that read "No Trespassing," "Hunting/Fishing Prohibited" or "Posted." Thirty-nine percent of those who post their forested land told researchers they did so because of a single event with trespassers.

"Hunting is declining nationally and in our state -- during the period 1985 to 1996 the number of licensed Pennsylvania hunters dropped by almost 30 percent," says Gary San Julian, professor of wildlife resources, who supervised the research. "Despite this decline, the importance of using hunting to manage deer populations has increased. Deer overabundance has contributed to a number of problems, including inadequate forest regeneration, reduced plant species diversity, deer-vehicle collisions and agricultural crop damage. But for hunting to be an effective deer-management tool, hunters must have access to private land."

However, most landowners who participated in the research indicated that continued deer damage will not influence them to open their properties to hunting. "Owners remain more concerned with their experiences with recreationists and wanting exclusive use of their land," says Coren Jagnow, a doctoral student who did much of the research. "Those landowners who had a negative experience with recreationists on their land are unlikely to open their properties under any circumstances." Hunting on private property in Pennsylvania remains significant. During the 1995-96 hunting season, according to a recent Center for Rural Pennsylvania report, more than a third of all hunting trips involved private, non-posted land and 21 percent involved private, posted land. "There seems to be a trend developing for more property owners to post their land," says San Julian. "Deer managers need to better understand why landowners allow and deny access to their property so they can identify outreach needs and strategies for meeting recreational and resource management goals."

Landowners who post their properties told researchers they were concerned with "controlling who is on their land," "eliminating trespassing" and keeping wildlife for themselves, family and friends. Non-posting landowners, on the other hand, were more concerned about "relationships with neighbors," "controlling the deer population" and "family tradition." Other factors mentioned in decisions made to post included human safety, liability concerns, property damage and livestock safety.

"When land is posted, the common assumption is that the owners do not want any hunting on their land," explains Jagnow. "Our data suggests that this may not be the case at all. Clearly, owners want to control who is on their land. But just because land is posted doesn't mean that hunting with permission is strictly prohibited. Three quarters of posting landowners still allow some hunting on their properties.

"There is also a perceived idea that when landowners experience damage to their property from deer, they will open their land to hunting" she adds. "Again, our data suggests that this is not necessarily the case."

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EDITORS: Contact Gary San Julian at 814-863-0401 or by e-mail at gsjulian@psu.edu.

Contact:

Jeff Mulhollem jjm29@psu.edu 814-863-2719 814-863-9877 fax #221