Western Pennsylvania Conservancy is happy to announce that we are participating in the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s (PGC) Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) for the 2012-2013 hunting season.

We have enrolled five properties, consisting of 77 acres in Westmoreland County; 490 acres in Jefferson County; 455 acres in Forest County; 66 acres in Fulton County; and 11,300 acres in Venango County.

DMAP permits for the properties in Fulton and Venango are available through PGC's website or license-issuing agents. Permits for the properties in Jefferson, Forest, and Westmoreland are available with coupons distributed by the WPC. We support DMAP, and the management of our state’s deer population in partnership with PGC, private landowners, and hunters.

Hunting has been, and will continue to be, permitted on WPC lands, subject to WPC guidelines and PGC regulations. If you hunt on a WPC property, please contact us at the end of the season. We’d like to hear of your experience.

All DMAP coupons for this season have been distributed. Please check back with us in late June 2013 regarding next season. For more information, please contact Andrew Zadnik, WPC Land Stewardship Coordinator at (412) 586-2318.
 

This photo shows the effect that an overpopulation of deer can have on vegetation.  Deer are excluded from the area behind the fence.  On the near side, deer have significantly reduced the vegetative cover.  Hunting can be used as a management tool to decrease an area's deer population, thereby helping to improve forest diversity and wildlife cover.