News

With metal "jawbreakers" in hand, state Game Commission employees went to work this morning on the first of a dozen 55-gallon drums stuffed with deer heads -- their lifeless eyes wide open -- that are waiting to be picked through and combed over looking for signs of aging and Chronic Wasting Disease.

"This is not for the weak of stomach, said Dave Gustafson, a game commission forester as he prepared to test the first heads. "When it's warm out, things stew and get a little slimy. It's blood and brain matter. It's gruesome."

Game commission spokesman Jerry Feaser said 32 teams of inspectors will examine the skulls of 45,000 to 50,000 deer across the state this week, about 10 percent of the expected harvest.

Feaser said the age study has been conducted since about 1980 and led to the realization about five years ago that few bucks were surviving to full maturity, the time when they produce the large antlers prized by many hunters.

"Only one in 100 bucks ever reached its fourth birthday in Pennsylvania, because of an over-emphasis on buck harvests," he said. That led to major changes in antler point restrictions for the 2002 season.

Game officials checking deer age will also be collecting 4,000 skulls to be tested for Chronic Wasting Disease, a degenerative neurological illness affecting deer and elk that has wreaked havoc with herds in some states. The disease has not been found in Pennsylvania's animals.

"We want to be pro-active and make sure it doesn't slip in here without us realizing it," said Mel Schake of Pennsylvania Game Commission's Southwest Region Office.

• Most Read
• Most E-mailed
• Latest News