Deborah Weisberg

While Presque Isle State Park has one of the smallest deer herds of any state park in Pennsylvania, it is one of the most carefully managed.

Since 1989, the ecologically rich, 3,200-acre park encompassing the entire Presque Isle peninsula is open to regulated, controlled hunting in early December to maintain a herd of fewer than 20 bucks and does. This year’s hunt is Dec. 11 and 12, when most of the park, except for the Stull Interpretive Center, will be closed.

A Chester County, Pa., man accused of poaching dozens of trophy bucks with his two adult sons is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Dec. 18 in West Chester district court.
Carl Nelson III, 71, of West Chester, Carroll Nelson IV, 44, of Downingtown, and Mark Nelson, 40, of West Chester, were charged in September with a total of 71 counts involving the alleged illegal taking of deer in Chester and Delaware counties. Their arrests were the culmination of a two-year investigation that began with a tip from a concerned hunter in 2022.