"Of the entire timberland acreage of the state, only 31% is managed as pine plantation"

So - this is the real concrete number we have - no confusion about private vs mill vs industrial timberland owner.

Breaking it down - Entire landbase of the state is roughly 33.5M. Timberland is roughly 23M of that area (or 70%). Plantations are 31% of that 23M - which would be roughly 7M acres statewide. This means that managed pine plantations account for roughly 20% of the states entire landbase.

Ok - we can do math. What was the point? I just wanted to get folks to think about how they answer certain questions concerning wildlife populations. Not to mention - we know that managed pine timberland can support the wildlife populations we care about. We hunt them and we harvest animals there on a regular basis. Also, a majority of this 20% was already managed as pine stands when deer and turkey populations were actually increasing. Some pine plantations are on there 2nd and 3rd generations (30-50 years) being managed the same way.

So how in 2015, when some wildlife populations are possibly in decline, can hunters make some of the statements they make. For example - "timber companies and pine plantations are the biggest reason the _______ population is declining"!! My all time favorite was earlier this year in the turkey forum, when the statement was made that "timber companies are the biggest turkey killers", and others agreed. We can see by logic, that statement and similar ones are simply flawed and not true.