Oct 20, 2006 4 min read

CALIFORNIA – California University of Pennsylvania’s photojournalist Greg Sofranko will have a book signing from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26, at the Cal U bookstore located on the main floor of the on-campus Natali Student Center. Sofranko, a resident of South Park, who joined Cal U on a full-time basis in October 2003 after doing extensive freelance photography, took all of the wildlife photography for a recently published book about the history of deer management written by Tribune-Review award-winning outdoors editor Bob Frye titled “Deer Wars: Science, Tradition, and the Battle Over Managing Whitetails in Pennsylvania.” The Pennsylvania State University Press published the book.

The story of deer management in Pennsylvania is as complex as it is controversial. In “Deer Wars,” Frye examines this debate and the effect that deer herd management has on all citizens of Pennsylvania.

In 1906, The Pennsylvania Game Commission first began stocking white-tailed deer in the state. The deer herd and its management controversy have grown exponentially since that time. Farmers, hunters and commercial vendors alike have their own opinions on how best to deal with the abundance, even overabundance, of Pennsylvania’s state animal.

According to Gary Alt, who headed the Game Commission’s management effort until the endless battle forced him to quit, “Deer are second only to humans in their impact on a forest ecosystem. They can, and will, dictate what other animals will survive there.”

A syndicated outdoors photographer in Pennsylvania, Sofranko’s work has earned him several awards, most recently from the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors.

Recently, Sofranko exhibited both color and black and white images chosen from an estimated 20,000 digital photographs he has taken during his three-year tenure with the university. That exhibit was held in Cal U’s Manderino Gallery of Fine Arts and was titled “A Day in the Life at California University.”

Sofranko took his first picture of five elk in a field one early summer morning in Benezette, Pa., in 1988 and is an avid bow hunter and fly fisherman who previously worked with Frye at The Valley Independent.

His world-class photography has played a significant role in Cal U’s recruiting efforts that have seen the university’s enrollment increase nine consecutive years.

His pictures frequently accompany Cal U-related stories in many local newspapers.

Sofranko and Frye worked five years traveling through every county in the state to complete this project.

“Our book has been reviewed by a few outdoor writers so far with each saying that it is the most comprehensive, well-researched book about white-tailed deer management in Pennsylvania,” Sofranko said. “It truly is a must-read for not only outdoorsman, but also for anyone who lives in deer country.

“We are all affected by deer in one way or another,” he added. “For instance, take someone living near Cal U. That person might have a garden that deer destroy every year He also might despise deer for that. The people in the next house 100 yards away might feed deer all winter because they love seeing them. Neither is wrong for wanting or not wanting deer around their properties, but how do you come up for a solution for those two neighbors? With nearly 11 million people in our state, the answers as to how many deer we should have are mind boggling when you listen to everyone’s opinion on the subject.”

In addition to his regular columns and articles in the Tribune-Review, Frye’s articles and stories have appeared in “Outdoor Life,” “Pennsylvania Games News,” “Deer and Deer Hunting” and “Angler and Boater.”

For more information, call Heather Smith, publicity and exhibits manager, Penn State University Press, at 814-865-1327.Sofranko can be reached at 724-938-4274 or e-mail him at begin sofranko@cup.edu sofranko@cup.edu end

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The book can be purchased at the signing or at

http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-02885-8.html.