The Pennsylvania Game Commission welcomes a legislative audit of its controversial deer management plan, said a spokesman for the agency.

Last week the state House of Representative adopted a resolution sponsored by Rep. David Levdansky (D-Allegheny/Washington) authorizing the Budget and Finance Committee to hire an independent, out-of-state deer specialist to audit the management plan, which has intentionally reduced white-tail deer populations in some areas of the state.

"If it validates our program, that's wonderful," Game Commission spokesman Joe Kosack said of the audit. "If it finds something that isn't quite right about it, we're happy to listen to what they have to say."

Kosack said the commission sees the audit as an opportunity for an outside expert to look at an ambitious program that continues to have the support of agency biologists.

"This whole thing was spurred by some hunters who are unhappy with the program," he said. "The flip side is, when you please those hunters people on the other side of the equation are not happy -- farmers, who complain the deer are eating their crops, and people who don't want deer running into their cars in suburban areas. With deer management you can't please everybody."

Levdansky, treasurer of the Budget and Finance Committee and member of the Game and Fisheries Committee, said for too long the two "armies in this deer war" have been talking past each other.

"This issue goes well beyond the impact on a hunter's odds of killing a deer," he said. "It affects tourism, hunting's economic benefits, forest regeneration, other species, the timber and forest product industries, farmers, naturalists, recreationists and suburban residents facing encroachment by deer. An audit ... will benefit all of Pennsylvania."

Levdansky said the Budget and Finance Committee will choose an independent deer specialist and pay for the audit.

Since Tuesday when Ed Vaccari of Tackle Unlimited in Jefferson Hills spilled the beans on butter worms in a Post-Gazette story, readers have been calling in with the same question:

What's a butter worm?

The pet industry sells the larvae of the Chilean trevo moth (Chilecomadia moorei) as reptile food. They're about an inch in length, yellow to amber in color, and creamy or buttery to the touch. In their containers, butter worms spin web-like cocoons.

"When they hit the water they get agitated and wiggle around," said Vaccari. "And they're firm enough to stay on the hook even after you've caught a couple of fish."

Ultimate Tackle (412-384-4500) sells containers of about two dozen butter worms for $4.95.