ORIGINAL: jhalfhill
we used to have a three day doe gun season. about 4 or 5 years back they changed it to a full two weeks and started handing out mass amounts of doe tags. ever since, the deer population has been on a very steady decline. i'm telling you state gamelands and public hunting grounds are wiped out. hardly any deer at all. the only "herds" left are on posted ground and private property. even these herds are signifiantly smaller than before. i just disagree with the game commissions thoery of smaller herds producing more food and bigger bucks. the wlidlife managment unit i live in is strictly farmland with plenty of food sources to support alot of deer. i'm tired of walking 5-10 miles in a day just to see two or three doe, its getting old. pretty soon the names going to change from "hunting" to "leasurely dressing like a hunter and walking"
I happened to be near McConnellsburg, PAvisiting family a few months ago. My family lives only .5 mile from Gamelands#53.My brother-in-lawdoesn't hunt, but enjoys walking in the woods. I've never seen anything like the terrain there. It's like a moonscape with trees. Everything within the deer's reach was eaten. This is a sign of severe over-population. On both days that we walked we jumped deer. They are probably browsing most of the day to get enough food. Where I hunt there is so much food, they don't show themselves until after shooting hours. That's 1/2 after sunset in NC.