ORIGINAL: Windwalker7
I've read many threads about the AR and deer management here in PA. Some are for and some against.
This is what I sse in the future of PA;
More hunters will hang it up over the next few years. With a license increase and less deer this will happen. I know a few who quit last year and stuck to it. They didn't buy a license at sat this year out. My father being one of them.
Less youths taking up hunting. My daughter quit this year. I've talked to a couple youths this years and almost all of them said hunting is boring. I guess when schools push soccer, football, wrestling and other sports, that hunting just isn't as exciting, especially when a kid sits all day and doesn't see a deer.
In the future you will see more posted ground. As more hunters get discouraged, they realize they need to either buy land or lease land to ensure a good place to hunt. As property owners realize hunters are willing to pay money tolease and hunttheir land they will do exactly that. Especially if they know their land holds big bucks or many deer.
PA will become like Texas. Watch for it.
Look for the PGC to cut many of its programs as the number of hunters drop out of the sport due to increased license fees and lack of deer. They won't have the money. I see bigger financial problems on the horizon.
Look for more conflicts among hunters. As hunters start scouting to find better hunting spots, they will encroach on other hunters that already hunt those spots.
Some of the supporters of PA's deer management will find that out. While you may enjoy your honey holes today, it is just a matter of time till they are discovered.
There area few fortunate souls who own their own land, that will suddenly find, they will be dealing with trespassers. Some guys just don't care. They realize their is little a landowner can do to them. I seen this first hand this year.
The future of hunting does not look very bright in my eyes. And to think this was all brought on, in the quest for bigger antlers.
It's a competition any more. Who can get the biggest buck. My daughter hunted harder than any man could to show she was tough enough for the challenge. She is 13 and God bless her soul. She was out there every morning with me to try and get a deer. 2 weeks of rifle season she was out there 6 days for she been up60 hrs at the least thinking about deer. One deer she seen full body while it was running. Only shot she had at a deer. She will not give up. What touched me was when she said dad, I hunted for 2 weeks and only seen one deer to shoot at. Now that touches anyone. The deer was running when she shot at her. Atleast she seen the full body of the deer. She kept warm from the hot hands in her hand muffs and the ones in her boots. She sat in an old wooden treestand and fed the field mice trail mix as they rustled in a pile of twigs below from the browse cutting years before. The season has ended without her harvesting a deer. But the memory we have ofour first hunt together will last a life time. Next year it's time to kill and enjoymore memories to remember. Amen