DG, can you explain to me how Pennsylvania doesn't have a liberal amount of time to kill does? We have early archery season, which is over a month long. This is open to buck and doe, also mixed in with that is junior/senior antlerless rifle hunting. Then, you have "buck" season, which is two weeks long, you are allowed to harvest a buck OR DOE in that who two week season, then finally, you have late season archery/muzzleloader season, which is roughly a month long. This is open to doe hunting too. That is around 3 full months out of the 12 months in a year that hunters are allowed to harvest does. That sounds more than fair to me.
The PGC has handed out more than 1,000,000 doe tags. Isn't that enough to knock down the doe herd? I hear so many people talk about hunters not using their doe tags, but, even if 60% of these hunters do and are successful, that is still more doe killed off than ever before.
Our herd size is WAY too large. Personally, I like seein deer every time I go hunting, but, I am in the woods to relax. I am going to take everything in. At the end of the day, I am just as happy to have watched two squirrels fighting as seeing a line of doe walk past me. We need to decrease the size of the herd dramatically. I like Cardeer's idea of trying to open up more hunting land. My best friend lives about a mile from me and, EVERY night there are over 50 deer feeding in ONE cornfield in front of his house. Why? Because it is posted and the landowner is the only person that hunts it. Everywhere around this property is hunted so every deer that is pressured runs to this little patch of woods. The field is maybe 15 acres, and there is no way that it can sustain 50 deer, and heck, thats only the ones that you can see.
I know from a fact that the PGC has my rated the area I hunt to have around 40-45 deer per square mile. This, I believe to be an understatement. I can do a big circle while spotting, maybe covering 2 square miles, and I have seen over 200 deer some nights. On average, I see about 100 deer per night. It doesn't matter if all 2 square miles were planted in nothing but food plots, it still couldn't CONSTANTLY sustain that amount of deer.
The Game Commission has done there part, now it is up to the hunters. I hear some many people blamming everything on the Game Commission, but, the PGC can't go out and shoot a doe for someone, it is up to the hunter. Your not going to change the minds of alot of people by telling them that it will be better for the deer herd to shoot a doe. Too many people are out for their ego trip on antlers, wether it be a spike or a 14 point. I will admit, I pass on small bucks while waiting for that big one, but, I refuse to pass on any doe if I have a doe tag. If I have a doe tag, the first doe that gives me a good shot is going to die. Then, like others, the challenge begins for me.
The problem of people "saving doe tags" is not just going to go away in a year or two. The ONLY way to make it go away is to let ALL junior hunters know that they need to use their doe tags and that they SHOULD harvest does. If we do this, over time, the old guys stuck to their ways will eventually give up hunting or pass away and the generation of youth who have been taught to harvest does will be replacing the spot the older guys who saved their tags were at. It would take half a century to do this, and then it isn't even certain. ALL WE CAN DO IS TRY TO GET MORE HUNTERS TO SHOOT DOES AND PASS ON THOSE SMALL BUCKS!!!!!!!
Good Luck This Season: Buck Magnet
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