cableguy,

The first Saturday that the season starts and the subsequent week up until the following Friday is what I was making reference to. That second Saturday is when the PGC introduced the youth pheasant hunt last year and unless I am mistaken it will be held the same day this year. Do not misunderstand me, I am all for getting kids in the woods but with the kids comes the parent...and the uncle..and the uncle' s buddy..and...so on and so forth. Ofcourse, only the child is hunting but the mere presence of the others is enough to disturb the deer enough for them to stray from their normal travel patterns..and that disturbance does not just disappear once the youth pheasant hunt is over. I believe it takes at least a week for things to settle down to the point where the deer can again be somewhat predictable....and, ofcourse, at that point it is time for the muzzleloader/youth rifle hunt to occur followed by the small game season.

So, in essence, bowhunters who hunt pressured public land in Pennsylvania really only have the first week of the season to hunt in an environment that is conducive to the effective use of the weapon that the season was created for.

And though I am sure that I sound like I am complaining, lets not forget that the early muzzleloader season will be starting the same day of the " proposed" new early extension of the regular small game season. That will mean quite a few hunters toting firearms in the woods all at the same time. There might even be more than on the first day of the regular firearms deer season.

Personally, I think that there are too many seasons crammed into that little October/November window of opportunity. All of the varying seasons need to be spread out more from September through the end of January in order to be fair to the sportsman that utilize them as well as an effective management tool for the game that we pursue.