ORIGINAL: BowHunter46
OB75 tell your nephew congrats, thats a heck of a buck!
I went out rifle huntin yesterday but didnt see a thing. I only crossed paths with three sets of tracks, all in one group.There usedto betons of deer still runnin around, but not this year. Even with such a crummy first day. IMO the game commission is killin too many doe, in this part of the state at least.[:@] I probably wont apply for a doe tag next year. My friend was up at his camp in 2F (around the Allegheny National Forest) during the archery season. He has hunted through archery and on into rifle. He has seen FOUR deer total. One doe in archery, and a group of 3 deer running past his stand in rifle 100 yards away.
There is always going to be a debate here. The problem with the Allegheny Nat'l forest is it's all mature timber and pines. There's no understory growth for browse. The PGC and the DCNR need to CUT the hell out of that place. Get the regrowth started. Get light to the forest floor to grow something the deer and other animals can eat.Where there is no food, there will be no deer. The deer have moved on to greener pastures as it were. Until someone realizes that , the place will be just a bunch of trees.