ORIGINAL: Big Country
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Decline in JR hunting license...
How many 12 year olds do you know of have the patience to sit for hours on end without seeing deer?
If you want to get youth involved you need to provide them with an enjoyable experience. Sitting 6 hrs. straight or walking six miles in 30 degree and below temperature without seeing any deer is probably as muchof a reason as any for kids wanting to do something other than hunt. Some days I'd rather play the Cabelas Big Game hunter video game than sit in the woods and get cold for nothing.
Instant gratification is the name of the game today. Every hunter wantsa perfectly balanced herd, that is HUGE enough to take a buck and a doe in a matter of minutes. It just doesn`t work that way.
Not every hunter and not even most want to walk into the woods the first dayand be done hunting the very same day. Statements like this show overtones of PAGC's impression Pa hunters are lazy and not willing to put any effort into hunting. Absolutely not true. However "every" one of us would like to have the ability to see deer most days we hunt.
I can remember hunting in northern PA at our family camp in the very early 70`s........it was nothing to see 30-100 deer per day. If I added up the total amount of antler on every buck sighted, I could probably come up with 50 inchs of bone. Average body weight was probably 80 pounds.
True, but the reason you are seeing bigger deer now is because the herd has been excessively reduced and there is less competition for food.
Yep, the PGC needs changes.......they need to move forward with Alts plans, which includes more and smaller management areas.
With modifications that don't include killing off more of the deer population.
Get antlerless season OUT of regular buck season too.
Completely agree
Deer check stations..........there are others among us who hunt many states per year too, and as one of those people, I have talked to wardens in many states about deer management issues.
Check stations seem to be no more accurate than our report card method.
Skull measurements included in report show "accurate" age approximations. Something that should be considered since you believe Doe season should be reduced. Having stats that show the number of yearling and fawn kills demonstrates the effectiveness of our current doe allocations. Butcher shops in my area report 60% of doe kills are button bucks. Major flaw in the PAGC's "grow big buck plan". These other states have stiffer penalties for not reporting harvests, hence requiring a confirmation number or band placed on the mounted deer. More accountability, higher penalties such as suspension of following year's license if found guilty of not reporting harvests. If for no other reason this needs to be done to reduce the PAGC's guestimations of how many deer are killed. Do you believe these other states receive only 60% of the total harvests as our Game Commission"claims" happensin this state?
The example was given regarding Illinois, and going to phone in system. I have seen no changes there........some folks just do not report their deer kills, regardless of reporting mehtod.
Being a lifelong resident of PA, I feel we have 2 problems here that severely hamper our ability to have the herd that PA is capable of producing..........
1. Sheer number of hunters
We had more deer when we had more hunters.
2. Rampant poaching, and the apathy that surrounds it.
Total percentages of deer killed by poaching is small incomparison to what the State stocked coyotes and bears do to the fawn population.
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