matt, the whole state used to be in your same situation....way too many doe..hardly any buck.
im willing to bet that you have a fair chunk of pretttttty unhunted land (except a few guys) and the guys that do hunt it, dont take many does. only option IS to take more does. i know it can be hard in PA in certain WMUs where tags are limited...but family, friends, HNI guys...whatever it takes...take a a few each year....first couple years you may need to take a few extras out...once you get it where you like it, you still gotta take couple each year....
ive officially sat on stand for a full day.....i cant believe it. longest i remember sitting was till 1pm rifle season one year....
got in LATE...shower and food run took more time than expected...but i walked in as daylight was breaking...settled in right at legal shooting time id guess....was surprised there was 1-4 inches of snow up there(depending on the terrain and foliage) and boy was it cold! cut a few sets of pretty dang fresh tracks that all looked to be buck tracks..all going in and out of my "block" and 1 set walked at my 20yd line....
i sat there till 10 or so...for some reason i thought i was in the wrong spot and thought i needed to be 150yds or so left...i was FROZE so i decided to sneak down, pack it up and see what else i could find in the snow....100yds left i found a heck of a trail...i couldnt count the different number of deer..probably about 10 used that trail sometime between 2 or so am and 7am..(it snowed up there last night i believe...think it was said to stop by 2am) all the tracks came and went a different direction....but ALL of them joined right at the top of the thicket...many looked like buck tracks...large and many had good dew claws showing...definently looks like they were cruising the thickets...
so i setup there for the rest of the day....noon or so i catch movement...grab the binocs...ERRRRR!! 11 thousand acres, thursday morning, and someone is FOLLOWING my tracks in the snow!!!!!! i really expected the game warden...i honestly did not believe there would be a hunter following my tracks...but it was. he got within 15yds of me...finally looked up, said sorry and walked off....he looked at me numerous times...i always take my orange vest and hat and display it just for that reason...but he acted like he had no idea....i watched him looking at my tracks in the snow as he followed them...what did he expect? bigfoot???
[:'(] [:@] [&:]
soooo i decided id sit it out...tracks where there...spot looked good...weather was right...time of the year is getting there....
5pm or so i turn to my left slowly scanning...practically all the snow melted to my left and it was a old logging cut thats 15-20ft saplings now...sure enough, i got 3 snorts outta something....wind was swirling bad....i dont know if it caught wind or if it caught movement...i never seen it...but it would been tough to see....
that was it................................
im frustrated with this "big woods" stuff...i LOVE hunting up there...its beautiful woods and you can litterally get lost up there...and its not far away...i love it. but man, the deer are whooping me up there big time....been this way since i came to college 4 years ago
from 12-16 i hunted it with dad...that was PRE herd reduction, and all the logging cuts were 5 years younger....trees grow at an amazing rate when they are young....the woods have completely changed...and theres far less deer...its just killin me.
i should have taken the afternoon and just WALKED. i should have taken advantage of the snow. though, my spot looked GREAT in the snow....thats what made me stay in the tree...
i did impress myself...only dozed off twice briefly...and wasnt hungry or overly cold...better gloves and fask mask are needed for these cold days i know that...
back home to the honey hole saturday.......my fingers toes and eyes are crossed....that 4pt half rack better stay hidden...i just might kill me a Rob buck
