ORIGINAL: Windwalker7
My point is.....hunters do not want to pay even more money to hunt PA when they aren't seeing deer.
I understand that some, even most hunters are seeing less deer especially in the traditional deer regionsbut if they're seeing
no deer then there is simply a problem with the hunter not adapting to changes. Deer hunting has changed in many areas. Lets be fair though...Some of that change is probably a direct reult of HR but some of it is because HR should have happened years ago
Your statement above about smallgame could be used for my next scenerio.
Would you be willing to buy a rabbit and pheasant small game license to huntthem, if the PGC would implement that idea. Even if you had your health, you would probably pass, because those small game species aren't very abundant.
I could brag to you how I know of a few great rabbit places, I even went out last Saturday and got some.
Just because I found a few rabbits, doesn't mean PA doesn't have a problem with not having many for hunters to hunt.
No arguement there. The PGC has basically failed in the upland game department. That is very old news. Thats been a problem that goes back to the 70's. No it's not all their fault. yes small game habiat has suffered from "clean farming" but they have failed to identify why populations are also down in many places with ideal habitat. Instead we throw what money there is into a put and take deal that benefits relatively few.
Of those bucks you have on your wall, how many were taken before HR?
Be honest.
Fair question....
Two of my PA wall hangers were taken before HR
I'd bet you were taking big bucks way before AR or HR.
Absolutely true
There are guys like you that have a few Honey Holes and seem to think that things are fine across the state because you have a good place to hunt.
You are partly correct, I do have my honey holes. Of course I do. I'll also tell you that I wasn't born into them. It took years of effort to learn how to identify them, get access and takes serious ongoing effort to keep them. BTW, I don't "own" any of them! Where you're wrong is when you assume that my honey holes are influencing my views of the success of the current deer management. What I'd bet you didntknow is that I also hunt many other spots that are public land and private land that is open to the public and it is in those spots where Ihave seenthe most notable improvements. My old honey holes are really no better or worse since HR/AR because they were being managed correctly before AR and HR.
I have a few great places to hunt rabbit, so does that mean rabbit hunting is just fine in your area?
Would it be right for me to call you lazy or a lousy hunter because you can't find rabbits?
I can find them, so what's your problem?
Get my point?
Yes I do get your point. But I'll also say that if I had a desire to find rabbits, I
would find them. If rabbit hunting were important to me, I would adapt to the dismal conditions and seek them out. I wouldn't keep going back to the same spots and complaining thatthere used to be rabbits here. I'd simply go out and find em without needing toblame someone.
Actually, I do know of some good rabbit spots because i have friends that are avid beagle guys. If I talked they'd probably shoot me
My pointwould be that it's a hunting license not a killing license and we still have some of the best deer hunting in this country. Is it easy everywhere? Nope. Is it the PGC's fault? Not near as much now as it once was. The only real failure of the PGC with deer is them not growng a spine early enough to head off this situation we have now. Had the PGC managed the numbers based on better science years ago, we would probably be better off especially in the traditional deer woods.
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