ORIGINAL: DennyF
If "guys like RSB and Doug" are finding ample numbers of deer where they hunt and killing as many doeas they can handle...what does that have to do with statewide deer numbers being too low, in the eyes of someone else that doesn't hunt where they do?
Several years agoa fewguys at my gunclub jumped on me because I'd taken a doe in each of the previous four years. They proudly proclaimed that"They don't shoot does now", because there aren't many deer left to hunt and anyone that shoots a doe, is ruining everyone else's deer hunting.
Asked them what me shooting does in Tioga County had to do with deer numbers in Clearfield, Union and Perry counties, the areas these guys hunted in.They said it didn't matter where, no one should be shooting does.
Just using them as an example, they brag about all the doe they see and harvest, this state is full of hunters that only want to fill their freezers. I had a brother-in-law that just passed away last month, he and his two sons would fill all their tags for the first couple years. The last few years they were complaining about not seeing and getting deer. They also would shoot any buck they would see, if it didn't have the required points, they would have the kids tag it, then they complained that AR isn't working, because they weren't seeing any legal bucks.
From my view point, it's the public land hunter that is getting the shaft in every WMU. If you and your neighbors started shooting a lot of doe and noticed the numbers were getting low, you could all get together and limit the number shot for a few years. On public land it's a free for all, you can't limit the number of hunters or how many deer they shoot, as long as they have the required tag.
I have no trouble filling my doe tag, this year I even waiting until the last day at around 4:45 to fill my tag, I wanted to harvest a buck because I haven't gotten oe since 2006. Had I not seem a deer, it would have just reminded me of all the years that I hunted public land.
I just think it's about time to seperate the antlerless tags between public land and private. If a private land hunter wants to clean out his herd inhis area, that isdecision now and should be in the future.