Hmmmm... Maybe PA's problem is all the 18,465,724 hunters they have in that state. Just kidding... There's probably way more hunters than deer, and everyone complains.

I have been all over PA, around PA, across PA, etc.. so, yeah, I know the state well (living down here in Richmond, VA - you can't get to western/upstate NY to visit relatives without going through PA!). Don't get me wrong... it's a nice state.

Let me "drop a dime" on an awesomeplace for deer hunting. You PA guys might know exactly where this is. Punch up "St. Clairesville, PA" in Mapquest.com. ....better yet, here:

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Saint+Clairsville&state=PA&count ry=US&latitude=40.1567&longitude=-78.5103&geocode=CITY

We were heading up to my wife's family in Buffalo, NY and got a late start out of Richmond, VA after work. (we avoid DC and the beltway like the plague, and always take Route 17 to cut across/up VA to I-81 in Front Royal/Winchester area. Then we cut over again in Hagerstown, MD to I-70 and head up to PA to the PA Tnpk in Breezewood. Then head over to Bedford and grab I-99/Route 220).

Anyway.... we crashed in a motel in Bedford, PA for the night.

While driving northbound on I-99 the next morning, just before the exit for St. Clairesville and Osterburg, I happen to look over to my right, and almost drove off the road!!! I saw the biggest, most massive, buck trailing a group of 8 does in a field that parallels I-99. (on that mapquest link, zoom in some more, then look a little south from the St. Clairesville exit, then switch to the "Aerial View" on mapquest). See the big long narrow group of fields next to I-99 on the right? That's it.... right there... [8D]

I don't know who owns those fields or what road or houses are around, but, I'm just saying Holy Mother of God... I have never seen so many deer concentrated in one place - and the the biggest racked buck I have ever seen besides on TV!!!!

I have always wanted to go back and try to hunt PA, but I don't have a place to go, nor any land or permission. PA is/was always a legendary place to go deer hunting. It's always been like that for decades. Heck, my dad, uncles, and grandfather, used to talk about going deer hunting in PA - and that was back in the 1950's!!!