Not trying to dig up old bones here but after doing a search on "pennsylvania" I ran across this thread. I thought it might be interesting to read and it certainly was. I have to say that I agree with both sides of the deer debate to some degree. I too enjoy just being out there in the woods at times. Some days I really don't care if I see a deer or not. But, from my experience, those days are happening far too often to make hunting as enjoyable for me as it was in "the good old days". My experiences over the past three seasons have made me question exactly what it is that the PGC is trying to accomplish. I was lucky enough this year to see a few nice bucks, but only during the early archery season and most of those were during the last two weeks of the season, during what was arguably the peak of the rut. I just never had any good shot opportunities while hunting with my Mathews Switchback compound. I hunted a total of nineteen days during the early archery season and saw maybe five bucks that I considered "shooters" and passed on a few smaller, legal bucks. Oh yeah, I saw deer in the fields after dark with a spotlight during Thanksgiving weekend and a couple of those were decent bucks as well. But, during the regular firearms season, and today is actually the last day of that season, I have not seen one legal buck, not one! I hunted the first six days of the season from sunup to sunset. I only came in for lunch one day due to the high winds that day. I should mention that I hunt in WMU 2E which has a three points on one side antler restriction. Last year I was fortunate enough to harvest an eight point during the early archery season. The year before I did not fill my buck tag because I never got a shot during the archery season and I did not see a legal buck during the two week firearms season that year either, and I hunted ten solid days. I should also mention that I live in Ohio now but spent my first thirty-two years in my beloved PA, Clearfield County to be exact. I don't apply for an antlerless tag because I just don't need the meat that badly and, as I see it, there are plenty of others who apparently do.
From my recent experiences I have come to the conclusion that in at least some parts of PA the regular firearms season has become a two-week long doe and button buck season. During the first six days of this year's gun season I saw approximately 33 deer, two of which were spikes and one of those had one side broken off. That's it, the rest were all does or button bucks!
While I am no biologist my recent experiences also lead me to believe that the few legal bucks that do remain in the PA herd are of an age class that basically goes nocturnal after the peak of the rut. So unless you participate in deer drives your chances of actually seeing one during legal shooting hours are very low. As I mentioned before, today is the last day of PA's regular firearms deer season and I am sitting here typing on my computer instead of out there hunting. Why is that? Because I have come to the conclusion that it was not worth the effort to go hunting. And that is pretty amazing for someone like me. I have also spent time today researching crossbows which is something I never thought I would do either. But I have decided that if I really want to have the best possible chance to fill my buck tag during archery season I am going to need all the advantage I can get, and that comes from someone who has taken several bucks with a compound. I might also add that I spend a lot more money on my hunting license and various tags than residents do but I am still willing to try even though I see my chances for success dwindling year after year.
The PGC states that they would still be losing license sales even if there were more deer. I suppose there is some truth to that but the fact is that if you are trying to sell a product your customer must have a reasonable expectation of getting something for his money or you will lose sales. Simple business 101. If all you want is the experience I suppose you are happy but I also have to consider the fact that during two of the last three seasons when I hunted the regular firearms season I could not say that I had a reasonable expectation of success.
One other thought before I go...I have heard others ask the question...since when did Pennsylvania become a trophy state? Well, I guess I am wondering the same thing. Before people go accusing me of being a trophy hunter just let me say that once archery season is over my standards usually drop considerably, especially if I want any chance of filling my tag. My observation is that, at least in the part of the state where I have hunted for over forty years, the habitat and genetics will never produce large numbers of true trophy class bucks. Oh sure, there will be a few nice bucks taken every year. But guess what, there were back in "the good old days" too. The difference is that now there are far fewer average bucks that most hunters were perfectly satisfied to have had a chance to harvest in the past and far fewer deer overall.