By the way manyspurs,after talking to guys hunting in Potter it seems the turkey populations are really down.Is that true?
Very poor hatch last spring. Didn't seen many flocks this fall at all. What flocks I did see consisted of bunches of old hens, and small groups of longbeards. I seen one big flock above Blackwell near the Dynamite Shack that had 32 birds in it, including birds of the year, and that's the only flock I seen that consisted of young birds.
As for deer hunting in this area for me, I don't feel right about killing a deer in these parts so I guess if I want to hunt Pa I'm just gonna have to bite the bullet and spend the gas money to run back and forth to the farm country north of 49 if we decide to purchase a Pa licenses. That's a very iffy situation right now. I also have a private farm that I can hunt in Northampton County that has a good number of deer, so that's a possibility. Just something that doesn't feel right about leaving Tioga/Potter to go hunt deer downstate though.
I also have the option of hunting New York, but since my buddy died up there I'm not to certain if I'll be ready for that. Then there's the Buckeye State. I have a farm I can hunt in Ashtabula, and I just might move my hunting endeavors there full time. In fact, we were just talking to a realtor about putting the for sale sign up after the holidays.
But you are right Germain. It ain't gonna get any better anytime soon in these parts. Like someone said, the Perfect Storm has hit the bigwoods, and it will take many moons for this herd to replentish itself if at all. I don't see anything good happening until we at least get a set of BOCs with gonads enough to bring predator numbers(primarily bears) down significantly. We had a decent birthing of fawns this year but by the end of August they were non-existent.