Originally Posted by
Gunplummer
If those acorns are not gone by the end of January, they are still laying there the next year. Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. The bear are now being over hunted in that area, the flocks of turkey are 10% of what they were 10 years ago, ( I do not know why) and there is not enough deer to clean up the acorns that are left. Seven deer in 8" of snow will paw up an area on the side of a mountain looking for acorns that looks like 30 deer were at it. You just showed me what you know about hunting and deer in general. Go back to your quality deer hunting club, end of discussion.
Wow,it's no wonder the PGC snub guys like you.Acorns are a seed source for future regeneration.If the deer eat every acorn on the ground,there's no future regeneration.They're more than just food for deer.Those seedling also provide important browse for deer during the winter.Acorns do provide an important food source for deer when there's a good crop but it can't be relied upon.Deer need high quality prefered browse during the winter.It's that simple and many areas of the nborthern tier simply don't have enough to sustain a large deer herd.On top of that,not all acorns are good.Alot of them get infested by a weevile and they rot.Acorns rotting on top of the ground were probably no good to begin with.We had a huge mast crop in this part of 2G and every good acorn that I've found this spring was sprouting.It takes energy for deer to dig through snow looking for acorns.During the winter,they'll rarely expend that kind of energy if they have high quality browse to feed on.Unfortunately,hunters demanded far too mnay deer for too long and the northern tier of Pa is overbrowsed to the point where that high quality browse was essentially wiped out.
I'm not sure what you refer to when you say the bear are being overhunted.The bear population in the northern tier has grown substantially over the past 20 years.So much in fact,that hunters all over that area are complaining that there's too many bear and they're eating all the fawns.
I haven't sen any decrease in turkey sighting but the spring weather play an important role in poult survival.There's little the PGC can do about that.
You are definately a disgruntled hunter that doesn't have any of your facts strait.
By the way,I don't belong to any type of quality deer hunting club.I don't hunt anywhere near any agricultural areas and I don't hunt areas that have food plots.I hunt the big woods of 2G and every place I hunt is open to the public.In fact,all of my rifle hunting is done on either state land or land owned by timber companies that's dmap'd and open to the public.