For any suggestion for change, I feel you should be able to identify the problem you are trying to solve with that suggestion, some of yours I would like to know what problem you are trying to fix.
ORIGINAL: ulysses
1. go to a statewide shotgun only gun season ( replacing the current centerfire regulations)
Why? Granted there should be shotgun only zones for safety, but why state wide?
2. smaller WMUs
Absolutely!!
3. open and close different WMU on different dates...create a northern deer zone and a southern, possibly expand that to include a eastern and western at a future date
Do NOT do this. NH use to open north/south different times, the result is that hunters move with the changing dates resulting in MORE hunters in each area.
4. put antler deer hunting on a lottery draw by WMU, allow no non resident antlered deer hunting for a specific time then open it to all applicants with a 10% cap on antlered tags reserved for non residents
the problem is NOT the number of bucks, I actually agree with the AR, but keep it seperate from the heard reduction.
5. charge the same for non resident back tag fees as other states charge for theirs. ex. if MT charges NR $1000 for a lnadowner sponsored deer tag Pa should charge a MT resident the same fee for the same tag.
All states are not created equal, hunting opporatunity and animals to be hunted vary from state to state. What problem are you trying to solve?
7.allow landowners with 100+ continuous acres to manage their own herd provided that land or 50% of it is open to public hunting
Animals do not belong to the landowner and he sort of can manage it by posting his land, then requesting you to follow certain rules, again, what's the issue you are solving.
Limit anterless tag to 1 per person.
You need to first decide what problem you are fixing, PA is doing two things at once and they get confused as to what they are trying to do, you need to keep them seperate:
- AR. Personally I don't have a problem with these, a 3pt/side is not trophy sized buck, its just letting the 1 year olds go.
- herd reduction. Good reasoning behind it, but where I hunt in Potter Co, its DONE. The brush/forest is nicely growing, there is left over food, both browse and mast, and deer sightings and killing numbers are WAY down.
--Bob