RE: Public Land - a curse or a blessing?
 

Fran, you bring up several good points as well as everybody else. There are some obvious major issues in PA with hunting pressure and such. It seems to me that too many guys are still stuck in the mentallity that they are allowed to hunt wherever they want. They feel as though buying a hunting liscence entitles them to hunt where they want and how they want. This is the biggest problem around here, one guy gets permission from a landowner to hunt a property, he tells a few people, and now everybody and their unlce is on that land because the "landowner allows hunting". I couldn't tell you how many times I have been on properties that my friends and I have sole hunting rights to and we find my neighbors or gaswell attendants, ect.. on the land hunting. I ask them if they have permission and they say "yea John Doe allows hunting here", I then ask them if they actually asked for permission from him to hunt and I get the "well, no." comment. At this point I tell them they are not allowed on the land until they get permission from "John Doe" and thats when I get the "well you hunting here so he must allow hunting on the property" comment.

I blame alot of this on the PGC and its lack of enforcement statewide. They would rather pay their deputies to sit on SGL's watching for the guy who is archery hunting during turkey season that is wearing an orange vest but forgot his orange hat and fine him than actually go out and find the poachers and tresspassers that are really giving the sport a black eye. I have brought it up before about the PGC's lack of action when my sister and her boyfriend saw a large buck before archery season that was poached (these guys hung the deer off their childrens swing set right by the road in front of their mobile home to skin it, bullet hole showing and all) and when my sister contacted the PGC they told her that they couldn't do anything and that she would have to call the state police, she called them and they said that wasn't something they had control over and to call the PGC, she called them back and didn't get an answer. Anymore there is little to no chance of getting in trouble for breaking the laws so the "sportsman" of PA simply see this as open gate to commit these crimes!

RE: Public Land - a curse or a blessing?
 

I kind of go along with that. I think the PGC itself is handcuffed by being short staffed. I think PA's enforcement system (local cops, magistrates etc.) is one of the most corrupted things going. I don't think PGC wardens have the authority to enforce trespass laws, I wish they did. I wish our trespass laws were strict like Ohio & other states. The list goes on and on, but bottom line is PA is out of control in many places, and there's little or no one to enforce, or care to enforce the laws.

RE: Public Land - a curse or a blessing?
 

To anyone: if you, family or friends didn't hunt would you let someone else hunt your land?

RE: Public Land - a curse or a blessing?
 

Yes but I wouldn’t do so randomly. They would need to ask permission, and I’d spend a few minutes trying to gauge their attitude during that small conversation. If they broke any rules after having gained permission, they would be denied any further access.