RE: Pa deer hunters petition
 

Query: What do you guys think would've happened if we'd done Antler Restrictions for 5-10 years WITHOUT the herd reduction going on at the same time?

RE: Pa deer hunters petition
 

More of the best 1.5 would be shot Quick. By the fact there would be more of them.

I am not saying that is good or bad, I'm just saying;)

RE: Pa deer hunters petition
 

I will admit...not too long ago I was one of those on the "we don't have any deer left in PA" bandwagon. I've since changed my tune based on several observations. I hunt both agricultural land as well as mountaintop land.

Since I've taken my hunting more seriously (scent control, more scouting, stand selection, etc) my deer sighting this year were HIGHER than any other since I've been hunting. The habitat has been improved on our land through various food plots, and selective timbering that occured 6 years ago. So through a combination of habitat development and improved hunting technique, I think the hunting has only gotten better (and I'm in 2G which sells out the quickest in terms of doe permits, and was one of the few WMU's to get a fairly drastic cut in license allocations from last year).

Now, turn to the other area I hunt (also in 2G). Our cabing consists of 25 members, about 18 of which are somewhat active hunters. We are improving the agricultural habitat to provide some decent food sources (since the browse is non-existant and most of the natural habitat is laurel and rocks, lol). We plant soybeans, corn, turnips, and wheat. We've been doing this for about 5 years now. So you can assume since we own 1200 acres consisting of a large distribution of various food sources, we should have a fairly healthy herd. We do, in fact, because glassing fields in the summer, we see some very nice racks, and plenty of doe.

Come archery season and even moreso in rifle, all you hear is the complaints that the deer aren't here anymore like they used to be, the hunting is terrible, the game commission this, the game commission that, blah, blah, blah.

So what happened in between summer and mid-late hunting season? PRESSURE. This camp is mostly untouched from Jan-April, then again from June-August. About September, guys are driving through the fields, wandering through the woods hanging a million stands (we have about 13-15 active archery hunters) all in the same vincinity, wearing work clothes, not worrying about scent, and then they do the same thing through the season. Guys will move their stands all over the mountain during the season, and often it's through core areas. Guys will come in from out on stand and eat breakfast in their hunting clothes, load the fireplace in their clothes, etc. Then they wonder where the deer are.

In my opinion, the deer population/herd is HEALTHIER than it was before Alt. The "good ole days" of spotting 80-100 deer in a field at night are over...and sportsman should be THANKING that they are. It seems some hunters in PA thought Alt's plan was to increase both deer numbers all over and make all of those deer large racked, lol.

I really believe that the lack of deer sightings that some people complain about stems from either:

A. Hunting Tactics (sometimes you may need to change these season to season)

B. Environment/habitat

C. Combination of the above.:D

RE: Pa deer hunters petition
 

yes, i signed it. do i think that anything will happen, no. i really do not like going out on the first day of antler season (now brown season)and having bullets wiz over my head because few doe ran near me. not shotguns here guys. try high powered whistlers. there is deer management and then there is PA. having 2 solid weeks of brown and its down is too much IMO. if you have not hunted in PA then I would suggest that you get a taste of it on the public land and then comment. comparing another state is like apples and oranges. i don't want to hunt doe and don't want to hunt them with the millions of others so I probable will stay with achery this upcoming season. just didn't have fun this past season. now in MI, completely different story for me. i'd rather take a mature buck or doe, but not a small buck. if the doe are plentiful, then i take one; if not, i pass. i feel like i have some control. in PA, its brown and it doesn't have much of a chance unless you have control over the land. maybe this isn't the case on the east side of pa, but the west side has some problems imo.

RE: Pa deer hunters petition
 

:D
If your hunting SLP in MI the does are plentiful, whack away. BTW you now have a better shot at killing a mature deer in PA than most guys in MI.

RE: Pa deer hunters petition
 

You would end up with my huntinggrounds.
TONS ofdeer. Lots more 2.5 yr old bucks, but still only a handful or less of truly mature deer that hide out on posted lands.Browse is getting HAMMERED, I would imagine so are the crops. Some guys shoot good deer, others complain thier are none just like the rest of the state.

RE: Pa deer hunters petition
 

Anything the USP has to do with I'm staying far away from. They're a bunch of boneheads. I talked to them at the sports show 2 years ago and they are out there.

RE: Pa deer hunters petition
 

Good reply there M. Your doing what it takes to attract what deer there are, stepping it up. It's costing you though, but your having a good time. Understand something, those in charge will continue to let you foot the bill and then charge you more for the privalage. I wouldn't doubt that you might expect to hear from them "That's a mighty fine deer there boy, mind if we post that picture of you, the great hunter with that deer":D

From where I'm sitting I see two groups of people arguing at the same time. saying the same thing about each other. I can't tell which is which. I will say this, I never thought I'd live to see the day when a hunter would say "We have too many deer".

RE: Pa deer hunters petition
 

PABuck HNTR I know exactly what you are saying. I worked the Enigma Camo booth at the HBG show last year and our booth was right next to theirs. IMagine listening to that nonsense for the 4 full days I worked. I have never heard so many crazy consipiracy theories in my life. Every single person from out of state who I talked to that heard these guys said they are nuts. Gotta love the theory that the PGC is brining in coyotes and mtn lions by the truck load to appease the insurance companies so there won't be as many deer vs car accident claims[8D]Thse guys continue their ridiculus claims meanwhile the animal rights activists just sit back and laugh away as we now have to fight with not only PETA we have to fight some of our own kind..these so-called sportsmen.[:@]

RE: Pa deer hunters petition
 

You also have almost 2 million deer. I know a michi that has quite a few big bucks to keep him company, how the heck does he do it in that enviroment. Must be cheating, or maybe he's just earned them.

Are the tags endless there. I congradulate people who shoot lesser deer, they're happy and so am I. I really don't see the problem. If there's an area were all the guys who just want to wack deer exists, great! "Sounds like an opportunity to me".:DYour not hunting thereare you? The big bucks aren't there.