PA hunters ...
 

I was just in the regional board and it says that Gary Alt resigned. Does anyone know why? I am confused , i mean i liked some of his plans for the wildlife , the antler restrictions seemed to work , atleast where i hunt , but one thing i didnt understand was the new WMU' s that was pointless. But if anyone heard anything lemme know....

Oct. 4th is coming fast boys

RE: PA hunters ...
 

I think Alt resigned because he has been getting alot of heat for his ideas, which in my opinion are great for PA.

RE: PA hunters ...
 

He resigned due to his benefit plans being terminated, or something like that. Alot of people are saying that is an excuse and that if he wants the best for our herd, he should stick it out, but, he has a family to support and he has to watch out for himself.

The new WMU' s were set-up in an effort to try to maximize the management of the deer in certain areas. They were set-up because not every county has an equal deer herd through out it. I know my county, Indiana, is now divided into 4 sections. It makes it a pain on me the hunter, but, the area is very different through out, and there are some areas, like mine, that are much better off than others.

RE: PA hunters ...
 

Thanks for letting me know y the WMU' s r in effect buck. I jsut thought it was a pain tho and i still think it is. But i live in westmoreland county and its split with allegheny. I was also wondering what they are planning on doin with the special regs. counties like allegheny. In past years you could hunt doe with a slug or inlines , so whats up with that this year?????? I bought my license already and it has nothing in the book about what to do with special regs. units.

RE: PA hunters ...
 

No problem Double,

On the internet, the PGC has this listed in the 2003-2004 manual about Special Reg areas..... I dont know it will help or not....

In western Pennsylvania, all of Allegheny County.
In southeastern Pennsylvania, all of Bucks, Chester, Delaware,
Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.
All Special Regulations Area counties are now contained within
the new Wildlife Management Unit system. Seasons and antler
restriction requirements are based on these units and general deer
seasons. However, certain laws and regulations in regards to arms
and ammunition and safety zones for archery hunting still apply to
specific counties in Special Regulations Areas.
In Special Regulations Areas only, the Safety Zone for archery deer
hunters has been reduced from within 150 yards of any occupied residence,
camp, industrial or commercial building, farm house or
farmbuilding to 50 yards. This also applies to hunters using crossbows
during the regular firearm season. Around any playground, school,
nursery school or day-care center, the Safety Zone remains 150 yards.
This change applies only to archery deer hunters and only in the six
counties classified as Special Regulations Areas.
Lawful While Trapping
Manually operated 22 caliber or smaller rimfire rifles and handguns,
except as noted under specific " Furtaking" regulations elsewhere in
digest.
For Small Game, Huntable Furbearers and Crows:
Manually operated or autoloading shotguns plugged to three-shell
capacity, manually operated 22 caliber or smaller rimfire rifles and
handguns, and bows and arrows.
Arms & Ammunition: Muzzleloading long guns 44 caliber or
larger, bows and arrows, manual or autoloading shotguns, .410 or
larger using slugs and 20 gauge or larger using buckshot. Buckshot
may not be used in Allegheny County. Only bows and arrows are
permitted in Philadelphia County. Crossbows may be used in the
regular firearms deer seasons and must have a minimum draw weight
of 125 pounds and a maximum draw weight not to exceed 200 pounds.
Archery Safety Zone:

RE: PA hunters ...
 

I keep hearing he quit, then he didn' t, then he did, its all goofy.

The WMU' s are no more pointless than by county. Either way they are imaginary lines drawn on a map.

RE: PA hunters ...
 

Yep that is what i was lokin for buck , thanks again , seems ur the brain on this subject. And to wimp im just tryin to say they r dumb for how much of an extra hastle it is to mail in for doe tags, we now have to mail to harrisburg , then they mail it whereever and all this and u have to look at what WMU ur gonna hunt , and what if i wanted to hunt the other side of my county at a friends camp or somethin , well now i have to get a whole seperate tag rather then just use my normal county tag. but just my opinion.

RE: PA hunters ...
 

wait...so are they not having doe tags by county any more? i am getting the impression that its more of a zone like 75 miles around....is this true?

RE: PA hunters ...
 

Yes legacy that is how they r doing it , u no longer send in for a county tag , instead u send in for a zone.

RE: PA hunters ...
 

DL55,
No extra hassle for the hunter, you still drop them in the mail.
So what you have to look and see what zone it is, that takes all of 5 seconds.
You complain your county is split in 2 zones, well what about guys who hunt 2 counties and now they are in the same zone. For every one who has a gripe there is one who is eased by it. It all evens out.

Legacy,
We have zones now, when you get your book read it and you will understand.

RE: PA hunters ...
 

at least this year i won' t have to send in for seperate doe tags for different counties because the two areas i hunt in are in the same wmu

RE: PA hunters ...
 

Buck Magnet I have to tell you are dead wrong on this one, Gary Alt DID NOT resign, I repeat he DID NOT RESIGN!!! You see this is how things went down, Gary Alt' s contract was coming due and then Fast Eddie Rendell came out with his plan to cut the benifits of all state employees. Dr. Alt was thinking about resigning but decided not to for family reasons only. Hey the man has a family to take care of and think about you can' t blame the man. The information was incorrectly spread by a Lancaster newspaper who got their information from some Gary Alt bashers, (I think it was the United Sportsman of PA or Unified Sportsman of PA, I can' t quite remember the name of the group but they would do anything to get rid of Gary Alt and they love to cause the Game Commission Problems.) If you call or write the Game Commission they will tell you that Dr. Alt is still employed there. If you read all of the posts on the Northeast forum under Gary Alt Resigns you will see that someone disproved the story of the Lancaster Newspaper.

RE: PA hunters ...
 

WMU are a great idea for PA, IMO. We can' t just manage the buck herd with the antler restrictions, we also need to manage our doe herd. I am more than willing to take out a few minutes extra of my time to apply in order to help with our OVERALL herd. More of you are lookin at it from a hunting perspective and the hassle, when if you just looked at it as a management issue, it makes sense. Counties just weren' t an accurate way of dividing up our herd and allocating licenses. Just my2 cents:D

RE: PA hunters ...
 

Well I just got thru figuring out mine , and am ready to send on the aproprate date . I understand it makes it easyer for the game comission to manage and deal with permits from just 20 wmu' s instead of 60 or so counties , but my question is why did they go up the middel of the counties instead of just useing the county lines , say group 3 counties together and that would be one area . I think it would have been less confusing that way . Whatever . Im just glad we live in a country where we can cross state lines with our weapons without checkpoints and hunt whereever we want . God bless the U S .

RE: PA hunters ...
 

ijimmy,
You better be careful about crossing state lines with weapons in the car. This county ain' t as free as you might think. Packing.org is good website to check out for those regs.

RE: PA hunters ...
 

I heard much the same thing as PA Hardwoods. The first story that emerged was that he retired/resigned because of some controversy over where he was getting the funding for his deer management studies. It came out later that was supposedly a lie and that he really was considering resigning because of the benefit issue mentioned above. The last I heard was that his retirement plans were on hold until the current contract was settled....90 days or so from July 1st if I remember correctly.