I live in Brockway and hunt a tri county area(Jefferson,Elk and Clearfield) . The early muzzleloader season hasn' t really affected us since they revised it.The first year everyone had to shoot does that week or use it for scouting!! That boned me on several occasions. But I can say that we see next to no added pressure(knockin on wood).The orange requirements however are a definite thorn!!! What I don' t get is that a few years ago we got the " temporary " increase in the archery lic. which I' ve come to deal with. But we are getting those " advantages" taken from us that I' ve heard several people use as reasoning for increase. First we are sharing the woods with gun hunters right when the gettin gets good, then small game gets bounced around,and now the orange regs????!!!! When do we start getting something back?? I personally would love to see them institute an archery only bear season!!I can see the orange in fall turkey, since I have several times found myself at the business end of a shotgun and can say even though I' ve never been shot that it was the sickest I' ve ever felt.The early seasons for kids I don' t mind but everyone has the same opportunity to pick up archery equip. and get the extra woods time. So why is it that those who do are being punished for those who chose not to???!!! I personally could care less if I hunt with a gun ,even though it sounds errogant , there seem to be virtually no challenge to it!!!We shoul start a writing campaign mail and email to state government and the PGC , as this would seem to be slightly discriminitory?!!Tell every archer you know,whether they hunt or not this is where they start whittling away our freedoms!! Gun hunters beware you too will be next. The hunting community needs to remove the divisions because when our freedoms go your' s will be next!!!!!!!SORRY FOR THE RANT BUT HUNTING IS MY TIME!!!

I feel for you guys here in GA we have archery season then muzzle loader then gun season.U can use a bow all year. As far as the hunter orange we dont have to were it untill muzzle season starts. But I wear it to and from my stand for safety during achery season (X-bows are allowed). Its no big deal the deer are color blind. I`ve had deer walk right by me with orange on and they did not see me. Movement is what gets u busted. And as far as guns going off our dove season runs into archery season and one of my best stands is a 100 yds from a field, killed a many a deer with shot guns going off all day long.They live in the woods where are they going to go.

We are getting hte SHAFT yet again in our bowhunting regs. It does suck that the season ends when the buck get hot too, the days u can be in the stand and see 3 or 4 diffferent buck are slowly getting less and less. And what i have to say for those smokepole hunters in early season, GARBAGE.

ijimmy,

You' re right, the regs are they same for this year. I believe the commisioners are voting on the orange requirments in October for the 2004-05 season. Personally, I don' t hunt turkeys and sometimes forget to put my orange hat on while moving to/from my stand. Not intentionally ignoring the law, but forgetting. Like I said, we don' t see that much pressure in my area form the small game, muzzy or turkey hunters. We get more interuptions from hikers/campers/tourists than anything....I hunt the hills around Kinzua Dam. I wrote a letter to the commisioners about the orange requirments....I was civil but to the point.

I hunt Wayne County and as far as the Orange thing getting out of hand... 2 of my friends were cited by a WCO for not wearing orange while hunting turkeys this spring .... they were 20 yards from the truck, loading their shotguns, on private land, in the middle of a wide open field, at 10 AM on a bright sunny day and 1 had his orange hat in his back pocket, the other was on the ground at his feet (camo side up, it was reversible). They each had to pay $152 fines.

They were told by the WCO the main reason for the orange in the fall and spring was so that WCO' s could spot hunters from the orads or while they walking the woods.

Not bashing ALL WCO' s here .. but this 1 was a first class a$$. I also know the details so clearly because I was standing at the truck about to head off to another field when the WCO pulled up.

I understand the safety aspect, but I' m personally opposed to trying to legislate common sense. People need to be held responsible for their actions, I' m not sure the person who shoots at noise or movement is going to change their actions or behavior because of an Orange law .. mainly because they are to stupid to read the laws!

I really should move this to the Northeast forum since it is more Pennsylvania focused than anything else but unless one of the other mods decides to do it sooner I am going to leave it up here for another day or two before moving it.

Call me greedy, call me selfish, call me whatever you like....I would prefer to have at least the first four weeks of archery without interruption. I can deal with the small game overlap during the rut even though I hunt heavily hunted public land. When they introduced the muzzleloader/rifle season in October I was upset but learned to live with it. When they introduced the youth pheasant hunt last year on the 2nd Saturday of October I was upset but learned to live with it.

If they try to make me wear 250 square inches of orange during 5 out of the 6 weeks or the regular archery season then you might as well blind fold me and make me wear week old underwear because I sure as heck won' t be harvesting any deer that year.

I live in York Co,own property and do most of my deer hunting in Somerset Co.To be honest,I don' t really see any differance in the deer' s behaviour because of the early ML season(and I usually hear alot of shooting the 1st weekend).I usually take off the 1st week of Nov.and last year I saw more buck than ever before.As for the orange-I won' t wear it while hunting my property and I' m against the proposal completely.I did send a the PGC a letter concerning my(and many other hunters)feelings on the matter.

yea these laws are bull! i can see wearign orange to your stand in archery but once there u should be allowed to take it off. And i think the reason that the WCO' s can see u in your stand is crap because then they would just walk up to you and make sure u got all ur tags and everything and practically ruin your hunt. i was talkin to a guy yesterday and he only hunts rifle and he said that he thinks archery is garbage because by the time rifle gets around the deer are spooked, i remained calm as best i could and told him that archery is all about stealth and being quite and that the deer get spooked by small game and muzzleloaders early season not by us bowhunters. i would love to see a week or two more uninterrupted by other gun hunters.

first off , i' m not too crazy about the muzzleloader and that junior /senior hunt they throw in during archery, however being i hunt mostly on private property.. and beside one or two other bow hunters , no one else hunts there till rifle season ,m and why is it that we bowhunters are the ones that ALWAYS get the shaft!!!!(no pun intended). and as far as the orange goes as long as i can take it off on stand i' m not gonna worry about it , but this was the first i heard of it if i have to wear it all the time that means we' ll have to go to the public meetings and put up a stink! we' ll just have to wait and see !and i would love to see the season go a week or two (thats asking alot) without any guns in the woods.

I hunt SW PA mostly. As far as the proposed flo. orange rule change, and allowing crossbows in regular archery season goes....just fill out the petition that came in your UPB magazine. Call the contacts listed...politely state your objections to them. Try to go to the October meeting.

If you are not a member of the UBP......join now! They do more for your archery hunting rights than you can do by yourself.