battle buck

I agree in some areas the herds and car accidents are goanna be up.But not by any public land.You prob do still see lots of deer but it's where you are not allowed to hunt because of zone or posted or restricted.People see deer accidents in the city limits where one can't hunt and then issue tons of liscense and didn't cure the problem because no hunting in that area is permited.It's in the rural areas where most accidents happen and yet they are to stupid to see this and don'tpermit hunting in the rural areas.It's not the woods you yayhoos it's the suburbs where no hunting is allowed.And for hunters saying tons of deer in Pa. is because they got lucky on the first day to see a deer from being pushed around and haven't been out since.So they can say tons of deer because they bagged one on the first day.The real hunters in the woods knows the truth to this answer for sure.

CAMPFOURCORNERS

I honestly wish they would just go back to doe season the way it used to be the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday after buck season. A lot of guys only hunt the first day of buck season so it only makes sense that every Tom, Dick and Harry gets a doe tag. If it went back to the way doe season used to be you wouldnt have evey hunter and his brother shooting off the doe population. Too bad they will probably never change the seasons back though[&:]

jimmy the foot

i feel for you guys in PA. if the herd pop. is declining that bad now one is gonna spend the money on a tag if the chances of filling it are slim to none. watch the numbers of poachers or hunters without tags start to increase. they give out a lot of tags in NY also but i don't think the pop. is as bad as yours is. although a lot of the veteran hunters say these last two years of hunting have been bad. numbers just aren't what they use to be.

Joe D.

If there were only 10 deer left in the state, I'd still go hunting. I enjoy being in the woods. Beats working!!!

The area where I hunt in 3b this year seemed to hold deer. I'm not saying that it's anything like when my father went hunting and used to see herds at a time.These areas that you are hunting, are you doing anyscouting?Deer have legs and they are not limited to one portion of the woods. If you are scounting and seeing signs of deer, I'm sure they are there.

bigdog02

A bad day hunting, is still 10x better than a good day at work.

Anyway, I agree with mustad. Depends on area I think this year.

I am hunting in 4A, and in archery season saw nearly the same number of deer i did in the past year, and the year before that.
In rifle season opening day - saw less deer than usual which I attribute more to the weather than lack of deer.
Wednesday and Friday (of the first week when I hunted) - Saw more deer than usual, with less people pushing them.
First saturday - saw more deer (about 2 dozen) than in previous seasons on the same day (they were herded up pretty well, so some luck of finding the herd may be involved)

I know people who have hunted in the same area as me and swear up and down that "the herd is dead, our kids will never be able to hunt whitetails". They are still out there, I truly believe. Try different stands, try different ridges, try closer to town, try a different woodpatch. Break the habit of going to the same camp that you have been going to for umpteen years. The deer herds move, what is a good ridge with mast one year, might be picked clean the next. Deer from the previous year could have decimated what used to be a good cover understory, so why would they come back if there is nothing there?

Anyway, I rambled. I think the herd may be lower in some areas, but overall it is still there, just juxtaposed differently.

aldo88

campfourcorners, I agree with you. We should go back to the 3 day of doe hunting. That is when our deer herd decreased in our area...............

fruit loops

I agree with you fruit loops 100%.I have to agree with myself no one else will.

germain

OK tell ya what fruitloop.I'll meet ya halfway.I think there's some areas at least in the NC that are one bad winter from the deer being very close to wiped out.This would be in big areas of state land.Most areas in the state have parcells of private land with controlled hunting or no hunting at all which saves some deer.I'll tell ya this,some areas have slim and I mean slim pickins.Well below the DPSM they are reporting.And they were smart not to do the fly over count in these areas.

villeman

hey bigdog, what part of huntingdon county do you hunt?

mfunk922

From what i've seen, there are still plenty of deer...they are just in places where you can't hunt them. I hunt the farmlandsalot in suburbanBucks County. I see literally hundreds of deer per week but about 95% of them are in peoples backyards and on developments. The same holds true for the area aroud the poconos. I was in the poconos a few weekends ago, and we saw plenty of deer walking around at all times of the day, but we were staying in a development where hunting is not allowed.


I also think poaching has alot to do with the decrease in deer populations. I spend a few weekends a year in both Bradford and Susquehana counties and its not unusual to hear a few shots at nite time, during hunting season and both spring and summertime. Some of the people in those areas aren't very wealthy and after talking to someof the local farmers, i'm sure that there are some people that will be taking deer all year long to keep their freezer full. Its not something alot of people want to hear butits a reality that ifeel is putting a hurting on the deer populations in the state.