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ORIGINAL: T_in_PA3

One other thing... the PGC is not solely to serve hunters. The PGC exists to manage all wild birds, mammals and their habitats for current and future generations. Us hunters need to get rid of our self serving attitudes.

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ORIGINAL: patrkyhntr

OK, buddy. I hear ya.
On internet message boards, all caps means you are shouting. You do it the way you feel comfortable.

Today is the first day of winter. If winter is here, that means spring is only three months away. Think spring.

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It is that those who call themselves sportsmen in this state are too lazy to send in a postage free postcard and report their kills. Only forty percent of us send them in. This is inexcusable

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ORIGINAL: germain

Spring=gobblers.Ah the smell of wildflowers and the sight of dogwoods bloomimg.The sounds of peepers and the warm sun on my back.
Everything sounds so good until I think about those dang blasted nats and skeeters.:D

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ORIGINAL: patrkyhntr


OK, let's not make it personal. But it seems that you want just that. Why else would you question what I do for a living? I am retired. I don't work for anyone. As far as I know, I have no relatives who work for either DCNR or the PAGC, so put that stupid puppy to rest, will you? Are you one of Jim Slinsky's relatives? Maybe Jim himself?

Check stations would be nice, but what makes you think those same scoflaws who don't send in their report cards would go one foot out of their way to take their deer to a check station? You and I both know people who butcher their own deer and haven't sent in a report card in twenty years. Would you set these stations up at every intersection? Who do you think would pay for the cost? It works fairly well for black bears because we only kill a few thousand of them and "sportsmen" seem to be happy to check them in for the recognition it gets them. It doesn't work that way for deer. What recognition do you get for shooting a button buck? By the way, I hear that Maryland got about 45% of their deer brought to check stations. How did they figure that one out? I guess they estimated it.

Again, if you don't like the blame commission's figures for deer harvests, please provide me with a source for your more accurate ones.

Perhaps you are a lazy wannabe sportsman and perhaps not. I would have no knowledge of that since I don't know you and you obviously know nothing about me or you would not have asked such questions as you asked unless your sole purpose was to stir up arguments.

Since you seem to be fond of personal observations as to deer and the health of the forest, here is one of mine. I used to hunt a place close to Orbisonia along a road called Black Log Bench Road. The DCNR logged this area about fifteen years ago. They put fences up in some sections. You should see the difference between the fenced sections and the unfenced areas. The only difference is that the deer are free to feed outside the fences. Without trees there is no forest.

A second observation of mine is that I am seeing far fewer songbirds in the woods than I used to see. This seems to be because many of them nest and feed in the understory. In many areas of our forests there is no understory.

A third observation is that the population of deer seems to have crashed in the mid to late 1990's in the Young Woman's Creek area of Clinton County. A friend of mine who hunts there told me that. He has been hunting out of the same camp for thirty five years. He also told me that the doe licenses for that area sold out almost immediately and that many went unused. It would seem that you sportsmen who hunt there are doing what you want us to do without the Pa. Game Commission to help you.

A fourth observation from my personal hunting experience is that the deer are a lot more wary now than they were five years ago. Perhaps this is because of our having that early muzzleloader season. I suspect that the fewer deer in the woods are smarter deer by the time rifle season rolls around. They are also much harder to pattern than they used to be. I worked on one big buck most of archery season and never got his pattern figured out. Maybe he figured out mine?

With such a thing as managing millions of acres of state forest, gamelands, and a huge population of deer as well, there are no simple solutions. Apparently there are plenty of simple people around, though. Please be assured that I work hard for every deer I get and will continue to do so. I used to see fifty deer on the first day of buck season. This year I saw six. Things have changed. You either change in response to the changes in the situation or your success as a hunter or hunting wannabe will go down. The choice is yours. Of course you can keep on posting on message boards like this one. It won't put more deer in your favorite deer woods, but it might make you feel better.

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ORIGINAL: fight4yourguns

I totally agree with you. Why not make it mandatory to fill out and send in the report cards? If you don't return the card you cannot purchase a license the following year. That's how they do it for DMAP tags. They could send you a coupon or a pin number to take to your License retailer. Probably be too expensive though. Just a thought

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ORIGINAL: sproulman

you speak truth.our local sportsmen club here in clinton county is problem too.they want all this doe killing.president of club does whatever the DCNRwants.they got money 100,000 from the DCNR to improve the clubhouse this year.guess what, now DCNR is telling them what to do and they dont like it from what we hear.the only group that is fighting this doe massacre is UNIFIED SPORTSMEN OF PA.they have filed a lawsuit against the PGC.to stop this doe killing.DCNR wants flowers, bugs, hiking trails,birds,canoe trips but NO DEER.

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