chr103yod

I grew up hunting in Pike county. Ever since I was like 5 yrs old I was at deer camp with my dad and the whole family. Now, Pike county isn't one of the greatest places in PA to hunt but we always had a good time and loved hunting. When I graduated school I moved away and lived in other states for about 10 yrs but I got home almost every year for deer camp. I just finally got to move back to PA last year and It's great to finally be home. My oldest son shot his first deer last year during the kids early rifle season. That was the highlight of all of my years of hunting. He was the only one out of 8 guys to kill a deer last year, but that's OK. I swear he thinks I'm a liar when I tell him how many deer I used to see. No matter how bad hunting gets here in PA I'll still go. I get angry and talk some crap sometimes but in the end I will always hunt here. I can't wait for archery season this year. It will be the first time in 11yrs that I've been able to hunt in PA with my bow. When opening day comes we'll all forget about the P.G.C and AR's and the lack of deer and the hundred other things that aren't right and we'll just hunt and love it.

R.S.B.

What part of Pike County? I have some relatives that live in Pike County. Did you move back to Pike County when you came back to Penna?

Incidentally I too love to hunt in Pennsylvania. I sometimes wish I could got more time to hunt instead of dealing with the responsibilities of being a Game Warden, though I certainly love what I do as a Game Warden too. Oh well, not too many more years until retirement, then I will be a much more dedicated hunter.

Dick Bodenhorn
WCO, Elk County

smokeman

I agree with you chr103..I get frustrated also but when I am in the woods it seams to relaxand upset me still that the wildlife is not what it was...Many people say they enjoy thehunt even if they don't fill their tags...I get tired of seeing nothing but trees though and a few squirrels... I can honestlly say the turkey population has really boomed.. And the other day I was driving with my daughter up by orners farm..Something caught my eye up in frontoff to the side of the road...I thought it was a deer at first in the shadows...Here it was about 130 to 15olb. black bear..This was at 5pm..I stopped on the road right beside it..It was no more than 30ft from my truck..It did not run at all. It just stayed in that30ft areafor about 2 minutes looking at us once in a while as we watch it forage off the ground..Then it just casually walked another 15ft.thru some thicket right into orners corn field...That was the11th or 12thbeer I seen in the wild and will be the most memorable one cause my daughter was with me at the time..

Sport 2

I also hunt in in PA. I moved to NY about 2 years ago and started hunting there as well. Honestly, I must say that I am very pleased to see the ARs 4pts on a side. I cannot say that I think I see alot more big bucks, but I do definately see more bucks in general. And a few more decent bucks. But As I see it if your seeing more small to midsized bucks its only a matter of time and I'll start seeing more brusier bucks. I hope this year is the year I start seeing them. I know there are some out there. There always is.
Although I am definately seeing less deer, the buck to doe ratio has definately improved. And with that so will the deer herd.
I'm very excited about this upcoming season. I've been reading over all my field notes from last year, looking at topos, areial photos, and racking my brian tying to increase my chances on getting an opportunity for getting a mature buck. I'm really like to get into the 130" range or better.
I hope all my work pays off. But if it doesn't I'll just do more next year. I love hunting. Even if I don't fill my tag I enjoy every minute of scouting, preparing and hunting. PA may not have the biggest bucks or the most deer. But there are some very nice ones out there its just putting in the time, dedication, and having the want to find them. Oh yeah, and you also need some luck.
I think PA is starting to get on track to make things better. Its just gonna take time and hard work from everyone that wants to see it improve.

DUMB BASS

I grew up in PA, and hunted thereall of my early life. I now live in IL and the deer hunting is better than it ever was in PA. I see more bucks a year out of my stand than you'd see in 5 years of PA hunting, and I hunt mostly public land. I also don't miss diving to the ground, scared for my life, during rifle season. (I've bow hunted only since then; there and here.) Now for scenery, and trout you guys got IL licked. I miss mountains, big woods, and native trout streams. I still come back to fish...

DougE

smokeman,I hope you're not insinuating that Orner's farm is one of the areas that has no deer.

DennyF

Samehere. Couldn't wait until I was old enough to hunt with the kinfolks in Potter and Tioga, ain't had a bad season since, deer killed or not.

Been through a fair assortment of anticipated things in the past 59 years. Most have long sincelost their luster, not so for deer season. Missed a few deer seasons manyyears ago, ain't figuring to ever miss another one. Don't have all that many left.

[8D]

Windwalker7

I'll admit, that the last few years have been the best in my 30 years of hunting in PA. It had nothing to do with the deer population but because my daughter and step son had started hunting.

This was the biggest thrill of my entire hunting career. Being with the kids and watching them get their first few deer.

We hunt in Greene Co. There are still many deer there but not as many as there use to be. We see more bucks but fewer deer overall. My daughter has said this will be her last year hunting. She is now 17 and doesn't find it as interesting as she once did. My step son is not as into it as he once was. This has been hard to swallow. I almost blame myself for making it so easy for them that they did not appreciate it.

I use to scout my butt off finding several perfect spots so that when the season would come in they would score. I would scout out places during archery and early muzleloader. I'd pass up shots and save those places for them.They usually would fill all their tags. I sometimes feel, that if they had to work harder for success they'd appreciate it more.Anyway, I'm glad I got to hunt with them and see thm enjoy it, even if it only lasted a little while.

But as for hunting myself, I loved hunting West Virginia. We had permission to hunt the perfect farm. Lots and lots of deer. The farmer had the only cornfields around for miles. Those fields attracted deer like a magnet. When we first hunted that farm in archery season, we never even used treestands. We just walked around and still hunted. For the first 3 or 4 years, some days I usually would get my deer within an hour of leaving my truck.

WV allowed 2 deer with a bow. I usually had both tags filled in the first 3 days of the season. Sometimes does and sometimes bucks. It didn't matter to me.

Rifle season was a blast. We were all tagged out on bucks by noon on the first day, for the first couple years. The bucks weren't trophy but it sure was nice that everyone got their deer instead of just one or two guys like back in PA.

Most years i would bag up to 5 deer hunting in WV. I loved that place.

Then in 2002, we got the news, that the farmer was killed when his tractor rolled on him.The farmer was a heck of a nice guy and I considered him a friend.The farm was sold and I haven't been back.