Area 2F, Plenty of deer!
10-22-2006, 04:49 PM
#1
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: SW PA USA
Posts: 7,220
Area 2F, Plenty of deer!
Just came back from a three day hunt in the heart of the Allegheny National Forest. We started with three ML hunters on Thursday. Two of us qualify for handicapped plates so no one went very deep in the woods and we were rained out for a day and a half. All the hunting was on public land or timber co land open to the public. We sat in the early AM and during the last few hours. Saw 13 deer the first day including a 120 class buck. Second day, we got rained out till 3 PM and two of us got shooting in the afternoon with one connecting. Third day, my son joined us and we saw 8 deer before noon. I wasn't that optimistic going into this hunt because every other letter in the local paper is someone crying about no deer here.Everywhere we hunted was basically hunting new turf and just walking in a little bit off the roads and there were deer everywhere we hunted.
I don't hunt 2G where most of the complaints here come from, but I also hear a lot of whining that all the deer are gone from 2F hunters through other media and it just aint so, at least it aint so anywhere we hunted!
I don't hunt 2G where most of the complaints here come from, but I also hear a lot of whining that all the deer are gone from 2F hunters through other media and it just aint so, at least it aint so anywhere we hunted!
10-22-2006, 06:53 PM
#2
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: SW PA USA
Posts: 7,220
RE: Area 2F, Plenty of deer!
Deerfly,
I beleive you're asking me to compare apples and oranges.
The quality of a hunt on the second third and fourth day of the rifle season never was a very good time to evaluate the quality of the deerhunting in any area open to hunting in this state before or after the concurrent season was brought in. We have almost a million hunters and if one wants a quality experience, they need to find a way to escape the orange horde. That can be done in bow season, early muzzy season, the second week of rifle season and also in the late archery and flintlock season. The deer are there. For those that choose to hunt only one way, the way that happens to draw the biggest crowds, there never was and never will be as many opportunities for a truly enjoyable hunt. The late flintlock season, while there are obviously fewer deer to hunt, can also be a great time to hunt with many opportunities to still see plenty of deer.
I beleive you're asking me to compare apples and oranges.
The quality of a hunt on the second third and fourth day of the rifle season never was a very good time to evaluate the quality of the deerhunting in any area open to hunting in this state before or after the concurrent season was brought in. We have almost a million hunters and if one wants a quality experience, they need to find a way to escape the orange horde. That can be done in bow season, early muzzy season, the second week of rifle season and also in the late archery and flintlock season. The deer are there. For those that choose to hunt only one way, the way that happens to draw the biggest crowds, there never was and never will be as many opportunities for a truly enjoyable hunt. The late flintlock season, while there are obviously fewer deer to hunt, can also be a great time to hunt with many opportunities to still see plenty of deer.
10-22-2006, 07:12 PM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Irwin PA USA
Posts: 1,247
RE: Area 2F, Plenty of deer!
BTB , where were u hunting up there? i have a cabin just off of rt 321 , in KANE , 66 which is close to you takes you right into that town.... im just outside of kane , and i took last yr off for the first day of rifle , since they let u shoot doe now up there and buck , the herds around our cabin were almost gone 2 years ago... we used to go up there when i was 12 , about 7 yrs ago , and we would see 20-30 deer a day , then 2 years ago i hunted hard , putting on a ton of miles , and saw one doe at about 200 yards at a dead run down the mountain , couldnt get a shot , but with all the people up there , as soon as she went outta sight sure enough i heard a rifle bark....
10-22-2006, 07:13 PM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: PA
Posts: 1,149
RE: Area 2F, Plenty of deer!
That's good news BT.The reports I'm getting from public land in two areas of 2G are pretty grim.My brother in law a long time hunter and good one I might add came back from the state forest in Perry county and didn't see a deer in three days.But the area he's hunting was rated at 5DPSM so I told him not to go there.But he looked at it as a challenge and went anyway.He's getting long in tooth so he can't still hunt like he used to but did say the lack of deer sign in good habitat is alarming.
People are telling me that the state land parking lots have been basically empty.I've noticed the gun and bow shops this year were really down in business.I'm sure it's different in parts of the state but I'm afraid we're losing hunters at a bigger rate then previously thought.And I do know as a fact the lack of deer on state land is a reason for this.
Having said all that I'm glad you found an area on state land with some good news.
People are telling me that the state land parking lots have been basically empty.I've noticed the gun and bow shops this year were really down in business.I'm sure it's different in parts of the state but I'm afraid we're losing hunters at a bigger rate then previously thought.And I do know as a fact the lack of deer on state land is a reason for this.
Having said all that I'm glad you found an area on state land with some good news.
10-22-2006, 08:12 PM
#5
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: SW PA USA
Posts: 7,220
RE: Area 2F, Plenty of deer!
Doubleling55 I'll shoot you a PM.
Germain, Hopefully, things will improve with the lower doe allocations in your neck of the woods. We really had encouraging results everywhere we went and I pray you will soon ahve the same kinsd of experience. We did try more than just one area and we intentionally tried new spots because we had experienced a deterioration in numbers in some of our old haunts over the past few years. I'm guessing that we would have had better results this year in our old areas as well.
Germain, Hopefully, things will improve with the lower doe allocations in your neck of the woods. We really had encouraging results everywhere we went and I pray you will soon ahve the same kinsd of experience. We did try more than just one area and we intentionally tried new spots because we had experienced a deterioration in numbers in some of our old haunts over the past few years. I'm guessing that we would have had better results this year in our old areas as well.
10-22-2006, 09:48 PM
#6
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 3,236
RE: Area 2F, Plenty of deer!
Good to know Bob, thanks for the report.
I have not hunted around Kane for two years, and was looking forward to a nice time at camp this year. I've heard elsewhere that the herd has rebounded quite fast in that area, or was it really as low as some were saying to begin with? Them mountains is where all my fondest hunting memories came from. I hope to make a few more this year.
I have not hunted around Kane for two years, and was looking forward to a nice time at camp this year. I've heard elsewhere that the herd has rebounded quite fast in that area, or was it really as low as some were saying to begin with? Them mountains is where all my fondest hunting memories came from. I hope to make a few more this year.
10-22-2006, 09:48 PM
#7
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 584
RE: Area 2F, Plenty of deer!
I too am finding lots of deer.
I have very limited time to hunt but I have managed to get few hours of archery and early muzzle loader hunting in.
So far I have hunted a total of 16 hours, over parts of five days, in unit 2G. All of it on a large timber holding that is signed up in the Game Commission’s public access program and where I have a DMAP permit. During that time I have seen 26 deer. I passed up several small does and button bucks until last Wednesday when I harvested a large adult doe on one of my DMAP permits.
Last Monday I got off work at 3:00 and was on my bike heading back into an area on the Allegheny National Forest on my bike. I had plans of going in about 1.5 miles to an area with some oaks that produced a few acorns I figured the deer would be feeding in the evening. I never got that far. I was only in about a quarter mile when I saw a deer feeding in the edge of an opening. I stopped, got off the bike without being seen and just watched the deer for a while since I could tell it was a juvenile deer and I didn’t want to shoot it. Before long I saw another deer move into the opening. I watched it long enough to be convinced it was an adult doe and when it gave me a good broad side shot I harvested it on my ANF DMAP permit. The whole hunt lasted about 20 minutes.
That is a total of 28 deer seen, and two harvests, in about 16.5 hours of hunting over parts of six days. I have not seen even one other hunter in any of the times I have been out hunting.
Dick Bodenhorn
I have very limited time to hunt but I have managed to get few hours of archery and early muzzle loader hunting in.
So far I have hunted a total of 16 hours, over parts of five days, in unit 2G. All of it on a large timber holding that is signed up in the Game Commission’s public access program and where I have a DMAP permit. During that time I have seen 26 deer. I passed up several small does and button bucks until last Wednesday when I harvested a large adult doe on one of my DMAP permits.
Last Monday I got off work at 3:00 and was on my bike heading back into an area on the Allegheny National Forest on my bike. I had plans of going in about 1.5 miles to an area with some oaks that produced a few acorns I figured the deer would be feeding in the evening. I never got that far. I was only in about a quarter mile when I saw a deer feeding in the edge of an opening. I stopped, got off the bike without being seen and just watched the deer for a while since I could tell it was a juvenile deer and I didn’t want to shoot it. Before long I saw another deer move into the opening. I watched it long enough to be convinced it was an adult doe and when it gave me a good broad side shot I harvested it on my ANF DMAP permit. The whole hunt lasted about 20 minutes.
That is a total of 28 deer seen, and two harvests, in about 16.5 hours of hunting over parts of six days. I have not seen even one other hunter in any of the times I have been out hunting.
Dick Bodenhorn
10-23-2006, 06:56 PM
#9
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 584
RE: Area 2F, Plenty of deer!
ORIGINAL: livbucks
Was that weapon loaded while riding that "vehicle" R.S.B.?
Just kidding ya'.
Does that even apply to bikes? I never pondered that question.
Was that weapon loaded while riding that "vehicle" R.S.B.?
Just kidding ya'.
Does that even apply to bikes? I never pondered that question.
When I am hunt turkeys though I generally don’t load the gun until I either hear or see the turkeys. Turkeys have no curiosity and just run or fly off when they see you coming on a bike. That can work in my favor though, in the fall, since I want to call them back anyway.
Dick Bodenhorn
