RE: PA - Time to STOP the bonus tags
 

Maybe they should go back to just giving tags to counties and not WMU. I hunted in2f also and I know that it is possible forForest county to have alot more deer than in Warren county and visa versa. I know there are deer but just not as many as before.

RE: PA - Time to STOP the bonus tags
 

Remember when a few years back they only gave bonus tags for private land. I remember quite a few people complaining its not fair. Now I hear people say it should only be giving bonus tags to private land hunters.[&:] I dont want it sound like I am picking on any one. But I just dont get it? That old saying "Damned if you do damned if you dont"[&:]

RE: PA - Time to STOP the bonus tags
 

I have to agree, I was all for the herd reduction several years ago and I still feel that it was needed, but my area has been hit hard and is really showing the signs of if. These past two years I spent more time archery hunting than ever before, I had a very flexible work schedule and 2 weeks of vacation for the end of the regular archery season and doe sightings were minimal. The past two years I have seen way more bucks than does while scouting, spotting, and hunting, not to mention my game camera has proved this. I would say that for every doe I saw, I would see 7 or 8 bucks, yes this is fun, but in the big scheme of things it doesn't seem healthy.

As far as just not shooting does, yeah, in theory it sounds good, but all you are doing is leaving a tag for another person to fill. The past two years I havn't bought a doe tag for this very same reason but they are getting bought up by guys who hunt the adjacent property and they do their deer drives and bust the does.

My grandfather hunted every day of this rifle season and in that time he saw a total of 3 deer, all were crossing a narrow cut between two thick patches of brush before daylight.

Like I said, I am fortunate to live in what many would consider to be one of the best spots in the state for deer (size, numbers, quality, and habitat wise). This is farm country where even before the herd reduction, there was plenty of food for deer. Soybeans, corn, clover, and alfalfa fields are abundant and the woods are packed with oaks and great browse. One of my favorite patches of land to hunt is 100 acres in size (the timber) and is surrounded on two sides by corn fields, one side by a clover field, and the other side is a soybean field. The woods have some excellent bedding areas (small ravines above a creek bottom that are full of dead falls mixed with multi-floral rose bush), plenty of water with two different streams running through the property and two ponds on the property. The open parts of the woods are mostly white oaks, and there is little to no hunting pressure. Sounds like a great spot right? Well, I have been through these woods several time in the past week and found a total of two different sets of deer tracks.

I don't know exactly what needs to be done, I can sit here and act like I know how to fix all the problems but in all honesty, there are more underlyingproblems than anybody in the general public knows about so what I say wouldn't work. All I know is that something needs to change!

RE: PA - Time to STOP the bonus tags
 

I live in new york, My dad seen 2 deer this season, He got one of them. Last year he didn't even get one. There has to be some change in this

RE: PA - Time to STOP the bonus tags
 

I agree with stopping theDoe slaughtering. I don't mind the AR your're seeing bigger bucks. Butthere is Not an endless supply of deer out there.

RE: PA - Time to STOP the bonus tags
 

I hunted 2 wks in 3d and only seen four doe a spike and an eight pointer. 5 yrs ago I would have seen three times more deer. There isn't even deer sign. I have no doubt some ares have a lot of deer but they sure aren't around here. I bought 6 doe tags this year, therr for me and three for my son and I don't plan to fill any of them. I could care less if PA has monster bucks, I would just like to see something when I hunt.

RE: PA - Time to STOP the bonus tags
 

Not if your spending the 6.00 for the tag, What's 6.00 nowadays? I don't know the answers either ,but I will buy tags and not fill them if I have to.

RE: PA - Time to STOP the bonus tags
 

I'magainst the whole taking away the bonus tag thing.. i mean.. how many people do you know that go out every year or maybe even just one year that fills every tag. I know in my house hold between my dad and I, we have both have a doe tag for 4C and both have a doe tag for 4E.. last year.. we filled one tag out of all of 6 deer tags in the house and it wasn't for lack of deer. since i can remember, i know one of my friends that has tagged out on bonus tags and that was this archery season. Just because they sell them, doesn't mean everybody goes out and fills every tag sold. i mean.. i have a private farm in 4E and i live in 4C so with a bonus tag that allows me to harvest a doe if needed at either place.

I do see what people were talking about earlier in this topic about trespassers and such.. i was hunting my farm in 4E this year and i'm sitting up on a hill and hear a car slow down, the door closes, and then the car drives up the road a little bit and you hear the guy get out and they started yelling and driving the hollow that was right next to the road... and quick got in their car and left when they saw me get out of my tree stand and walk towards them. along with the 2nd to last week of archery, i grunted in a buck that would easily score in the 150's range.. had it at 40 yards and marching straight at me all puffed up when out of no where a hunter comes marching through the woods from the other side...i'm guessing he heard the gruntsas well.then when he saw my rip my face mask off andget readyto climb down, he took off...

Anothertopic people can blame for the deer herd is poaching. you don't always have to point the finger at the pgc for screwing up the deer herd.i know in myarea last year, i heard stories of a guy having 100+fresh deer kills at his house after beingbusted for shooting at a decoy.

RE: PA - Time to STOP the bonus tags
 

we only filled 4 of 8 doe tags we had between us. My daughter filled the last one Sat after all day drives.We seen prob7 deer,But none would give her a standing shoot until the last drive.Had to work for that deer.I didn't enjoy that much work for a frakin doe,But at the end,It paid off to see her excitement. Still to much work for a doe if you ask me. Not one single buck seen all year and very little doe. We use to drive for bucks,Now we have to do it for does to.To funny.

RE: PA - Time to STOP the bonus tags
 

I hope they don't, I can't shoot enough of them off my place in 3B. We have too many does........on a 130 acre property I know of at least 7 different family groups of does/fawns that frequent the property on nearly a daily basis.