bronko22000

How many of you agree? There are just too many anterless deer being harvested in areas where there aren't many to begin with. Especially on public land. I know there are tons of deer in certain areas or on private land.
I think a better option is to only allow one anterless tag and allocate the balance of "needed" harvest tags in the form of landowner permits where the population is higher.
Lets have your two cents.

aldo88

I agree with you. You are gonna get alot of arguements on here about the bonus tags, but I agree. I saw a total of 4 deer while out hunting during the two week hunt. Pathetic. I know there are more deer in some places than others but I do believe that they will keep doing this until most of the PA herd is gone. You cant fight insurance companies.

Kengston

What bothers me the most and it should most,made me feel bad. Is when the young one tells me. Dad, I hunted for two weeks and only seen 4tails and only had a shot at 1 deerand it was running. Now that hurts.I am actually thinking about quiting hunting and get her and I into a different activity. This is getting ridiculous. If I had the money, I would be hunting large acre canned hunts with her. Atleast she would see game animals and have a chance to harvest one. Next year is goanna be a disaster for the youth mentor in Pa.. Them kids under 12 are not goanna see diddly squat. I think this will deter them from wanting to hunt. Especially when it is cold out. They rather play a video game in the warmth of the house than hunt for a ghost in the cold woods. This isn't just for deer, this is for small game included. Better do something or people are goanna be paying 3 to 4 times the amount for a license to make up for the ones who are quitting. It won't bother me, I wont be the onebuying them.

absolut40

I agree.Eliminate the bonus tags and go back to the 3 day doe season.The does are getting slaughtered during the early muzzleloader hunt and the concurrent two week rifle season.I hunt Bradford county and its feast or famine depending on where you hunt.I saw 34 deer the first 2 days including 5 different buck(2 legal).Some guys on neighboring properties hunted the first 3 days and never saw a deer.We eliminated doe hunting except in the late m/l season.The only thing i dont like about the late m/l season is a lot of bucks are killed that dropped there horns already.

BTBowhunter

I disagree. My camp is in the ANF (2F) and not a week goes by without someone writing in to the local paper crying about no deer. Our group hunted land open to the public and saw plenty of deer every time we hunted and saw several nice bucks.While there are places where we saw less deer than 10 yearsago, that was habitat that was severely degraded from too many deer for too long.

While it's true that some have seen the productivity of their favorite stand go downhill in recent years, those hunters who are willing to adapt are still seeing and harvesting deer. At least that's how it is in our part of the state.

I will say that we've moved our huntingarea to places where timber harvesting hashelped the habitat. Instead of crying out for less doe tags, it might be more productive to ask why the PGC has repeatedly underharvested their timber in recent years.

Wimuzzleman

I agree with the whole get rid of the bonus tag thing. I might live in milwaukee but i am from Pa and i go back every year for deer season. My stepfather and little brother saw one deer all season. This is the first year that i can remember that they didnt get a deer. You all should read the article (cant rember what it is called) in Deer and deer hunting mag about what could happen when you shoot to many doe.

PABuck_HNTR

There's always the option of not shooting a Doe for a few years. I passed on quite a few oppourtunities this year. I told myself that I shouldn't complain about Deer numbers and still harvest a Doe or 2. I had 3 DMAP tags and one regular tag for 2F and I didn't use any. I agree that the deer numbers are lower than most of us are used to, but the reality of it is it still is our choice to pull the trigger.

pahunter1975

I saw plenty of deer this year. there are not as many deer as previous years, but in the 90's the deer herd was outrageous. My dad has 30 acres, on Sat. alone I saw 22 deer. 14 in one group that went across the back field and two groups of 4 in a different area. For the forage available that is way too many deer in that area. The nieghbors land is worse. When the deer are overbrowsing on redbrush there is a problem. I would say yes to eliminating bonus tags in some areas, but others need more deer taken. I hear some of the nieghbors talk of there being no deer around. Thier problem is they hunt a redbrush swamp and sit in a treestand all day. Not once do half of them ever move from that spot. Everyone was spoiled in the late 80's and 90's. Go ask an oldtimer about the deer herd in the 50's. Mt dad showed me a newspaper article out of the Mercer paper. It was an article about someone actually seeing a buck. He can remember when there werent many deer in Crawford and Mercer counties. They were all in teh big woods. The herd got too large and overbrowsed that area and moved to the farmlands around Crawford and Mercer counties. The forage is starting to come back up there and from the people I talk to they are seeing more deer this year. Personally I am happy with what they have done and hope it continues.

Crazy Horse RVN

What Pennsylvania needs is better deer management. By that I mean the Wildlife management units (WMU) are much too large. It's very difficult to manage the deer herd in such vast areas. One farm may have an over abundance of deer and just a couple of miles away another farm will be nearly devoid of deer. Another thing needed is Citizen Taskforces that could input vital information about the deer herd in particular areas and also present suggestions for improvement to the PGC.

Sure, your little corner of the ANF may have a good population of deer, but I've heard too many other hunterswho hunt deep inside the ANF who see few if any deer. They can't all be bad hunters.

The FLIR showed an average of 10 deer per Sq. Mi. We know from scientific studies that our forests can sustain20 deer per sq mi. So when does the slaughter stop? Yes, we need seperate rules for public and private land with regard to killing doe.

Believe me, if PGC executives and the members of the Board of Commissioners were to hunt public land for rifle deer season there would be an immediate change in deer management.

If you want better deer management demand it from your sportsman's organization such as Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen's Club, Unified Sportsmen of PA and United Bow Hunters of PA. Perhaps they can get the ear of the PGC.

Windwalker7

I have to agree with the " No bonus tags " also.

I have several good friends that are way above average hunters tell me they hunted several days without seeing a deer. These guys usually pass on does and wait for nice bucks.

My father quit hunting last year. He hunted since he was 12. Said he had better things to do than give the PGC his money to go bird watching.

With the antler restrictions, he has trouble seeing points and has let many deer walk because he wasn't sure. Now that the doe herd is way down, he sees very few of them. He's been selling his guns. Said he had enough.

Have a guy at work that just told me he probably won't be getting his PA license if they raise the price. Said he only saw a couple deer all season ( archery, muzzleloader, rifle) He said he might hunt in West Virginia next year on a cousins farm instead.

Have another buddy that has taken several really nice bucks with a bow and rifleover the years.He has always passed on small bucks and rarely shot does.He saw only a couple deer this year. He's disgusted.

I saw a total of 6 deer the first day this year. I hunted with my daughter. She said this was her last year. She doesn't want to hunt anymore.

I think as fewer and fewer deer are being seen, guys will quit or start moving to other areas. As they move to other areas, many guys will find their "Honey Holes" invaded by these other hunters. I see a future in PA of more posted land and more guys leasing property. Just finding a good place to hunt will start becoming more difficult.


You guys owning your own private hunting ground, consider yourself lucky. Expect to see guys trespassing in the next few years. I've noticed more guys doing that this year. The don't care about posted property and will trespass. They know that very little can be done to them for it.


The worst is yet to come!