DougE-dce, you have absolutely no idea of what success I've had this past season. How could you possibly know unless of course the PGC has loaned you one of Gary Alt's crystal balls.

I will tell you that I hunted deer during rifle season on Game lands 12 and 36. I'll also tell you that I and my sons did not fill our 3 antlerless tags. We deliberately allowed 3 doe to survive. This area has few deer. Perhaps you should hunt it. There's at least 3 doe left there that I know of. Just think, you could top offyour freezerand treat your friends to snacks.

As far as using a dog to hunt small game, I must admit that my French Britt is really something. Why this year while hunting Grouse he pointed a flock of turkeys. Damn fine point too.

As far as my using a dog to help kill game, I have to assume that you use a longbow. I'm sure you don't own one of thosemodern wheeley compound bows with a minimal poundage hold. And god forbid anyone should be unsporting and use a release device. You don't have one of those do you? I'll bet a real hunter such as yourself still uses wooden shaft arrows and a basic 2 bladed broadhead,am I right? And, no sights for a real hunter like you I'll bet. And a real class "A" hunter like you wouldn't hunt from one of those modern, comfy tree stand; he'd be on the ground stalking and living up to the code of "Fair Chase." Right Doug?

It's not my fault your not proficient with a shotgun.
Eat your heart out Doug.

Take whatever you want from this, but to blame the recent decrease in license saleson HR is yet anotherreach.

Did you expect anything different from the Gloom'n Doom brigade? Rather than learning to think for themselves, or looking into things for some factual background on which to base theiropinions, they are perfectly content to be led around by the nose by those who are adept at making mountains outta molehills. Constant and repetitive preaching ofNegativism tends to attract those who are alwaysready to believe the worst and are ready to be exploited by those in the pulpit.

Baby boomers make up the single largest demographic of current hunters. Many of us are now 60 years old, according to a recent study, the age at which most hunters start to hang it up. Losing hunters is not something to look forward to, but with fewer hunters being recruited to take our places, it appears to be an irreversible trend.

Whenthose of us now in our 50s and 60sgot old enough to hunt, it was allwe looked forward to. No video games to occupyour time; no year-round kids sports like we have now;far fewercustody scuffles between mom and dad, or the dozens of other things competing for time spent afield.Mix in changingsocietalattitudes about firearms and hunting, a loss of nearbyhuntable land and many other factors, while we're hagglin' over loss of hunters and it becomes evident manyissues besides fewer deerare at work here.

When you are inclined to blame everything on one agency to begin with, must make it much easier just to ignore all other factors and focus all ofyour attention on that one bogeyman, apparently?

I think the whole "license decrease" card being played by the USP and those opposed to the PGC is way off base.

Here are some stats comparing PA to other states in 1988 and 1998.

State 1988 1998
PA 1.17m 1.06m
TX 1.19m975K
MI 957K926K
WI 742K 737K

Take whatever you want from this, but to blame the recent decrease in license saleson HR is yet anotherreach.
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This is exactly the point we're trying to get across. As you can see by these number's , liscense sales were declining even when there were an abundance of deer.
HR/AR are not the only cause.no one said it was not.
And other states across the country,including TROPHY deer states have had a decrease in sales also.
Why is itso hard to admit that theHR is not the entire problem?
You would have to be unable to count to see the trend in our country.

Here's another thought for u Bailey and CH.
The area here has had an increased amount of posted ground by private land owners i nrecent years. The same as most of PA.I'm sure you have heard complaints of "no where to hunt","too many hunters on public land".
Limited access has driven many hunters to give it up. I also would have a tendency to believe that that has caused declining liscense sales across the country.
When u put more hunters in asmaller area w/ fewer deer(HR for habitat improvement) decline in hunter #'s will occur.

Pointers' numbers are an eye opener, aren't they?

As an out of stater, I will say this. The PGC program actually has me wanting to come back and hunt PA again. I am not alone either...

Also remember that hunters numers are declinging everywhere...and it has nothing to do with amount of game they are seeing.

Tell me John,what kind of success did you have hunting deer this year?Did you finally break your long,long streak of unsuccessfull seasons or failing to report a harvest.Face it John,you're bitter because you can't kill a deer and because the PGC doesn't stock enough tame birds for you to shoot.That's unbelievable.Thank goodness you have New Jersey and hunting preserves.

I don't shoot a stick bow but I do hunt animals that are actually wild and fairchase.My code of fairchase is actually fairly simple.I don't hunt animals behind a fence and I don't hunt animals that were pen raised on a farm.I have no problems with those that chose to shoot stocked birds but it gets old when they start complaining thatthey don't have enough to shoot.I killed three deerwith a bow,two with a rifle and one with a muzzleloader.I don't depend on a state agency to stock deer for me to shoot.

Did you kill a deer this year John?How about a picture to prove it?

My freezer is topped off as it is every year and there's still plenty of deer to go around on our public lands.People say there's few deer around here also, but I disagree.I saw more on public land on the last day of the season than I saw anywhere else I hunted this year.

I find it ironic that you couldcharacterise someone's "need to kill" when you actually have to kill tame animals.Very ironic indeed.

With all due repsect here Bailey, you are not being 100% fair.

How many other states can state that recruitment is on the rise?Maybea handful?

Can you be 100% certain that deer numbers are a factor in the decline? Afterall, we had a decline from 1988 to 1998 and the was no HR.

As far as deer, didn't allocations in 2G go from 52,000 to 19,000 in 2 years?

I guess you dont let your family hunt on your vast land holdings.

Bailey , You are wrong AGAIN.
The PGC decreased doe tas in 2G a HUGE amount in response to hunter input. DIDN"T THEY???

And as jf5 said ...hunter recruitment is down all over the country.

See Pointer's post again. They were declining in the "GOOD OLE DAYS"
when deer were abundant. Explain that.

That makes no sense.