hatchet jack

ALLWAYS!

hatchet Jack

Phil from Maine

Here we do not call them hunters if they haul them off to their garages and cut them up. We, have a name for them, here we call them poachers! If they do this in season they most likely do this out of season as well.

Here, the tagging stations put them in a big envelope that they either mail or is picked up by a warden or a biologist. It is really quite symple. Why would I want to go to a tagging station? It is the law here and getting caught with an illegal deer in your freezer is a $1,000 fine. So why wouldn't I want to? I guess it is because it is the right thing to do and $1,000 can buy me a lot of stakes.

I have to agre with what Windwalker is saying and that it is still very symple to do.

PABuck_HNTR

Is their system "NEW" or has it always been that there were check stations in these other states? People don't like change and you have to consider how Pa's hunters would respond to more change that inconveniences them. You all think everything is just so simple ,but its not. What benefits do the stores get, besides maybe a small increase in pop and snack sales? Just because other states do it doesn't make it right for Pa. I happen to think check stations are needed here in Pa, but its not as black and white an issue as you make it out to be.

DougE

Every deer I shoot goes strait to my garage where I have it skinned and quartered within minutes.I have an old refrigerator that I use to age the quarters in before I process them.Every deer I shoot gets taggedand every report card is sent in.It doesn't get any simpler than thatand I don't shoot deer out of season.

Reporting your harvest is a requirement in Pa just like it is in Maine.Our fines aren't as high but that's a legislative issue not a PGC issue.

Do you honestly believe people will go out of their way to drive to a check station when the majority won't send in a postage paid harvest report card?

I also hunt in Ohio where check stations are mandatory.They still calculate the harvest there.When I shoot a deer at 8:00am in the morning,it's no hassle torun it severalmiles down the roadto a check station.When I get one out of the woods after dark,it can be a hassle,especially if I wasn't planning to stay over another night.

I could support check stations if they were staffed with trained people that were gathering biogical data.However,I've never even had a clerk or a cashier look at any of my deer in Ohio.

3 gobblers

Where did the 60%+ number come from.?

archer58

The problem is still getting everyone to report. It really doesn't get any simpler than sending a self addressed ,no postage necessary card in.
The fact remains the PGC is not tough enough on non-reporters. They know who does not report but they don't know if a deer was taken.We should report, a kill or no kill.To make it easier ,a phone report system to suppliment the cards would be thesimpliest IMO, and probably the most cost effective. Everyone has a cell these days.

A new/supplimentsystem should be enacted and hunters given a year to acclimate to it. Then if you don't report, a fine and or revocation should follow. The Gc won't be able to run down everyone who did not report, but a penalty incurred by your neighbor or friend for not reporting should motivate most. The outlaws will still be the outlaws, and the WCO's surprisingly, know who they are anyway.Their time will come.

Crazy Horse RVN

Take another look at what "Windwalker7" posted:

"Just have the tags made out where you color in the little circle for the appropiateanswer."

0ANTLERED MALE

0 ADULT DOE

FAWN
0 MALE

0 FEMALE

LICENSE #__________

NAME_______________

AREA OF KILL______________

Now please tell me why it would be necessarry to have "trained people" or a Game Warden fill out something as basic as this?

Also if PA had check stations (and we do have manditory check stations for bear and elk, and they do work. The Game Commission says they do.) you just might pass one on the way to your garage. That is quite possible you know.

archer58

I'm not suggesting to eliminate the cards. Just give an alternative to those who don't like mailboxes.
And if it's so simple why is the report % so low???

Phil from Maine

Sorry Doug my mistake as here it is different.

Most of check stations are small store or gas stations that are normally close by. ( Here in this area 2 within 30 miles ) You have to stop with your deer to get a tag. Your hunting license only gives you a transportation tag that allows you to take it to a tagging station. I am not trying to get in PAs problems soI will bud out now thanks.

R.S.B.

The big differences in the ability to check deer through a check station in a timely manner is simply in the volume of deer being delivered to the check stations on any given day and the number of check stations available.

I don’t know how long the Maine or the West Virginia seasons are without doing some research but I do know what there deer harvests were for the most recent year I could find. So I reduced the deer harvests for each state to harvests per square mile to see how there harvests compared to the harvest in Pennsylvania.

I will share that data with you:

State……………..………Deer harvest/square mile

Pennsylvania…………………..9.40
West Virgina…………………..4.30
Maine………………………….0.91

Like I said I don’t know how long the season are in those other states but I’ll bet they aren’t any shorted then the season in Pennsylvania. Therefore, it would seem rather logical that they most likely have less then half as many deer coming in on any give day then what would be coming to a check station in Pennsylvania.

I do know some hunters that go to West Virginia to hunt. They tell me that many of the locals in West Virginia will readily admit that they don’t take their deer to the check stations. So, based on that I wouldn’t be too sure that West Virginia has any better or even as good of accounting on their deer kill as we have in Pennsylvania.

I am sure we could implement check stations in Pennsylvania. But, I know it would be a costly venture and I am not convinced we would have any better harvest data then we have now. It simply can’t get any easier for hunters to report then it is now so how would it improve if we made it harder for the hunters to report their kills?

As for the fines for failure to report those are set by the State Legislature, not the Game Commission. The fine for failure to report in Pennsylvania is $25.00 if you can even prove they didn’t send it in.

R.S. Bodenhorn