RE: PA antler restriction
 

I said what I had to say in regard to this AR issue. I joined a club in Jackson, Ohio this past year and have seen for myself the difference in the quality of mature buck in OH compared to PA. I am counting down the days till Ohio's archery season. As far as Pa, I am only interested in seeing my girlfriend and her boy shoot some deer. I have long ago stopped expecting the PAGC to do what common sense would dictate. I spend thousands of $ each yeardoing my homework prior to the hunting season to increase the quality of the deer "herd" I plan to hunt. If I do not harvest a mature buck by season's end I don't complain, rather just continue with planting food plots and doing the regular off-season work. As I see it, those who gripe about what is and do nothing to increase their odds, expecting the PAGC to do everything for them are lazy and undeserving of regularly harvesting mature buck. If they spend more time in the woods and less on the computer in their mom's basement they might stand a greater chance of seeing the benefits of sound management practices.

RE: PA antler restriction
 

i have friends that go to ohio to hunt deer.

they get their deer BUT they are on privateland.

they say publicland is not so good.

we asked DCNR if we could plant our own DEER PLOTS, they said NO.

i have plots and feed on my privateland but i dont hunt deer there because i like STATEFORESTLAND, i grew up there and i have memories.

most of my deer have been shot off do to ROAD HUNTERS, TRESSPASSERS,POACHERS, hunters with lots of dmap/doe tagstags to fill.

i had about 20 deer3 years ago and i am down to about 5
now.
we dont even have game warden here in clinton county west now.soooooooooo,its BROWN ITS DOWN WITHOUT GAME WARDEN.......:eek:

RE: PA antler restriction
 

I have no problem with hunters that spend thousands of dollars increasing the quality of deer on their own land or leased land. But, you can't compare what you are doing to the thousands of hunters that that hunt SGLs or SFLs or private property where they have no control .


PA hunters harvested 80% of all AR legal buck. They are not sitting in their Mom's basement on the computer as you so arrogantly proclaim. the reason ARs were implemented is because PA hunters were to efficient at harvesting buck and not because they were sitting in Mom's basement on the computer.

RE: PA antler restriction
 

he is right. When I see a buck, it is generally bigger, however it is not rare to go all day and never see a buck, occasionally not a doe either.

RE: PA antler restriction
 

The land I hunt in Ohio is leased and it is surrounded by state land. There have been problems with poaching in that area as well.Six years ago an antler restriction and proper doe harvest, food plots, minerals, etc. was implementedthe land now has numerous bucks scoring over the 130 class requirement. In fact, one buck which is now 6 years old is 180 class and will be in the record books this year if harvested. When it comes to hunting public lands it is rare to find hunters willing to pass up a 6 pointer in order for it to become a trophy buck. I passed upthree 6 pointers andan 8 pointer and spent between 195 and 203 hours in the woods before shooting a 120 class buck. Pa's system is far from being good but it is what it is and unless you are willing to invest the time ormoney to lease land or join private clubs or go to Illinois, Kansas or Iowa your chances of harvesting a quality buck are low. However, my family owns a taxidermy business and the bucks coming into the shop the pastfew years are without a question bigger than they were 15 years ago. Maybe I enjoy hunting for reasons different from most. I enjoy spending time in the woods. It isn't about the kill, it's about having opportunities of passing up smaller buck in order to take a shot at larger buck. If I want meat I go to the store, but I rarely find that necessary. I believe this, if we the hunters are paying the game commision's wages then we the hunters should be able to elect the officials to their positions. Only then will we have people who have the same concernsin the positions to make a difference. The PAGC seems to be more concerned with managing timber than managing wildlife. Anyone who disagrees is more than welcome to come to where I live and I will prove my point. I want to know exactlywhat game animal the game commission has in mind that the forested habitat they provide is 60 year old pine timber with no undergrowth and the ability to see 100 yds in any direction. Squirrels, chipmunks, woodpeckers...? none of which I spend $55 a year to hunt.

RE: PA antler restriction
 

I am curious to what source it was where you found this 80% figure. I myself personally passed up 80% of the "legal" buck I have seen. And I know for a fact only one of those buck were harvested by season's end. Also, do you archery hunt or rifle hunt or both? How many days last year did you hunt? Did you harvest a deer? If so, what was it? I can only assume that you are aware thatmost "mature" buck go nocturnal before the rifle season even opens.
So this 80% figure cannot possibly be accurate. This means all but 20% of the buck left are yearlings, and what percent of that 20% survived road accidents, disease, injuries, etc.? Alot of what you have posted seems to have come from literature other's have written.
I am anything but a PA Game Commission sympathizer. But this idea of killing everything with antlers no matter how small is in your mind a good alternative to what we currently have is asinine. I remember huntingat 12years old in 1990, before the antler restriction. Deer had trails run into the dirt that you couldn't overlook if you tried. There were days you would see 20 deer traveling in a group. Now, you're lucky if you find 3 good runs on a mountain.
Do you really feel the need to kill off what deer are left by eliminating the restriction? You argue there is no benefit to having the restriction. What benefit is there to not having one? More license sales? More hunters? You being able to shoot a young dumber deer? If this is truly how you feel you should apply for a job in the PAGC. It seems you have more in common than you wish to admit.

RE: PA antler restriction
 

Oh Boy....

RE: PA antler restriction
 

The antlered buck survey showed only 20% of the 2.5+ buck survived hunting season.

I hunted both archery and rifle and I didn't keep track of the number of days I hunted during archery. I hunted 9 days during rifle and I didn't have a shot in either season.
Actually, ARs protect around 50% of the 1.5 buck and at least 20% of the 2.5+ buck. You are correct that the data I post is from the PGC.

You may think the 3" spike rule was asinine, but we had it for over 50 years and there was no negative effect on the gene pool or the health of the herd. But now that we have ARs, breeding rates decreased, productivity decreased, the buck harvest has been reduced by 47%, adult,Jr. and non-resident license sales are decreasing at an alarming rate and the PGC has lost a lot of it's credibility.

Here is a bit of information you might find interesting. In 2001 ,before ARs were implement 42% of the bucks harvested in Elk Co. were 2.5+ buck, but no one bragging about all the big buck harvested. Can you explain why ?

RE: PA antler restriction
 

HAHA

RE: PA antler restriction
 

That is the typical response from someone that can't defend their position with facts. When you learn enough about deer management in PA to have a rational discussion of the facts, you can tell us why we needed ARs in PA.