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ORIGINAL: bowtruck

i have only hunted in the gamelands when i was a kid that was only small game thou
dont think i would ever deer hunt their specialy gun

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ORIGINAL: sproulman

interesting POLL,this may be reason that some say they see LOTS of deer and others dont in WMU2G of pa.

ones that do hunt PUBLICLAND and ones that HUNT the PRIVATELAND OR NEAR PRIVATELAND.;)

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i think GAMELANDSare worst hunting than PUBLICLANDS ,even tho the gamelands has habitat far beyond what is seen on publiclands.;)

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Unfortunately there are also areas of mature trees with no under story on the game lands where there aren’t deer because that simply isn’t deer habitat.

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ORIGINAL: RSB

You guy must have an altogether didn’t situation then we have around here.

The game lands here are the most under hunted areas yet have lots of deer provided a hunter is willing to get into the habitat that should have deer. Unfortunately there are also areas of mature trees with no under story on the game lands where there aren’t deer because that simply isn’t deer habitat. Those are the place I most often see the hunters hunting though. Most of them remember the days when there were lots of hunters pin balling deer across those wide open areas all day and still expect to have deer crossing those wildlife dessert areas now.

Now when I hunt the game lands I can be pretty sure I will not see another hunter and all I have to do is get back in the think stuff where deer can find food and it is over run with deer. My one son and hunted a thick hard to hunt chunk of game lands one day last week and between us we twenty deer in stuff where you were darn lucky if you could see fifty yards in any direction. There were tracks every where.

The game lands around here are excellent hunting for those that are willing to hunt instead of sit waiting to shot something.

R.S. Bodenhorn

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ORIGINAL: RSB

Now when I hunt the game lands I can be pretty sure I will not see another hunter and all I have to do is get back in the think stuff where deer can find food and it is over run with deer. My one son and hunted a thick hard to hunt chunk of game lands one day last week and between us we twenty deer in stuff where you were darn lucky if you could see fifty yards in any direction. There were tracks every where.

The game lands around here are excellent hunting for those that are willing to hunt instead of sit waiting to shot something.

R.S. Bodenhorn

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ORIGINAL: DougE

I didn't read any of that into R.S.B's post

I guess you must be one of those guys that hunts in an area where he can see the farthest and then cry when you fail to see a deer.Once again,are you for real?

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ORIGINAL: DougE

I didn't read any of that into R.S.B's post Pete.R.S.B is absolutey correct.The public lands in 2G are some of the most underutilized properties in the state.I rarely ever see another hunter on public land.This year I saw three on the first day of rifle season,one on the first saturday and none on the last day.That's pretty much the same every year for me.

I guess you must be one of those guys that hunts in an area where he can see the farthest and then cry when you fail to see a deer.Once again,are you for real?

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ORIGINAL: rybohunter

I cannot believe some of the things I’ve read in this thread. Time to click the little red hand again.
Pedro, if you truly don’t understand why someone would hunt in a thicket, that has GOT to be a leading reason why you aren’t seeing deer. If you can’t get past that, you are beyond help.


My gameland experience is a little limited, but the times I have hunted there I really cannot complain. Yea it can be a zoo at times but the places were not so devoid of deer that it made hunting useless. Call me crazy but if I was hunting somewhere and wasn’t seeing deer or deer sign, I’d move. Whether it was 100 yds or 10 miles.

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ORIGINAL: BTBowhunter

I think I might have given the wrong impression with my last post. First, I don't have that much experience on many gamelands in recent years. The very large one that we regularly pass near camp does always seem to get more pressure than the surrounding public ground so we simply keep on going.

Forexample, we slept in on the last day of rifle seasonat camp. We madeit out the door toward our planned spots about the time we should have been on stand. We we're talking about the lack of hunters (parked vehicles) till we hit thegamelandsborder. over the next couple of miles we saw about a dozen cars. Not really a crowd but we only saw two cars in several more miles once we were past the gamelands. This was a typical scenario.

I have no doubt that there is plenty of game deep into that gamelands butsince a virusleft me with permanent heart damage afew years back, Iamno longer capable of going in beyond the crowds. One of my regular companions at camp has a leg thats essentially paralyzed from mid thigh down and since we can find places we can get to that arent pressured, we simply drive on by.

We are usually able to find plenty ofdeer and solitude right down the road. But thats in my part of 2F where there is basically one very large gamelands surounded by ANF and timber company land.

Nearer to home, the game lands where I've hunted in 2B also get a ton of pressure.

From my limited experiences in 2G which was in the Ridgeway and St Marys areas several years ago, I do seem to remember an abundance of gamelands which would seem to dilute the pressure from those folks who seem to seek them out. A that time, we always saw hunters but the numbers were manageable.

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ORIGINAL: rybohunter

Yep sproul. Hunters.

BUT I hunt a private land "zoo" too. Some days/seasons are worse than others, but I can typically gain myself space by heading for the thickest cover. It's too small to "out hike" anyone. I sit in the thick stuff & kill deer while most others hunt fields & where they can see. We have enough deer that they still usually see some, but they are running 500 mph and are tough to hit.

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