Wasn't the actual quote from Alt, "We may have to wait for an entire generation to die.."?

I dont think it is any one generations fault . I feel it is more of the tech age with all the new devices readly
avalibl to keep them busy rather than a walk in the woods plinking a bb gun . When i was a kid there wasnt
a thing to do inside . Tv wasnt all that great of course only getting 1 or 2 channels by spinning antena.
Daytime tv notta thing on night time local news world news 60 minutes yea as a kid those were fun to watch
wheel of fortune/jeporty/ family feud wasnt great but better than nothing

I started hunting in 1955 and the group that i hunted with had n reservations about killing doe. In 2001 our group of six hunters harvested 6 antlerless deer. Since 2001 we have only harvested one antlerless deer because we saw how much our herd was reduced by the high antlerless harvests in 2001 and 2002.



If you want to see how many hunters are passing on doe ,just look at the archery harvest stats. Or, you can look at the ratio of antlerless tags to the number of doe harvested. In 2000 780K tags produced a harvest of 302K antlerless ,but in 2007 869K tags only produced a harvest of 213K doe
so ,if hunting is better than ever ,isn't it obvious that a lot of hunters are passing on doe?.

when dad took us hunting,he would only let us kill a few doe in each area.
this was publicland.

other hunters would not hunt in your area, they went elsewhere.

also dad would say,DONT SHOOT LITTLE BUCKS.

FUNNY, THATS WHAT AR IS DOING NOW.

we had deer.


NOW, you have 3 deer left in area,doors open on trucks, out comes hunters as far as harrisburg to kill the few doe that are left.

9 different crews drove same area after those 3 doe.

they got 1.

i said to one crew,HEY GUYS, HOW ABOUT LAYING OFF DOE THERE ARE SO FEW.

the one that was going to college in harrisburg said to me, SPROUL WE SAW HERDS of deer here in oct muzzleloader season,we shot 1 then too.

i think he was LEADER of crew too.

Not blaming them. They had every reason to think their way.
Times change but people seldom do.
We have many challenges in this new time.

I am sure there is some truth to what you are saying bluebird, about fellows choosing to pass on the doe. I for one am one of them but, I think it is more likely they are not seeing any doe shoot.

A lot of the problem with things is the longer season on antlerless. Hunters have far more opportunity to fill those tags now. I've never cared for concurrent seasons personally. People also seem to take no peronal responsibility for their actions. Many areas need hunting pressure and some need a break. The GC has a limit to how small they can break down the WMUs. This is where the common sense should kick in on the hunter's part. Instead of sitting in the same spots that aren't producing, why not go where the deer are actually at? This is why the longer concurrent season's are messing with you guys. A hunter will wait out a spot in a low density area and shoot the last doe there. instead of hitting a more productive area that can use the harvest. Scouting and productive efforts are lost when hunters are no longer under the gun to fill that tag within a three day window.
It all works out to an inconsistent use of the harvest as a means of controlling the herd across the landscape. Some hunters are unsatisfied and the GC does not get the harvest
that is warranted in the denser pockets of concentration.

In the populated areas there are very few SGL's andmost if not all other lands are posted. If I didn't own a few acres myself, I too would be on SGL's.

Up in thebig woods, there are those who claim that there are a lot of deer, I had posted on that PGC site that they should tell others hunters where all these deer are at. Then they said that hunters have to scout on thereown to find these spots. Seems to me, if they really believed that the herd should be reduced, they would tell hunters where these deer are at. To me they are either liars about all the deer they see or they are greedy and want them all for themselves.

"I am becoming more and more convinced that wildlife management would be better off if we worked from the general fund and told hunters to take a flying leap with their money." R.S. Bodenhorn - PA Game Commission WCO of Elk County


Sounds like something that would come out of his mouth.Retirement can't came soon enough for employees like him.

I am just wondering what you mean by moving to a different area? What is your definition of a different area? Are you talking about climbing up over the top to hunt the other side of the mountain? Are you talking about going across the road to hunt ther other mountain? Are you talking about moving 3 miles down the road to hunt a different location? Are you talking about moving toa different location in the county? Are you talking about moving to a different county? How far do you think you have to move to find these, "Pockets"?