Now what?
 

By now most of you hunting in places like the NC realize the deer numbers are low.Very low.Some say habitat,others say doe tags,yet some say predators.Or all three.
Bottom line is I doubt the deer numbers are going up anytime soon if at all.How are you going to handle this situation?Move?Sell your cabins?Hunt the sw?Hunt Ohio?
Or just keep on trucking and hunt the way things are.
We've been discussing leases in Maryland but I hate to go that route.There's a very remote area near camp that holds deer with some nice bucks but my ass aint going back there.Been there done that.My sons probably will.
By the way manyspurs,after talking to guys hunting in Potter it seems the turkey populations are really down.Is that true?

Things arent going to change for us. Been in the Cross Fork area all our lives. Some relatives bought summer homes in Raystown, another bought some farms above Rt 6. We're all still keepin our camps. Deer arent the only things keepin us there. It truly is God's country. And we love it!

Very poor hatch last spring. Didn't seen many flocks this fall at all. What flocks I did see consisted of bunches of old hens, and small groups of longbeards. I seen one big flock above Blackwell near the Dynamite Shack that had 32 birds in it, including birds of the year, and that's the only flock I seen that consisted of young birds.

As for deer hunting in this area for me, I don't feel right about killing a deer in these parts so I guess if I want to hunt Pa I'm just gonna have to bite the bullet and spend the gas money to run back and forth to the farm country north of 49 if we decide to purchase a Pa licenses. That's a very iffy situation right now. I also have a private farm that I can hunt in Northampton County that has a good number of deer, so that's a possibility. Just something that doesn't feel right about leaving Tioga/Potter to go hunt deer downstate though.

I also have the option of hunting New York, but since my buddy died up there I'm not to certain if I'll be ready for that. Then there's the Buckeye State. I have a farm I can hunt in Ashtabula, and I just might move my hunting endeavors there full time. In fact, we were just talking to a realtor about putting the for sale sign up after the holidays.

But you are right Germain. It ain't gonna get any better anytime soon in these parts. Like someone said, the Perfect Storm has hit the bigwoods, and it will take many moons for this herd to replentish itself if at all. I don't see anything good happening until we at least get a set of BOCs with gonads enough to bring predator numbers(primarily bears) down significantly. We had a decent birthing of fawns this year but by the end of August they were non-existent.

The MD deer numbers didn't seem that bad this year. It was a poor hatch last year so if the numbers are down then that's why. With all the bad weather this late in the year it may give the deer a better chance with not so many hunters out. We'll see when the final kill numbers come in.

I will be hunting Ohio more. I have started waterfowl hunting and do more upland hunting with my shorthair because the deer hunting sucks in central pa. I have been a die hard deer hunter my whole life and still love archery more than anything else but I think the PAGC got it's last dime out of me for an archery tag. I wouldn't buy a license at all if not for having my dog.

I'm moving up to God's country. In the process of buying a house in Tioga county...2 miles from Hammond Reservoir. Should be there by the end of January. :rock:

I still own land in Tidioute, our families camp. The meth heads burnt the camp down .

I now hunt my own land in Crawford county, its not as bad as the big woods but its getting there ,year by year.

The talk of guys just quiting bothers me but I don't know how things will change for the better.

New blood,and new education.

You hunters in the NE are not alone. Here in WI, we have a DNR that is controlled by the Governor, appoints the director, and we have been issued doe tags at a pace that the herd cannot keep up with.
For myself, I will always buy a license. But more importantly, may not ever use it again, at least for the near future. If we as hunters and fishermen don't buy a license we are shorting ourselves in the long run.

If we don't buy licenses, the DNR files a claim against their insurance to make up the difference and we wind up paying for that as well.

So please, buy the license, even if you never use it again.

I'm not quite in the NC like a lot of you guys but much of the ANF areas are very similar. Personally, I just plowed a bunch of money into camp and am using more than I have in a long time. We do less deer hunting there than we did 15-20 years ago but that situation has evolved more because of the better opportunities near home that didn't used to exist. There's still something about PA's northwoods that draws me back over and over. It's very likely that camp will become home once the younguns have all moved on

"I now hunt my own land in Crawford county, its not as bad as the big woods but its getting there ,year by year."

I know what you mean Jim. Same deal down here. 55000 tags is taking its toll. For not even being an sra, thats a joke. We are far far below cc, and numbers are half what they used to be, and thats if you believe the data. Id bed less, as most arent even seeing close to half what we used to. Hunting can be fine if you have completely off limts property to hunt. But the tags have taken there toll and they arent being responsibly dropped as they shouldve been years ago when the goal supposedly became stabilization. Every since, its been a slow steady drain. Much of Western Pa is currently living on its reputation from what ive read posted on a couple posts. The western part overall used to have tons of deer. Not so now. Hunter dissatisfaction is extemely high. Compared to other areas of the state there are more pockets with deer especially in completely off limits areas and urban areas like parts of unit 2B, but thats more or less because more of those areas exist in this part of the state. Units 2C have taken far more pounding then shouldve been the case, 2A is in a steady downhill spiral, and Jim says his area up in crawford is declining. So much for the great west. 2B has high deer density in pockets, gives good odds of killing a good buck, but good luck with the access. Adjustments are needed across the board.

"The talk of guys just quiting bothers me but I don't know how things will change for the better.

New blood,and new education."

I agree. New blood in the game commission is exactly what we need, coupled with education on the need for addressing hunter concerns to some extent in deer management issues.:rock:

Btw, nice camp btb.

That thing would go beautifully for me on the border of the Shawnee in Ohio! :D

We got permission to hunt some farms here but there's too many people hunting it.The gamelands get hammered so there's few deer but we hit it for archery sometimes.
You can't beat hunting the bigwoods though.When I'm perched in my treestand at the cabin with the smells and colors of fall I'm in another world.I just wish the PGC would make some serious adjustment on the anterless allocations.I don't need to see the deer we saw in the 80's but man it's getting tough just finding a few.

Thanks Corn.

Put a ton of work into the place over the last 2 years. It's obviously not just deer camp. It's trout, walleye, bass, musky, turkey, pheasant, squirrel, canoeing, card playin, beer drinkin and porch mindin camp.

Even work around camp is relaxing and enjoyable. Work around the house is.... well....work!

I was just mentioning that area in ohio because that would be my #1 choice of an area within reasonable driving distance for a campsite. That doesnt mean other areas might not be great as well, i didnt necessarily mean it wasnt great right where its at, im sure having tens of thousands of acres of public land for a playground right out the door has its good points, here in Pa or nearly anywhere else. Ive thought long and hard on a couple of occaissions about trying to get ahold of a small piece bordering a large Pa public land area in another part of the state and building a small cabin just for a change of pace. Only reason i havent is because the few of us who hunt together most often are a pretty tight knit group and some are hard-headed pains in the arse (lol) and dont like to go elsewhere other than within say 30-40 miles from home at most the areas we're most familiar with, so it'd probably be just me and one family member that would ever be traveling to use it. For that reason i just havent been able to justify the expense and work.

dcnr has brainwashed so many people or should i say,THEY ARE PEOPLE THAT WANT TO GO PLACES.even our sportsmans clubs are being run by people that walk the talk.
this is happening because of lack of interest in getting involved.when door is left open, in comes WALK THE TALK PEOPLE.

this is why a lot of great sportsman have quit the clubs and now hikers are taking over or are being active.folks,no doubt in my mind that we are going to continue to lose influence in state and locally too.by not being active and spending time trying to stop this mess,we are losing as hunters.
i see deer hunting getting a lot worst in state of pa.i was very shocked to read about how bad deer hunting is getting on privateland too and in areas that used to have good numbers of deer in farm areas out of big woods...........

i did see something that showed a little hope.
i saw local crews in renovo area of clinton county that did not kill a doe this year because of lack of doe but some were shocked to only see 4 deer in 6 days of hunting the first week........
i was pleased to hear some kids say, DAD I DONT WANT A DOE THIS YEAR.I WILL HUNT BUCK..
that was good to hear also and 2 were kids that hunted their first year too.but i only saw 4 kids this year but know of 100 that have license.

this is why i feel that only KID SHOULD BE ABLE TO HARVEST A DOE HERE IN CLINTON COUNTY.no adult can kill a doe in wmu2g.
its that bad right now in clinton county............
right now almost everyone i talk too is going hunting with flintlock next 2 weeks. i only hunt buck in this season but almost all i know are doe hunting.
i guess we just dont get it,kill, kill, kill until they are gone.

Once I realized that DR. Alt was full of crap during his dog and pony shows, I knew the hunting in PA. was going to crap. I also knew that if I wanted to keep enjoying hunting I needed to find another state to start hunting in and fast!! So I started hunting OH. and never looked back! Havent hunted in PA in years and could care less. Pike

i was shocked to see what the taxes were in ohio on land.like 40 dollars for 15 acres or so.here in clinton county they put the knife to camps/landowners with new assessment last year.

1 acre of land in big woods was about 1,000 acre assessed.NOW its 12,000/16,000 a acre.:bash:this was brought about because george bush cut out the federal money coming to states before he left.
so our local taxes went thru roof and now they are going to raise it 11% more.:bash:
this has caused the former owners of land to SELL off in mountains. in comes the NEW JERSEY hunters and buy up every acre.the first thing they do is put up NO TRESSPASSING signs and WIRE FENCE...............
this land was open to all before this but cannot afford taxes, so they sell out......

sorry got off track again but my point is,you are right, for many reasons the other states are drawing our hunters that used to stay home..........

Unfortunately you hit on what will be ultimately the demise of hunting for the common man. When there are large bucks to harvest it gets worse. Finding a place to hunt on private land used to be accomplished by a visit and a handshake. Now that handshake needs to be accompanied with cash and the winner is the one who offes the most. Here in Vermont it is our right to hunt any land that is not posted. Good sportsmanship dictates that a visit to ask is best but it is our right as hunters in this state to hunt. I can see that coming to an end and soon leases will take up all the open private land even though our bucks don't grow to trophy proportions. This pushes more people to the available pub lands and causes the quality of hunting to just get worse.

Hunters as a group have become an elitist bunch , Bow hunters, gun hunters,muzzle loaders and now cross bowers.

While I grew up you either hunted or you didn't, no one was a.............hunter you were just a hunter, just like America, no ones just a Proud American, you have to be ______American, you fill in the blank, I won't cause it just like _______ hunters it just plain pizzes me off.

Oh ya Merry Christmas.