I have to change my position.I can't and won't call the poster a liar but just say I'm skeptical.
Correct me if I'm wrong BT but was the public land you were hunting on out in the western part of the state?I read and hear there's good populations out there on public lands.Man in the last couple of years I've been hunting in Berks,Lancaster,Lebanon,Daupin,Perry,Centre,and Clearfield counties and haven't come anywhere close to seeing 120 deer in a season let alone 40 together.I know quite a few hunters and the people I've talked to would need close to 10 seasons to hit those numbers.

And that's the point BB.How can the habitat support that many deer?At least according to the PGC.I wonder if this public land is in the bigwoods?

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Correct me if I'm wrong BT but was the public land you were hunting on out in the western part of the state?I read and hear there's good populations out there on public lands

Public lands here in the southwest are often spoken of as being great hunting by the locals. Generally followed by alot of cussing the game commission or snickering.

As for reading great things about public land hunting, I hear grand reviews of any wmu mentioned by a few pgc supporters, even super reveiws of the very worst units in the state on a couple of boards on a daily basis. Id suggest taking them all with a grain of salt. Not calling them liars either. Just very skewed "different" perceptions based on their values which include things most of us hunters dont necessarily share as being highest priorities.

I love how just because I posted that I saw a lot of deer on public ground in PA that people think I am making it up. I hunted 14 times on that area of public ground in central pa during bow season and saw 25 bucks, 114 does/fawns, and 8 unidentified deer. Only 1 of those 14 outings were in the morning and the rest were sits during the last few hours of light. I took my buck on November 2nd and that was the last day of bow season I hunted so I didn't even really get to hunt the rut. This is in an area with corn and soybeans planted so it can sustain more deer then other areas but the ratio of does to bucks is way too high. Now yes some of these sightings were definitely the same deer, so i would estimate I saw 15 different bucks, and 50-60 different does and fawns during the season. I also had a trail camera out during the rut and got 5 different bucks on camera that I had not seen while hunting. While scouting and looking for sheds in the past few months on this piece, I saw one group of 27 does and fawns and several other groups of 10 or so. A lot of deer made it through the seasons and I don't expect too many others to die because of the food available for them.

And do I think the PGC DMP in centre county is a miserable failure? I think in this area it is because not enough does are being taken. This property should give out DMAP coupons to take care of that. I do agree that in other areas the PGC DMP has been a miserable failure because of too many deer being shot but without smaller WMUs it is going to be hard to level all areas out. Some areas can certainly hold more deer than others and more deer can be taken in these areas and in a lot of areas allocations need to be decreased to limit the number of does taken. I never said I agree with the PGCs plans, but there are plenty of deer out there in certain areas, and some of those areas are public ground

Hunt I take it this public land isn't SGL or state forest land since you mentioned soy beans?As far as I know the PGC doesn't plant soy beans.What type of public land is it?

Thanks for clarifying your position Jason, and alot of it certainly makes sense.

Yes my results are from the west end. Most of my public ground situations are 2F with a few in 2D

Thats correct that it is neither sgl or state forest land, it is Penn State owned property but it is open for anyone to hunt and a lot of people do hunt it. Now from what I saw it is probably hard to hunt during gun season but a large number of deer could be killed during bow season with not much effort. I saw that many deer and didnt lay foot on the property until the second week of bow season. Didnt see all too many guys during archery but like I said there were guys parked every where around the area on the first day of rifle and guys were drivin the heck out of it in flintlock. I think the numbers are so high because there is so much food for the deer and because there is private ground including a small development close by which I think deer run to when the shooting starts. Also corn was still standing during rifle season here so they had a lot of cover.

I was just trying to make the point that there are some good opportunities out there on public ground. I understand a lot of people arent seeing many deer at all and think there arent many deer left, and in a few areas I hunt I have seen less deer too but I have seen bigger bucks in those areas then in the past. I feel that a lot of the deer have just moved to suburban areas and farms and arent found where there used to be substantial numbers.

So how many doe did you take in Centre county while waiting for the P&Y buck? if you truly believe more deer should be harvested in this area why don't you post specific directions to that property so we can all help the PGC reach their deer density goal of less than 15 DPSM

you say there are plenty of deer on public land in certain areas. Are there enough deer that hunters statewide can harvest 203K buck like we did in 2000 and 2001? are there enough deer that we can harvest 300K doe without reducing the herd even more?

Welp looks like ya found a good spot Jason.When you said Centre county I assumed you were talking about the big woods.
My mistake