bronko22000

Nah - not really I was just reading all the post on the " More on the failed Pa game commission deer plan - audit article " and figured this forum could use some lightening up.

So how many of you took the bait. Fess up!

wvhuntin4me

Was looking at buying a place in potter or tioga county, But i think i would be making a step back when it comes to wildlife populations, The first day of the wv gun season I turned down 3 buck 5 point 7 point 8 point... cant do that there or you will not get a deer.Killed the 8( in avatar pic) with bow.On none manage property

Pro-Line

Know what you mean WV...On my farm I saw 20 deer in the first hour and killed a decent buck by 9.

wvhuntin4me

proline i use to live and hunt in pa. It is by far the worst state to hunt. high deer hunter numbers low deer numbers. And fees out the but, and for what to sit in the woods and watch other hunters

moosemike

You're exactly right. I hunt out of state every year (not usually for deer though) and I get to see that PA is one of the worst states for seeing deer and the best state for seeing hunters out there.

Pro-Line

Deer are cyclic. When this board started umpteen years ago there were 100 posts from people crying that they wouldn't mind seeing just a couple deer a day if there were nicer bucks. "I sit out there and I see 50 deer a day and all I see are spikes". Now it is "I sit out there all day and I don't see any deer at all...but my neighbor killed a huge 10 pt"

Careful what you wish for. LOL

bluebird2

Deer are not cyclical. When the harvest exceeds recruitment the population decreases. When recruitment exceeds the harvest the herd increases. In PA harvests have exceeded or equaled recruitment since 2000 and as a result our herd has been decreased by around 40%.

Potterco

it would seem as those same 100 posters whom were crying about antlers are down to a handful of posters today...while the majority of Pa's hunters are justly upset they must live in a near deerless world created by Dr. Alt on false promises of huge 10 pts.
I wouldn't have minded reasonable deer numbers with a chance of seeing a bigger buck now and again...an I would feel safe in saying that's how the vast majority of hunters in Pa feel...trouble is the PGC pushed too hard to lower the numbers way beyond "slightly lower" with the help of slobs whom purchase 6 doe tags a year an fill them all.

Potterco

I know for a fact that in some WMUs the herd was decreased by more than 40%...in 3a it has been decreased by 65%+...decreased to such a point that even with the minor reductions in doe permits there the herd has kept decreasing...I have a letter from a biologisy of the PGC saying just that...yet the PGC refuses to make a serious adjustment to the doe tags in 3a.... that doesn't sound like it is management for the resource to me..it sounds like it is management of timber companies resources!

bluebird2

Hunting was a lot more fun when our group saw 10-20 doe in a day and no buck , then seeing 2 or3 der/day and no legal buck now with the new and improved DMP. During archery , I often wonder why I am wasting my time sitting in a tree when I could be cutting firewood for next year.