PA Game Commission Finally
 

Addmitted their completely failed experiment.

Just read the minutes from the recent meeting and it looks like they are finally going to stop the slaughter of our deer herd. On the public land where I like to hunt it is absolutely terrible how small the herd has become.

Hunt 4C

Seeing an actual deer is a big surprise. I go back about 4 miles to hunt a huge area that has corn fields and clover filled trails and see no deer. Nothing. Before the Alt plan in the early 2000's we would see dozens of deer every time we hunted.

Cutting the concurrent doe season back a week and reducing the number of tags is a huge move forward.

Finally. Now maybe in 5 years we will have opportunities to see deer.

I know they wanted to reduce the herd but their method of doing so was not thought out thoroughly. I am not a biologist but even I know that the areas (WMUs) were too large to selectively harvest animals where they were over populated. We all know there are 'pockets' of large numbers of deer in certain area and very few in other areas within a given WMU. And this is due to private land without hunter access or within residential areas were hunting with a firearm is too dangerous to the residents.
Issuing X number of tags to a WMUs put a strain on the animals on public land and did not affect the population of those on private land. That and the fact that some (I hate to use the term) hunters would buy as many tags as they could just so they could say they killed so many deer. Even though they didn't need to. Some guys I know killed so many that they couldn't even give the meat away. Shameful in my opinion.
But we hunters have been telling the PGC for years that the deer herd was extremely low but they wouldn't hear it.

"POP" that's their head coming outta their ass. Done

Maybe people should put a lot of the blame on those idiots you mentioned that killed way more animals than they needed to just to do so. They didn't have those extra tags forced on them by PA! Just because tags are available doesn't mean a person has to buy or use them!

Not sure about Pa but here in Vt the tags are there more to generate revenue than to manage the herd....or so it seems

X10!!!!!!!! SPOT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hatchet Jack

I agree with the PGC having their heads up their butt and with PA probably having the largest 'slob' hunter population I've ever seen. Every year I hear people that shoot all these deer but don't want them and give them away.

Ohio and New York same problem.

I have personally witnessed the huge drives with the guys in funny hats and suspendors with wooded carts on the dirt road filled with deer. Women in their bright dresses helping to push and I am sure carrying a tag.

Total slaughter of deer on 4c. That is who we are dealing with so I don't think they are sportsman so we can really count on them to police themselves. The founding fathers slaughtered animals when left to their own and Alt and Co. invited them to do again this time.

For the past 10+ years I have obtained a doe tag just to try to save a deer from getting killed.

Another thing, the PGC used the "positive" report cards as a signal of how many deer were out there, not how many were killed. All the while demanding more people report their kills. Made no sense, they were using that data to say that the kill numbers were rising so there must be more deer out there.

It is a good move on their part (Game Commission). I am waiting for the "No nothings" on this forum to chime in about antler production. There is controlled burning planned and in progress in my area (4-C) right now. Would you believe that people are starting to write letters to try and stop the Game Commission from doing it? I am not really a fan of the Game Commission, but when they do try to go in the right direction they just can't win. Might be time to show some support for them if they are actually trying to correct a mistake.