vtbuckrulrss,

You are not breaking any new news to me. If I did not think that Dr. Alt or the Game Commission would use the decreased harvest as a reason to increase doe license allocations or gun season extensions then I would not have mentioned it in the first place....

I understand QDM and herd management but disagree with the way it is being approached at this point. The key focus should be on the herd distribution on private/public land as well as the proportion of deer hunters on private vs. public land in comparison to it.

What good is increasing doe license allocations if a majority of hunters that get the increased tags are hunting public land and the deer are on private, unaccessible, or only moderately hunted private land??

The answer is that it does no good at all.

I can't speek for the rest of the state, but at our property in Clinton county over the last 10 years just seeing a deer is considered a good day of hunting. At one time on our 900 acre spot you would see 40 to 50 deer a day. Granted the bucks are much better quality these days however finding them is tuff and in the big woods they don't follow patterns as much as in more open country. I think this is the area in PA that suffers the most lately where deer are concerned.

Herein lies the problem. I have feared (and stated) that we are becoming a have/have not hunting state. If you have access to private land, your hunting's great. The majority of hunters do not. So you must do one of two things, either regulate the number of deer hunters on public lands (like Arizona does), or make separate doe tags for "public" and "private land only". The WMU's have failed misserably in regulating either of those options. I have no objection on AR's. I could care less. However, seeing deer is a concern. The area between Allentown north to I - 84, from I - 81 to the NJ border has seen too much pressure and way too much killing. And I know other parts of this state are of the same status. So where are the deer in PA? Go to the following link and find out. Highest densities are SE and SW, areas high in population and private land.
http://www.i-maps.com/Qdma/frame/def...10100&MF=11000

Michigan issues their antlerless tags this way.

Hey mike, haven't we listened enough about your whining about the lack of deer??????????? How many deer will you have to have before you are happy? A deer behind every tree like there was years ago. Perhaps thats the reason why your area is so deer poor today.


Give it up already or get off your lazy butt and go scout a new area. There are PLENTY of deer around here (NEPA) and I for one CANT WAIT until next year. The decreased harvest around here will only mean more BIGGER BUCKS next year!!!!!! For us archery hunters the weather during Rifle season could not have been better (except if it was rain/fog for two weeks).

Numbers were down......no question but its not from lack of deer its due to hunting pressure, no one hunts anymore.

For god sakes i saw another 4 new ones dead on the highway today, and I saw 7 more live ones driving around today.

You are starting to sound like the 70 year old guys in the wilkes-barre times leader who are whining every weekend about ALT and the PGC every day.

You mentioned the area east of 81 and north of allentown. Just looking at the area adjacent to the PA turnpike I can tell you that it does not look like prime deer country. I was down there this weekend going to Cabelas. Man there is NO FOOD there for the deer!!!! All the trees are mature and there is little browse by the looks of it. As i stated before no food=no deer, you need a new area to hunt.

I suggest you read the rules about posting on this board. They are at the head of every category.

Sorry guys but I am with Mike on this one. His last post is very accurate in relation to my own personal experiences and, not to pick on you ilbback, but I do scout new areas on a regular basis. The problem is that public land is few and far between in Lehigh, Northampton and Bucks counties. Getting access to areas with good deer concentrations is difficult because with the large population in this area most private land already has some hunters on it and other landowners are unwilling to allow more hunters because of past "bad experiences". I can't tell you how many times I have walked up to a landowner to get permission to hunt snow geese only to hear "You can go right ahead and shoot as many geese as you like but no deer hunting as I allowed this guy on my property last season and....."

Again, I don't mean to pick on ya ilbback but that area off of the Turnpike just south of the Blue Mountain in Lehigh County is where the PA state record non-typical by bow was taken from. You could probably see the specific spot while you were driving by. I can understand how it might look somewhat "barren" during this time of the year but I suggest driving through at the end of spring/summer. You will see that there are no browse lines, several clearcuts along the mountain and a plentitude (is that a word?) of farms/crop fields just about everywhere you look.

So, how was Cabelas? I live about 20 minutes from there and always enjoy my visits.

I'm w/ PA and Mike on this. I have already started scounting new places for next year. The issue isn't that I am afraid to try new places - scout hard - knock on doors.

I believe that the majority of the public land is hurting for deer. Private land is a different story and access to private land isn't always easy.

Just because a few guys have some spots on public land that are good - you can't say that all public land is good. If you go back and read previous posts about sightings and such - I think the majority of guys reporting seeing less deer and harvesting less deer.

I still think HR on public land is too drastic and not enough is being done on private. Until you can find a way to balance this - I don't think there will be any improvements.

PA I would beg to differ with you on the area above the tunnel, i saw a browse line from the Bear creek exit most of the way till down off the hill, specially just below and above rt 80. (ITs mostly big timber with alot of laurel which is less than ideal habitat). Not really sure where blue Mtn is.

You guys have to realize that the lack of deer is not an entire state of PA problem. I am sorry about the lack of deer in your area. Maybe If my area was void of deer i would be crying too. I just find it very hard to believe that your problem has not been a long time in the making, and not just due to increased doe tags. You cant tell me that your hunting has dwindled to nothing in two years. I would believe its more habitat related than doe tag related.


Cabelas was OK........very crowded....and they did not stock everything the catalog sells which was dissapointing. But the mounts were worth the trip.........(Noticed they did not have any from PA.......YET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

PS: Sorry if i offended you mike