Buck Magnet

You should talk to a guy on here named Cardeer, he said the Exact same thing, exact. He is a great guy with lots of experience. I too really hope that business doesnt move in, it just causes trouble.

Good Luck This Season: Buck Magnet
"Hunting is not a sport, it is a passion, it is a WAY OF LIFE"

cardeer

Welcome to the board,I could live with the shotguns

BTBowhunter

Bigger racks are not the primary objective. They are a pleasant by product of a healthy herd that is in balance with the habitat and has a more natural buck/doe ratio. I'm kind of surprised that you havent had betterluck seeing good bucks now here in western Pa. What area do you hunt?

As for the midwest, Pa will never become quite like Illinois, Missouri or Iowa. There's just too many hunters here. I've hunted Pike County Ill for the last 5 years and have gotten to know quite a few folks out there. Yes, a lot of prime property is leased to hunters and outfitters but the "average joe" still have places to hunt according to the locals I've met.

Edited by - btbowhunter on 03/06/2002 06:01:50

NateBook

mostly Butler County and in this area I don't know of a pach of woods not being hunted, even the posted stuff. And other people I know who hunt Lawrence and Mercer counties say the same thing. I even have a fexible work schedule and can hunt everyday of the season until my tags are filled and its extremely hard to see good bucks. As far as my experience with Illinois, that might not be true for the entire state, that was just what I was told. We hunted many different properties and were told that when we park our trucks along the road out there to back them in so the locals wouldn't see your out of state plate. Evidentely so much of the area around there had been leased up that people couldn't find a place to hunt anymore and tires were known to be slashed. I just thought that was quite a shame. The area also had a poaching problem, we were told that again the area neighbors were upset about losing a lot of their hunting land and were poaching deer. We got proof of that on a deer we killed which was full of shotgun beebies. It's quite a business out there.

Buck Magnet

Hey NateBook

My family owns a cabin in Butler County. It is near Lake Arthur. The area around it looks like it would be good for deer hunting, we never hunt there, we just go up to the cabin to do some fishing at Lake Arthur. I have been walking around in the woods and seen a few nice bucks. The biggest one I ever saw up there was a 10 point that probablly would have been in the mid 130" range. I have seen alot of nice 8 points though. I'll tell you one thing though, nothing can beat the muskie and bass fishing at Lake Arthur, and the best time is have up there is when I am fly fishing in the Little Grand Canyon. Have you ever been to a little animal Zoo out there. I can't remember the name of it, but I do remember that it had a bunch of nice sculptures of indians. They have bear, elk, deer, wolves, bobcats, and a bunch of exotic animals. There was a buck up there, it was only a four point, but it was HUGE for a four point. The body on it was TINY though.

Good Luck This Season: Buck Magnet
"Hunting is not a sport, it is a passion, it is a WAY OF LIFE"

NateBook

Buck Magnet....now your in my neck of the woods....Lake Arthur is about 10 minutes from home. I take the highway past the lake everyday on my way home from work. It used to be Moraine State Park was actually no hunting but I'd say 10 or so years ago they opened the park up, the deer population got too high. I think initially it got hit real hard with hunters ecspecially during the rifle season and it still gets its share of pressure but I don't think it's too bad during bow season in some areas if you dont' mind a good walk in. One of the best farms I hunt is acutally not very far from the border of the park

Daethorn

Well I guess I am gonna be the oddball. I am against the point restriction, because I do not hunt for the rack I hunt for the meat. I am as happy with the 4 point I shot last year as the 6 I shot the year before. I always get my doe tag if I manage not to see any bucks and that has happened more than once. As for shotguns I think that would be cool, cuz all the morons in the woods would have to think before they just started throwing bullets around.

Buck Magnet

NateBook, I have had our pontoon boat out under that bridge so many times. I caught a bunch of nice bass from under there. I got my biggest muskie at Lake Arthur, 44". It was a big one. I love that area up there, it is a beautiful place. Just think thoug, if the amount of hunters drops because of Alt's plans, it might clear up even more for you, plus the size of the deer will go up. Then you will have a GREAT spot to harvest a trophy buck.

Good Luck This Season: Buck Magnet
"Hunting is not a sport, it is a passion, it is a WAY OF LIFE"

Jason N

Welcome everyone to the Natebook & Buck magnet local chatroom!<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

Daethorn,

Welcome to the forum. Just one question....why don't you harvest a doe for the meat first? It's really sad to think that taking a mature doe is somehow inferior to shooting an immature buck.

I agree on the shotgun issue, but there isn't a need for it in PA. With all the big woods and hills, there just isn't the types of hazards that mandatory shotgun-only seasons dictate.

NateBook

This is just a thought, again as I said in my first posting I am in favor of doing something like putting antler restrictions out there to help these bucks age a bit and I understand that growing big bucks isn't the ultimate goal but...I can't help but think that if we did put down the rifles here in PA and used shotguns instead we could still reduce the doe herd and I'd think a lot more bucks would live an extra year or two and maybe you wouldn't have to put antler restriction on bucks in PA and the people who are against them could still kill a smaller buck if they want to. A lot more bucks would get some age with shotguns only. Something to think about anyhow.....

&quot;A man's gotta believe in something, I believe I'll go bowhuntin'&quot;