What kind of energy is needed for this? They already do it for turkey.

Actually I think that some of you took my post the wrong way, the "wiser" comment was to attract attention to the subject, but if you read more into depth I said that the weather was the main factor and not because it changed the deer's behavior, because it changed human behavior. On your average December day in Pennsylvania, there is usually atleast some snow on the ground and is pretty cold. We all know that the snow makes it a heck of a lot easier to see deer, infact today I had a deer 20 yards away from me standing in some slashings and I didn't see it until it snorted at me. As far as the warmer than normal weather is concerned, hunters aren't up and moving around trying to get warm hence nobody is moving the deer. Where I live and hunt, the deer have to be moved or else they'll head to the thickets as soon as the first shot is heard opening day and they'll stay there until they are forced out. That was my point.

My observations from this year.....(Bradford County)

* In archery season deer where everywhere where I hunt.
* Rifle season 1st day I saw 9 of which 1 was a buck that I could not tell how big it was cause he was in the brush and a couple of the does where huge!!.
*We hunt the 2nd week and we had snow one afternoon. Very few tracks but lots of deer sign.
* Little or no mast crop this year. BUT there were acorns on the ridgetops only none on the sides of the mountains, and that was were there was alot of deer and sign (on top). In areas alot of the previously timbered land has grown up to the point there is nothing for the deer to eat. (Pole timber) In those areas there is little or no deer sign at all.
*We also found the deer in the "THICK" brush. We drove one section of thick slashings and there were deer everywhere. Trying to get one by a watcher in that thick stuff is another story.

We ended up with 1 buck and 6 doe taken the 2nd week out of 7 guys. The buck scored 123 It was an 8 point with a a 18" spread, 10 inch g2's and 5-1'4" bases. This was the largest buck I have ever taken out of camp in 25 years of huntin up there. Now I saw numerous basket racked 8's. 7's and 6's in archery season. To my knowlege none of these deer were taken. Various camps in the area had fewer deer hanging. Most that did had Nice bucks and few does because our area does not have alot of doe hunting being done. All together on the game lands the 2nd week I saw 2 different vehicles parked !! thats it! n Little or no huntin pressure except for the first 2.5 days. Hardly anyone was out on either saturday!!

Are there fewer deer?? In our area maybe but I dont think so. I think they are concentrated in Thick cover, Ridgetops where there are acorns and ALot of deer moved off the mountain to the farm land where they were feeding in hayfields at night. We saw 3 buck at night in the head lights!!

I get a kick out of the numerous people in our area who come up to their camps....Shoot 20 times in to sight there rifle in on Sunday, spend the day walking thru the woods looking for there "spot", riding there 4 wheelers around all day (cant anyone walk more than a 100 yards anymore) then go up 100 yards behind camp, not see any deer and presume....Ah no deer this year, doe huntin killed them all????????
(AND I HEARD THIS ALOT THIS YEAR!!!!!)

Yah it was a tougher huntin this year...but we killed just as many as we always do. We just hunted till we found em and did not give up.

I noticed that too about campers................I've said that for years about them shooting round after round on Sunday, tromping through the woods not only on foot but with four-wheelers and one other thing, the cars are lined up down the road at night spotting. lmfao, it's nuts. as soon as all of this starts happening, the deer who have experienced it before run for cover and don't look back. It's simply amazing.

herdhunter you mentioned not seeing many hunters on gamelands after the first couple of days of rifle and very few on either Saturdays. What you did not mention is how many did you see on there blasting does in early MZ and archery seasons?
Was a time when you got 1 deer a year no matter what and that was IF you were lucky to draw a doe tag. hunbters went out in archery then waited to rifle to hunt buck than waited to hunt doe and then waited for the post Christmas seasons to try again for that 1 deer.
Nowadays deer can be hunted 365 days a yr in some places and with improvement and season lenghts in archery gear does are harvested easier not to mention scoped inlines in early MZ season. Most anyone draws at least 2 tags if they want them for doe. All to harvest more doe PRE RUT.
could be why you're not seeing more hunters after the first 2.5 days of rifle deer
Sure there are deer left and they are hiding...you'd be too if you had hunters trying to reduce you to 'burger 12 months a year. I got snow on the ground right now on the farm. Drove around the patch this morning know how many tracks I saw???? 2 sets 1 big 1 fawn. and these were coming out of a corn field I left standing for them for feed. 5-10 yrs ago I would've seen 75 sets of tracks in that field. now tell me the PGC isn't issuing too many doe tags in 3A

Oh there is no question that the herd has been drastically reduced and I am not saying that it was right, infact I'm pretty darned upset about it myself. I was just trying to stress the fact that there are still deer out there, just not as many. I'm hoping that the numbers increase for next year, because I don't know very many people that shot a deer this year. Maybe next year we'll see more............hopefully. I don't care what they (dr alt & the pgc) this is not healthy. I don't know about your area, but I also noticed that the squirrell population is nil where I live. I've seen a total of two grey squirrels since small game started.

Right on the Money Ulysses,and if Practices do not change between the Hunters or the Nazi Game Commission, we will not have to worry about Deer Hunting being a Part of our Culture ever again, because there will be none, except on Pay to Shoot Killing Grounds! Say what they will, the Insurance Companys have a Lot of Pull, and are Pressuring the Lawmakers to Eradicate the Whitetail Deer in Pa! Since the Beginning of Archery Season, till the End of Rifle, I seen Very Few Deer, and only several Buck, that One now calls my Freezer Home! What are we going to do? Who will Stop buying the Lisences? The only way to be Heard and be Heard Loudly, is to take the Money from the Lisence sales out of their Pockets! We need a Grass Routes Movement to Stop Hunting in the Keystone Sate, unless they Re Vamp the Flawed System.Most of the Hunters that iv talked to, want More Deer, not Bigger Racks! Who eats the Racks anyway? Id end this Post by saying to you, Good Hunting, but this is a Phrase that will become a Dinosaur,by which it's existance will only be left in the Tracks of our Imagination.