Charlie P

Every QDM program has some type of solution for this in their program. If you leave them in the gene pool they won't be in the minority for long. There's an army base in NY that has tons of piebald and albino deer also extreme minority,that is until they can keep breeding.

buckmine

Why 3 points to a side? To me that is drastic.

Why not start off with forks only or above?

Push the average from 1.5 to 2.5. That might be a start to bigger bucks.....

muzzyman88

Maybe, maybe not. Explain Canadian whitetails. A lot of massive bucks taken there each year and not a crop field to be had. My opinion is its a combination of the two, but more influenced from food quality.


I agree with this.

I honestly don't see our hunting getting much better either way. We will never be an illinois, kansas or any mid-west caliber state for that matter. I think our quality can improve, but not like some think.

Who knows, maybe in 10 or 20 years PA will be like Kansas. If you don't have a lease, own property or hunt a regulated ranch with an outfitter, you probably arent' going to be hunting that year.

rybohunter

charlie, true that a strict qdm has provisions for that but we can't even get by with this let alone get any stricter. I still think that people will shoot them on thier own regardless of the laws, that's how things are here in pa

Buckmine
with the size of our deer, forks to a side won't save many 1.5, our rules are set to save 50% 1.5 to get them to 2.5

muzzy,
I'm, not saying that ALL mountain areas are bad in food, but some. I've seen giant bucks come out of PA mountain areas, its just that usually they take longer cause they need the extra years to make up for some areas of poorer food.

bigshane243

DR ALT has taken much most of the blame for the low deer numbers in pa,sure his plan was not perfect,but many hunters still bought doe license and extra tags. I knew that the numbers would be down this season,but i still got a doe license and would have shot a doe,but after the first three days of no deer sightings i decided it would not be worth shooting a doe.Chastize me all you want ,but hunters have to shoulder some of the blame to, i will no longer buy a doe license until the numbers are up again,bucks only for me

chickory

We are not going to chastise you, but it is not a very well thought out statement to say hunters are the ones to blame. Thats just a cop out.

If hunters were to just regulate themsleves there would be no need for a PGC. We could all just do as we see fit. But thats silly. If hunters were to just regulate themselves we would have no need for AR regs. We would just put out a memo saying "hey don't shoot any small ones" and it would happen....." Right? no......

No there is one agency in pa that regulates the harvests by alloting tags in pa and its not the Dept. of Transportation.... its the PGC. With thier bloated overly large wmus' and over amillion tags floating around pa THEY regulate what the take will be.

Trying to misplace the accountability on the general hunting population for regulating the harvest is folly. Pure and simple.

There is no state in the US that just leaves it up to hunters how many deer are to be taken.......

wingbar

who pulls the trigger the PGC or the hunter? just because I have a drivers liscense in Pa doesn't mean I must drive if I choose not to, I could take mass transit couldn't I?
many years I have bought a doe tag and not used it and many years to come I may not use one. the choice is mine not the PGC .
some of the older men in the camp I go to in Sullivan County won't use a doe tag yet they buy one every year, I guess it goes back to "the old days" when deer numbers were depressed. Todays deer population is also depressed on the state forest land we hunt around Forksville we CHOOSE not to kill while other CHOOSE to kill.

bigshane243

chickory,i did not state that all hunters are to blame,we share the responsability as hunters to show some restraint,if the number of deer in your wmu are low dont shoot the does , let them walk. just because the game commission sells thousands of doe license doesn,t mean we have to kill a doe for every tag,selling all the alloted tags doesn,t kill the deer,WE DO! I f the game commission will not lower the allotment of tags then we will have stop killing so many does.

White-tail-deer

I agree bigshane243, I have been saying this for a while now. We are as vital to the management of the deer herd as the PGC is. I don't see the PGC making smaller WMU's, lowering tags and micro managing the state so who else is there to do it???? The trigger men!! We are the guys in the field actually seeing how many deer are around, regardless of what the PGC number's say. We must micro manage while continuing to put pressure on the PGC to change some things that are broken! Or we can continue to complain and shoot away!!!

deaddeer

Could you please explain how you propose to make hunter self constraint an effective management tool. Alt spent two years crisscrossing the state giving talks and almost every outdoor writer encouraged hunters to follow Alt's plan and they did. How do you intend to overcome the effects of two years of PR by the PGC. What sportsmens group will support your idea and get the word out to the masses?