Why does everyone look down on PA?
08-05-2016, 01:41 PM
#54
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 3,359
Actually Rock, Pa has some damn fine farmland and dirt in a LOT of areas. The main reasons behind the generally smaller body size of the past was poor conservation practices leading to horrible habitat to population numbers. Not to mention the "if it's brown it's down" mentality and the lazy stump "hunters" <--(note the quotations) and basically just plain old stupidity abounding among the hunting community. While OT and I often argue about the aggressiveness of the deer reduction program in several areas I hunted up in Northern Pa, the overall state population of deer were really helped and seem MUCH healthier now. Larger bodies, bigger racks, just over all good looking deer are coming back. They have always had good quality, high nutrition browse, just not enough to feed the out of control population.
You have to have good dirt to make it possible(natural or man made) but good dirt doesn't mean your going to have big deer no matter what.
08-06-2016, 08:14 AM
#56
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Audubon & Red Rock, Penna.
Posts: 4,472
The soil on our land is thin and acidic so it is a challenge to grow certain things. But Mother Nature is clever and gives us plenty of native plants that are good for deer. Our property is all overgrown clear cut, so they have an insane amount of browse. Not the quality of agriculture, but it will do. Beech nuts, cherry, blueberries and apples are the mast species we have.
We have two large fields that we have been liming, fertilizing and rotating crops on for a good 10 years now. The soil there is now excellent. Also, in the winter, we put out about a dozen 1000lb bales of high-moisture alfalfa. I love watching our best bucks eating that all winter and know they will be well fed until spring green up.
We have two large fields that we have been liming, fertilizing and rotating crops on for a good 10 years now. The soil there is now excellent. Also, in the winter, we put out about a dozen 1000lb bales of high-moisture alfalfa. I love watching our best bucks eating that all winter and know they will be well fed until spring green up.
08-06-2016, 08:18 AM
#57
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Audubon & Red Rock, Penna.
Posts: 4,472
Oh yeah, if anybody wonders how we have beech nuts, apples and cherries with al the overgrown clear cuts, I failed to mention that there are a few areas on the property that were left as mature forest and there's an orchard with about 15 apple trees.
My dad and I have planted 450 oak trees since 1994 to make up for the lack of those since the cuttings. The first one had a small acorn crop last year.
My dad and I have planted 450 oak trees since 1994 to make up for the lack of those since the cuttings. The first one had a small acorn crop last year.
08-18-2016, 12:35 PM
#58
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,926
Why would anyone pick on the poor Pa hunters
Why they are the same people who want to hunt 200 yards from a road or trail, and pick a spot where there are more than 12 hunters per square mile. And now they are using tree stands that commit them to one place. 
08-18-2016, 01:06 PM
#60
Super Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Trumbull County, Ohio
Posts: 9,520
He said "The people that complain and pick on PA hunting are the same people who want to hunt 200 yards from the road or trail, the same people who hunt where there a 12 hunters per square mile, and the same people who build a treestand in one spot and only ever hunt there!"
Why they are the same people who want to hunt 200 yards from a road or trail, and pick a spot where there are more than 12 hunters per square mile. And now they are using tree stands that commit them to one place.
Why they are the same people who want to hunt 200 yards from a road or trail, and pick a spot where there are more than 12 hunters per square mile. And now they are using tree stands that commit them to one place.