jhalfhill

Everyone I know here in PA is grumbling about the same thing. There aren't near as many deer as their used to be. I believe the only way to satisfy both trophy hunters and meat hunters is the removal of the 2 week antlerless season and go back to the 3 day antlerless season. More button bucks would survive and the antler restrictions would ensure that they would reach maturity before being killed. More big bucks. Less time to kill does, so more does. Therefore, we see more deer. Some friends and I have each e-mailed the PA Game Commission about this and the subject is being reviewed. Hopefully they will pass it at a board meeting. Fellow PA hunters please e-mail this address and voice your concerns on the subject of depleted deer and let them know that you would support a 3 day doe season.

[email protected]

cardeer

Never happen ,But it makes sense th hunters not politicians

rybohunter

1. they were supposed to reduce the deer population. Someplaces it just may have been over done
2. they can keep the 2 week season, just drop the numbers of doe tags handed out.
3. antler restrictions aren't about 'trophy' hunting. In most of the state a scrubby little 5 pt with a 6" spread would be a legal buck. Yea that's makin ya wait on a monster there.

chickory

Not everyone is grumbling. There will be people at the Jan meeting who will be real proponents of MORE herd reductions. Last Jan meeting several grouse hunting groups gave testimony that more is needed until the PGC reaches its goal of 12dpsm (and pa on the pgc websites most recent annual report shows we are at 25dpsm ave).

The PaNWTF testified the PGC should stay the course on herd reductions as did the United Bowhunters of PA and PFSC. Many DCNR employees also testified as the merits of more herd reductions and there were several timber company owners there urging even more stringent reductions for pa. And of course Audubon and Peter Pinchots herd reductions advocates were there at the microphone too.

Sooooooo.... if you do attend, you better take along a couple buds. You will be up against quite a few sportsmans groups and nonhunters groups who love herd reductions which have only just begin in pa. Up till 2004 the PGC says "the herd has only been stabilized and is at a record high of 1.6 million". You may not agree with that, as most pa hunters know that what they experienced in the woods is not an all time high. And our declining harvests for 3 years shows their eyes are pretty well adjusted.

Pa leaders want the herd reduced much more than what you see today. If you did not like this year, you're really not going to like next. Recruitment of fawns will be down as a result of the smaller herd, and it will take less hunters next year to harvest enough deer to reduce the OW herd again for 2006(its smaller, thus less needed to hit the goal).

You are supposed to love seeing less deer, because flowers and trillium and neotropical birds are going to rebound and prosper. Sure buck harvests in pa have dropped from 203,000 pre-Alt to 165,000 then dooooown to 142,000 last year and a dismal 120somethingK this year but hey, a couple of guys took home deer that weighed 4 more pounds due to herd reductions!! So that should more than make up for 80,000 more hunters going home without bucks...... Right?



Herd reductions for Pa.... its the wave of the future. Less for everyone.

Chrisvst

I have permission on some private land in Wayne County (NE PA) and there are still too many deer. I don't see 150 does on opening day like I used to, but there are still too many. The forest is munched beyond recognition and it will take years to recover. I would have supported doe only seasons for a few years. Sorry that other parts of the state have the reverse problem..I guess this is why they have Deer management Zones, vs Statewide regulations.

quiksilver

I feel like I'm drowning in a river of tears here in PA.

I guess the floodwater has changed my opinion. I saw deer before Herd Reduction, I see plenty of deer now. For anyone having problems seeing deer, come on down to good ole' Fayette County, we're overrun with the stinking things.

I guess I'm just tired of hearing this whining, and I agree that some areas are probably overshot.

As for harvest numbers on the slide, take a look at the license sales - they're on the slide, too. Let's face it, PA hunters are getting OLD - going blind, deaf, and have increasingly limited physical capabilities. Of course their success rates are going to decline, it's common sense.

At any rate, I hope we keep and/or increase the Antler Restrictions, but I guess the herd reduction could go or stay, I am indifferent. I was pro-H.R., so all this crying has swayed my opinion (probably just an appeasement offering).

chickory

So basically you are of the opinion that as long as deer are plentifull in your area, you do not care about your fellow sportsman, who are not experiencing the same overpopulation.

And YOU term anyone who shows a concern and wants hunters to have input to the Game Commissions meetings, and input to 'thier' hunting.......as a whiner. Hmmmmm. Speaks volumes about your character.

As for being in an area of overpopulation, you have all the tools you could ask for to address the problem. Liberal doe tags, DMAP, Red tag, crop damage are all ways to eliminate that problem. But what program is there to address an underpopulation? Oh, thats right there is only the "cross your fingers and wait" program. In a few years your population might rebound.

Those who have not experienced the reductions in thier back yard are very flippant about the concerns of anyone else. But when it eventually comes to their area, they sober up in a hurry. Its only a matter of time. The reductions have just started in pa, and they will get to your area eventually......... so you have the luxury of being rather snotty now and calling people whiners, but remember "ye reap what ye sow".

One thing that has is not based on opinion in pa. Dropping buck harvests of a huge scale.

203,000 2001
165,000 2002
142,000 2003
1XX,000 2004


If we drop this season to the 130,000 neighborhood then that is a 35% reduction in the harvest under the current regs. And you are seriously attempting to attribute that drop to "Let's face it, PA hunters are getting OLD - going blind, deaf, and have increasingly limited physical capabilities. Of course their success rates are going to decline, it's common sense.


Yeeeeeeeaaah, Pa's harvest drop has nothing to do with herd reductions. Its just that older hunters are now forgetfull, and young hunters can't hunt as well?

Puhhhhlleeease!

quiksilver

I might have to buy another climing stick for next season and move my stand up another 10 feet. Tear flood waters are rising. I just ordered a new snorkel on ebay.

Chickory - they are whining - whining because they're seeing 4 deer instead of 7, seeing 10 instead of 15, seeing 50 instead of 75. What you call "voicing opinions," I call "whining."

I am simply making that argument that those problems, paired with the woods having a few less deer in them, makes for a tougher (and less successful) hunt. Read the numbers, look at the average ages. PA hunters are entering their golden years, it's no secret.

Besides, I said I changed my mind (mostly due to the whining) and now support a rollback of Herd Reductions. I feel that certain tracts of land have achieved adequate herd levels to achieve adequate regrowth of native plant species.

Deer aren't gonna become extinct. They aren't endangerd species. You won't have to go to a zoo to look at one.

Chrisvst

While the buck harvest is dropping,
aren't these lucky 50,000 yearling bucks being compensated by the additional doe harvest
meaning that the total PA harvest is about the same.
Obviously increasing the doe harvest will have a multipier effect,
and this is what PA needs.
Sorry about those parts of the State that are hurting.
and by all means complain. Hopefully the system is flexible enough to change things based on the Deer Management Units.
If you want to see a real disaster, check with your friends in upstate NY, many of whom haven't even seen a deer this season.
By the Way, Gary Alt is leaving his position next week.
In my opinion, he is the best thing to happen to the State of PA in my lifetime.
Hopefully his replacement will be as scientific, flexible and energetic as Alt was.

Hacimsaalk

sorry but i aint gonna do that, i think the deer population is right where it should be, i didnt see many bucks, but i dont hunt the antlers, im a meat hunter.