Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Pennsylvania whitetails

This one stepped out in front of a gal in a minivan last year right near the Indiana/Cambria line.

His is 257 bob

Anybody have a pic of that giant non typical that was found dead in Potter last winter? That thing was unreal but I can't seem to find a pic of it.

Here is one I only saw once before the season and not during. Check out the hams and shoulders. His nickname most definitely wasn't Tiny.

Speaking of dead. Looked down from higher up and thought I had caught this one in his nest. Put the scope on him, but something didn't look right. I'm guessing he had been there since the previous day.

This?
https://www.wideopenspaces.com/enormous-pennsylvania-dead-head-gets-found/

Yes thank you

Found dead in Potter county

Agree 1000%.

Yes, I also agree that the emphasis on antlers only has changed deer hunting for the worse. Like everything else in America today big money and commercialization has co-opted this great sport.

These guys will post a picture of a nice 8 point and ask if they should shoot or pass on it. If they give the least hint that they'd shoot it, or God forbid that they actually did, they get attacked by the trophy hunting crowd for not "letting it go". My hunt, my choice-STFU and do what suits you-I'll do what suits me, as long as it's legal.

Heck I shot a 6 pointer last season. But it was pretty nice.

This is why you have to be flexible in choosing your hunting grounds. 30-40 years ago you could see 50+ Deer per day here. It couldn't support them then and the habitat can't support many today. This would be in one of the traditional mountain counties. Either Clinton or Cameron and isn't good Deer grounds by any measure. What will hold them over the winter? Ferns? These pics represent a large percentage of that country today. If you are going to hunt this kind of cover then accept you are going to see few Deer.

Because of it, for decades Deer have been migrating South to better feed. And the better feed is often on privately owned land. It is going to take something extraordinary-extensive timbering would be the best, a big burn perhaps second-to have them repopulate much of our traditional hunting areas.

If one hunts were there are a lot of Deer, then they have increased opportunity to pick, pass and choose. In these pics one best think about shooting now.
There are parts of the ANF that have big large tracts of timber cuts and probably some other areas across the Northern Tier. If I wanted to hunt the North country, that is were I would be.


http://s49.photobucket.com/user/patraildogs/slideshow/Sproul%2010K%20Training/?albumview=slideshow

lots of hunters treat hunting like a football game. highest score wins and at any cost. the "bone hunter" mentality is what i call it. thats fine if thats your thing but its not mine. and the PAGC is playing into that mentality. deer hunting has not been the same in PA since they implemented combined seasons, antler restrictions and increased doe licenses. is it better or worse? depends on your mentality about hunting. i would like to shoot a big buck but i also like to shoot does and even spikes when they were legal. to me its more about the heritage of hunting and the self reliance aspect than the biggest buck. i could shoot a lot bigger bucks on my property around my house but really don't enjoy hunting in suburban settings. if thats your thing, go for it. its not mine. as i've said many times before, i'll take a nice doe in the mountains over a nice buck in the burbs. speaking of which, i saw a real hog in the field across from my house a few weeks ago. nice to look at. maybe i'll find his sheds. wait, does that make me a bone hunter???

Actually there isn't really any difference, some of the roads will have you in and out of both counties.
Cameron is a very small county, surrounded by Potter, Elk, Clearfield, and Clinton.
Almost no farmland to speak of in either county especially back from the main highways.
Ridges are very steep in both counties, especially along the valleys with the larger streams.
When I was young, our camp was in what is now the Quehanna Wliderness area along with many others.
Today our property adjoins the wilderness area not far from Driftwood.
Im frankly of the opinion that there were multiple reasons for the major reduction in the deer herd that got underway in the late 70s in that area. And it has much to do with making room for the expansion of the Elk herd which is now much larger than most think it is.

Horse shiit, the primary reason was the hunters. The GC gave out the tags like candy and the hunters didn't have enough common sense to lay off the sugar as the herd obviously dwindled. We did the killing. “Damn GC. Hey there are two more, load up”.

Decent woods surrounded by farm land. Compared to the above if you are a Deer were would you want to live?

You are 100% right about hunters doing the damage.
PGC loves to $ell tags, and these idiots kill everything they can.
Our numbers have been seriously reduced here. And they still $ell
big numbers of doe tags. Now we have CWD, and we have DMAP tag
numbers that more or less match the doe tags. They all get sold.

I have done a lot of damage myself in the past. But now I hate to kill a doe,
and usually only do if I am hunting on a farmer who wants them killed.



I got a survey about CWD. Judging by the questions, I think they would like to annihilate the
deer in this area. And I don't mean reduce. But like Wisconsin tried.
They asked questions like, How would you feel about a short term elimination of the deer in a CWD area,
to eradicate the disease. Followed by a repopulation. (I was going to use quotes. That's not an exact quote)

My biggest complaint with the GC is they don’t like rifles and bullets. They however do love the quiet twang of the bow and now the crossbow.

Yep, the only thing they like about black powder is the tag $.

When they finally gave us an early season crack at deer, it is doe only.
And it legalized in-lines. After a year or two of in-line ads in the regulation.
Who got paid for that?

Then we saw ads for crossbows. And got a season! Interesting?

In the 60’s and 70’s the season bag limit was one (either buck or doe) and done....