Originally Posted by yobuck
Originally Posted by battue
The Pa big woods have Hogs that die of old age and most are not willing to spend the effort to go and get them. They normally will not give themselves up to one sitting over a food plot.


This is exactly correct. This past fall marked my 70th season in the mountainous region of NC PA.
There are more trophy class bucks today than at anytime in my lifetime in that region.
Yet hunter numbers have diminished considerably, many of the old camps don't even open for deer season.
Thats true thruout the NC region. Twenty five years ago you wouldn't find a place to stay without having a reservation well in advance of opening day buck. Today you can stay about anywhere you like with no reservations at all.
What we have is more whiners carping over what they perceive as being wrong, and a whole lot less serious hunters
taking advantage of the good opportunities.

Hey Yobuck, If you ever want some company out there on those lonely N/C acres feel free to PM me. I have given the PA rifle season three tries over the past 20 years so far and have not seen a buck during the season, and few does either. The easternmost region is not looking good from my experience, at least on public ground. It's about the only good thing I can say about New Jersey in comparison... we still do have lots of deer in most places, less than we used to due to liberal bag limits and long seasons, but still far more than I have been able to find on the west side of the river. Willing to be educated though!