Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting PA HUNTERS HOW GOES IT SO FAR???

Wel, I sure didn't hurt 'em much this year. Other than the first day, I never saw more than 2 or 3 in a day, where I used to see 15 or more.

Lotta reasons for this other than the population, which is low. Warm weather the first week, thick cover, and lack of hunting pressure all factor in, as well as the fact that I spent alot of time dogging the briars hoping to get my nephew a good shot. (He missed. Twice! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />)

I never had the safe off 'till the last day, and that was to finish off someone else's cripple that my Brother-in-Law and I tracked down.

We'll see what happens in the post X-mas flintlock season. I've hunted this area all my life, and have a pretty good idea what the deer are doing, but I need a little help getting them to go where I want. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

All in all, judging from those I've talked to, and number of shots fired, I'd say the kill was way below average again this year.

Of course the Game Commision won't admit to that, as it knocks down license sales. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />
7mm

Took a doe yesterday morning.

I mmmmmmmmmmmmm..........
miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssss.....
miiiissssssssssssssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed.

Been passing up does for two weeks. Decide to shoot one in the PM - 75 yards walking. How does that happen? I didn't even shoot again because I knew it was dead. 'Cept n' it weren't.

I really, really hate when that fat lady sings at the end of the season.

Only 9 months, 3 days till I leave for Idaho...................

I feel your pain! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Last season I had one standing 60 yards away, totaly oblivious to my presence. Meat in the freezer, right?

I still can't for the life of me figure out how in the world I missed, but sure as sunrise... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

The only excuse I can fathom is picking my head up to watch it fall down, thus losing the sight picture, and the game. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" />
7mm

Rifle season is over and after several long days still hunting, stalking and deer drives, I have yet to see a deer. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

This is by far the poorest season ever. And, it's not just me. Lots of very unhappy hunters in my area.

I copied and pasted an article from out local newspaper about the decline of hunting in my area. This article is very telling about the state of affairs that hunting is currently in around here.

I know a lot of guys who used to hunt that don't anymore because they are tired of seeing more people than deer or they are not seeing any deer at all. These guys have very nice mounts in their homes from years gone by... I know some guys will say bad hunters or other BS but what it boils down to is less hunters equals less money which means less for all of us in the end.

Many find reasons to stay home from hunt

Shrinking game land has played major role

Monday, December 11, 2006

BY MONICA VON DOBENECK

Of The Patriot-News

Harold Horst of Lower Paxton Twp. used to be an avid hunter, but he didn't even buy a license the last two years. Areas are too built up, he said, with no place to hunt anymore.
Jeff Shank once let anybody hunt on his wooded land near Elizabethtown, but they took advantage of him, he said. Now, he likes to watch the deer run around and hunts them only with a camera.
Tommy Carr, 17, of North Cornwall Twp., wouldn't mind hunting, but he has no one to teach him.
Richard Price of Millerstown is too busy to hunt, with a wife, small children and a full-time job.
These people are among the legions of nonhunters in Pennsylvania at the close of rifle deer season, which ended Saturday.
According to figures from the Pennsylvania Game Commission, hunting license sales have declined most years since 1981, when they peaked at 1.3 million.
In 2005, for the first time in years, fewer than 1 million people bought licenses.
Through the end of October, the Game Commission had sold about 717,000 hunting licenses.
The Game Commission keeps close tabs on the number of hunters for good reason: It relies on the sale of licenses to finance its conservation and wildlife management programs.
Suburban sprawl has played a big role in deterring hunters, said Jerry Feaser, a Game Commission spokesman. "That is perhaps one of the greatest reasons: loss of huntable land."
There are many other reasons, he said.
Young people don't have time, and they are drawn to soccer, video games or computers more than the woods. Sales of junior licenses, for hunters aged 12 to 16, have dropped by half since 1998.
Older people are losing their mobility.
Hunting once was passed from father to son. But now families are challenged to find the time.
Some former hunters refuse to get licenses because they don't want to divulge a Social Security number, which became a requirement a few years ago in an effort to track down those who owed child support.
Licenses cost more.
Many complain there aren't as many deer since the Game Commission made major changes to reduce the size of the state's herd.
Jeffrey Simms of Lower Paxton Twp. once hunted all over North America. During Pennsylvania deer season, he was out every day, morning to night.
This season, he went out twice, half a day at a time.
"Three of my best buddies didn't even get licenses this year," he said. "They're building so many houses around here. I used to go out to scout and see 30 or 40 deer. Now, you're lucky if you see one or two. Deer are not as dumb as people think. They go into the developments and lie down."
Horst said the only place left to hunt is state game lands, which he said are overused. Too many hunters are not as safety-conscious as they should be, he said, which is why he stopped letting people use his land.
"Too many see something moving and just shoot," he said.
Shank said one hunter brought lumber onto his land and built a permanent tree stand without permission.
"I had to post it because of damage, debris and litter," he said.
Carr is a member of the junior rifle team at the Palmyra Sportsmans Club and is skilled with a gun. But hunting has not been a family tradition, he said.
"I don't know where to start," he said. "It's not just the shooting. How do you know how to gut the deer without someone teaching you?"
Carr's teammate, Jed Neidigh, 17, is one of the few on the rifle team who hunts. He has gone out on opening day of deer season every year since he was 12, but has bagged only one deer.
Shank lets his friend Tom Barton of Palmyra hunt on his land. But for Barton, the experience has changed over the years.
"I used to think I had to kill something," he said. "Now, I like the experience of the big woods. Although if I see a big buck, you bet I'll try to get it."

A guy at work just told me he saw 6 bucks running together at 3pm this past Saturday! 2 six's, 2 fours, a spike and a button buck.
Interesting.

My brother in law has six bucks laying in his front lawn most nights and then there is another 15 deer behind his house most evenings.

Can't shoot them because they are in a residential area with a horse farm behind them where the owner of the horse farm calls the cops on just about every gun shot that she heres.

My wife came home for lunch one day and there was a doe running down the middle of our street and we live in an older highly occupied residential area.

I think you and others miss the point... it's called huntable land not just any land.

Next year I am getting my bow back out and taking my son who is really getting into archery and I think we will have a lot more success on the game lands since there is a lot less guys during the archery season.

Where is this coming from? I didn't say anything about where he saw these deer. He just happened to be hunting at the time and on public land. The reason he new the one was a button buck was because he shot it! So stick that in your pipe and smoke it. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

I wonder......since PA has become more blue than red, reckon that has anything to do with hunter attitude?

Santorum gets canned from the Senate?.........I see lots of blue in your future.

PA has been very "blue". I vote as many times as I can get away with, but I just can't swing it back to the "right" side! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Voting early and often can pay off!

Good luck.

I was just explaining that in our area there are a lot of deer but they are in places that you cannot hunt them... it seems like you are the one with the attitude. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" />

OK, Ken.

I must have mis-read your intention since you were responding to my post.

I'm done with this topic. Everyone has it all figured out anyway with the conspiracy theories and that damn "Larry" Alt. What's he know anyway? He's just the guy that made PA bear hunting the success it is. Must have been a fluke.

I guess you're right, I am getting an attitude. Maybe it's my cold medicine: <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I don't think there are any conspiracy issues in my posts just the honest truth.

"Larry" is really "Gary", BTW......and lack of deer has more to do with habitat, more specifically food, than anything else.

We have a deer cabin in Pike County (Pa. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />) that used to be a great place to hunt. "Larry" had nothing to do with the fact that for two straight years, the guys who hunted there saw NO deer in one week of hunting.

The woods are very mature and there ain't squat for food. The deer simply relocated.

My brother and I also relocated and now hunt Ohio during their gun season which is during the same week as the Pa. opener.

And don't give me that "too liberal doe permit" whine either, because in Va. you get 5 or 6 tags on your license and it has been that way for as long as I have lived here....since 1982.

We hammer the does on the hunt club that I belong to. But, the land owner has been select cutting the property for years......could be a hint there.

Food boys, that is what it is all about. Instead of crying about the deer regulations, start bitching to the DNR about clear cutting the SGL.

Tony

Teeder,

"Larry" aka Gary, is a world renown bear biologist.

He actually does thing based on sound research instead of "tradition". What a concept.

Seems like everyone in his field realized his value except people in Pa. ? WTF...........

Tony

PA has three times the number of hunters as VA so you have to manage the deer differently.

I am always amazed at the emotions this subject evokes from EVERYONE including me. I think the reason for the emotions are most PA residents feel they were swindled. They were sold by Mr. Alt that big racks were around the corner with the right management. He was well respected due his success as the state's bear biologist. Most PA folks were excited he was taking over the deer progam. When the deer "disappeared" then the finger pointing/blame game started. Hunters claimed the state gave away too many doe licenses. The state claimed hunters weren't selective enough AND just shot too many does. To add to all this the name calling started between the successful hunters and the unsuccessful. One group were "private land rich folks" and the other the "public land whiners." I'm sure the truth is somewhere in between but the fact of the matter is that there were/are a lot less deer especially in the traditional woods of the northcentral and northwest parts of the state. The herd needed to be reduced - I hope everyone agrees on that. Where I hunt in McKean county, some mountains were devoid of deer tracks (we had snow, so I could tell). I was pretty dejected up until this years season. I did not get to go due to my military duties but I got the field report from my family. They saw a lot more deer than before including some BIG bucks. None were taken but there were a few missed opportunities. They did not shoot a single doe although most had tags. But it was the other things they talked about that makes me think the forest (and the deer) are coming back. Everyone talked of the amount of red and gray squirrels, song birds, foxes and chipmunks. The forest has been lacking for them too. Sounds to me like there was a down cycle and now things are looking up. I for one am looking forward to the late muzzleloader season and next year too. Only time will tell if Mr. Alt did the right thing and we will never know how much, if any, the polititians or insurance industry had an effect on game management. I'm in the we'll see category but I am hopeful. I am now going to relax, get a glass of Crown Royal with just a splash of sprite then sit with my kids and do something that is important. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

BTW: Teeder used "Larry" in quotes cuz someone called him the wrong name. He knows the right name.

Va. also has a gun season that lasts from the beginning of November to the first Sat. in Jan., with hunters that carry 6 tags this year............

And don't come back with that bass ackwords late flinchlock season that Pa. has, that isn't a deer management tool.

Let me tell how screwed up hunting is in Pa.....last season in the next county to where I grew up, an 18 year old girl, 7 months pregnant no less, got hit in the head by a stray bullet, sitting in her car in her driveway. Some knot head let loose on a doe on a nearby farm.

Long story short, the girl survived, baby is fine, lawsuit settled (they found the idiot), the jury also found the land owner 20% liable.

How f'd up is that ? There are posted signs on top of posted signs everywhere at that part of the state. SGL is the only game in town, and there isn't any deer there.

Wait until the good news reaches your part of the state.........

Think you have stuff to cry about now ? You'll soon forget all about "Larry".

Later,

Tony