Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Pennsylvania whitetails

They are everywhere....and you never know. Shooting somebody over walking on your land proves you are not all that bright either. Of course the stupid ones do require extra care.

Yeah, I really wouldn't kill or risk death myself over trespassing.

Got 2 dairy farms in the family in north central PA. The larger farm finally got posted when a bullet came thru the milking parlor, took out a vacuum line, one afternoon. Shooter was a stranger that had not asked permission or introduced himself.
Smaller farm got posted the day after 2 of us were setting up to still hunt a small wood towards each other. Three trucks pulled up, over a dozen guys jumped out, to drive the same woods. Again, noone asked permission, and we didn't know any of these guys.
About 1400 acres of ground got posted.....in self defense.

Typical Pa hunters, typical Amish entitlement attitude too.

I agree that inches isnt everything but better and better bucks are getting killed each year, the one Battue took last year being a prime example, believe he is being modest in not sharing 😀...

The posting of land was inevitable IMO...but I truly dislike the lease gig.

As far as the big woods goes, I can only speak to SGL 13 and 57 where I used to spend a good bit of time. When the GC decided to increase the anterless kill rate many years ago, this area got hit hard. Now there is much less hunter participation. A few good deer taken every year though. Population should be back to normal in a few years hopefully as habitat improves and number of hunters is on decline. I think the anterless take needed to increase to help the habitat. I just wish the anterless take would slow in the big woods areas and give out more tags for the predominstely agriculture/small woodlot areas, as some still hold too many deer IMO.

I was dead set against the whole QDM program when Dr. Ault took the state down that path in 2002, but I've come to realize how skewed the deer herd really was. In the pre 2002 days, if we didn't see 45 deer the first day, it was a very slow opener. That being said, you might see 45 deer, and if you were lucky you'd find one year and a half old 120 lbs. spike out of all that. I've got a whole crate full of spike buck antler sets down in the basement as I write this. Now when I get back to camp to hunt, I see less deer, but the bucks that are harvested are much more respectable, and the forest (Clearfield County) is in much better shape from not being over-grazed. I'll never be a trophy hunter, but I do recognize the benefit of the current management system. I hunt all public land in the Allegheny Forest. Beautiful country, and a challenging hunt. As for hunting pressure, I don't think it's heavier than in years past. We tend to see the guys from the neighboring camps,but few others.

We had a shooting here in this county a few years ago. Tresspas conflict..it was all kinda sketchy. A neighboring land owner put himself in control of.adjoining lands. Self.appointed sort of thing I guess. When some fellas went in to hunt,there was a confrontation and the self appointed custodian of said lands shot.a.young fella. Not mortally, but the father of the boy shot and killed the other man. Aint worth it. I love my hunting that's for sure. Not adopting.a kill or be killed policy.

The one I shot last year was a prize, but only honorable mention compared to the ones I posted.

The land around GL57 just may be the most beautiful part of Pa.

I'm hoping none of the gun control people are reading about land owning deer hunters wanting to hold a person at gunpoint waiting for the state police to arrive .
Have you ever actually killed or shot anyone ?
Over a deer or a piece of woods ?
Chase him-call the police -get his take number , but level a loaded high powered rifle at someone can only go no good place fast .
Good luck to all the deer hunters in PA .
Soup

we have 550 acres in our club. we see a cpuple 140 plus deer every year and i kiled a 150 2 years ago. big bucks sre in Pa hell that one photo battue posted was killed 20 minutes from me. most guys in Pa dont want the state to be known as a whiettaile hotspot. once it does we know what will happen tv shows, less places to hunt..yada yada yada.


our club is very tough on trespassers there are no breaks we catch you you get arrezted, if not beaten as well.

caught some guys jacklighting last year helped escort them out of the field...damned woodchuck holes had them falling down.

we have confiscated blinds, treestands and even a yeti cooler. always leaving a note in place as to where the items cpuld be fpund and pkease contact us as we would like to chat. to this day noone has called to claim thier stands or blinds and such

If there is a downside to owning land and hunting in PA itis the amish, they chose to ignore boundary lines and bag limits, the whole clan hunts till every tag is filled, and the bag limits are achieved, the scorched earth method of hunting .

I went twice...saw more ticks than deer. Even got to dig one out of me later. Really like the state and everyone was very nice but no luck for me. Did get to spend some time with gophergunner and efw and experience hunting out of state. I think I needed to hunt more than a few days at a time and maybe take advantage of more scouting. Tough to do away from home though. Was nice to see the whole state happy about opening day and everyone treating it like a holiday

We gotta match up again some time Matt.

Would love to

When I was young I hunted mostly private land. Now I'm close to 100 % public. I'm happiest in either the Loyalsock SF or SGL 13. If I lived closer those would be the only places I'd hunt in PA.

Mainly Sproul and Susquehannock. Sometimes Tiadaghton. Depends what im seein where. I get around.





Not sure how much time you spent with gophergunner, or when, but sometimes its best to hold off til 2nd week. But definitely hit it for a week if you can. I try to do 2 weeks, but most times when the hunters leave tuesday I kill on the 3rd day. Scoutings good, but you can do a lot with google, just sayin. Good luck if ya ever head this way again!

Yep. If Dad and I approach a trespasser, one goes up and talks.
The other flanks them and leans on a tree, maybe 30 yardso away.
No overt threat, just a posturing thing.
We have found that tactic to result in a more civil encounter.
We don't get law involved, unless it is a multiple repeat offender.

Battue,
You perfectly described the posting deal, and it sucks.
We used to hunt small game almost anywhere we wanted. Without asking.
It was expected, really. When we encountered a farmer, often as not, we caught heck
for not hunting deer there. And we were supposed to kill as many deer as we wanted. (We mostly deer hunted on a deputy wardens farm, no monkey business)
People moved in, the posting started.
The final straw was the herd reduction. People started trying to protect "their" deer.

"...if we didn't see 45 deer the first day, it was a very slow opener. That being said, you might see 45 deer, and if you were lucky you'd find one year and a half old 120 lbs. spike out of all that. I've got a whole crate full of spike buck antler sets down in the basement as I write this."

Yep. That's pretty much how things were in the north central by the late 80s, where I've hunted since the 60s. Back then (60s), deer were still scare in "my" area. Things got better, as far as deer numbers were concerned. Took HR and AR to get bigger bucks.

I joke that there's a 30 gallon steel trash can around here with decades worth of fours and sixes in it, maybe a wee eight or two? Only one spike. Now and then a wall hanger taken there years ago, but 8 to 12 inch dinks were the norm year after year.

Since about 2005 or so, far nicer bucks than what we once had where I hunt and more of 'em each year. Deer numbers are about back to where they were when HR started. Works for me, nice to know such bucks are around, whether or not I ever get a whack at one, or not.

True that hunters aren't coming to the NC like they once did. Part of that, is the greater numbers of deer in counties closer to their homes, than was once the norm, back when they were still heading north years ago. Hunters headed to the NC decades ago and built camps, because that's where the deer were. Deer are darn near everywhere, now.

Looks like another great year for PA deer hunting. Good luck to all.

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!

Sweet Jesus