Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting PA Game Commision- Vote to change opening day.....

As the old timers get to being old timers, they tend to spend more time at camp. We take our hunting plenty serious. We're in the mountains on private land, surrounded by vast private lands. Neighbors make it a point to get along and reciprocate. Our camp tradition is thriving. It's a fun place to be. We don't have any rules per se and that's sort of the point. People do what they want, and are generally respectful of each other. Our only system of check and balances involves a tradition of pretty serious ribbing and an informal annual award. It's called the JOY award and is an acronym for [bleep] Of the Year. It's a contest that's been largely dominated by the same couple guys for decades.

The camp I hunted out of starting when I was twelve was an old old camp, half of it had dirt floors. It had a sink with a hand pump and an outhouse. It was at the foot of a huge Game Lands on a little stream side lot. The small parcel was secured with a 99 year lease by a vibrant group of friends after the first Great War. There were only two guys left. Two old timers that had fought in WWII and Korea. The one actually had another camp up the road. I was told it was the only camp around that had an inside toilet. It was explained that McMurty had his guts shot out in the war, so he got to have a toilet.

Those day's I was the only one that hunted. They'd drop me off at the Game Lands parking lot on top of the mountain an hour before first light with a thermos of coco and some some bologna sandwiches. I'd hunt all day and eventually find my way back to camp. The two old timers drank, played cards, shot the [bleep] and held court for a constant stream of visitors. That first year I shot a little buck way back in the bottom of a bowl. I didn't know what I was doing and didn't do a real good job of field dressing him. There was plenty of snow for the drag. A few hours into my wander out of the woods I ran into another hunter who was surprised to see a kid dragging a half gutted deer out in the middle of nowhere. He helped me finish dressing the deer and confirmed what my compass had been telling me. I got back to camp well after dark and arrived a celebrated hero by two boisterous old mad men. I hunted small game and deer with those two through my teens. It was a hoot.

The phuggin PGC says we need Sunday day hunting cause kids are too busy to hunt on Saturdays but open rifle season on a Saturday WILL attract more kids to hunting....WTF ?? This is typical of the sense the PGC uses to run hunting in Pa. They should stick to worrying about brown bats with white nose syndrome that is all they are good at.phuggin azzholes!

For the record, I learned the treehouse stuff from the Texans.

The problem with low hunter turn out for rifle is not going to change with a Saturday opener, why? 'cause of all the "opening days" the PGC gave hunters. And the hunters ate it up, they have an archery opener, a early mz opener, a youth /and Sr opener, a buck opener and a buck and doe opener, a post Christmas flintlock opener for Christ sake why all these seasons? When there were numbers of deer if you hunted YOU MADE TIME TO GO HUNTING! Camps were full, kids came along before they were old enough to hunt hell you could not get a motel run from one buck season to the next in parts of the state there were waiting lists to get into hunting camps,etc.etc...what happened what is missing ??? DEER NUMBERS SUCK KIDS WILL NOT KEEP AT BECAUSE THEIR PARENTS GAVE IT UP. SINGLE PARENT FAMILY KIDS DO NOT GET INTRODUCED TO IT...that is what is killing hunting in Pa and no Saturday opening of rifle season is going to change that.

At a workplace full of guys, there are always several that want the Monday after Thanksgiving off.

Hey genius, did I ever once say I always did it that way?

I have hunted PA all my life. Hunting is different now for a lot of reasons. I guess people are not the same as the WW2 breed, and a ton less deer. This is a world of instant gratification, and patience is the key in hunting. I doubt I see 25% of the people in camps and hunting as compared to 20 years ago. Again that is a culture problem and I also think the change in regulations.
I also see ticks and coyotes like never before. The have to eat too, and they do.
I am fully opposed to any rule changes.
Anyway that is my view. I am in the woods more than 99% and that won't change. I do feel sorry that hunting is vanishing for the average family.
Saturday and Sunday before buck is camp time and bonding time, very important days to keep tradition alive. Saturday hunt is very bad in the long term.
Progressive regulation changes have not helped PA hunting in any way. Hunting is on a negative slope and killing tradition just makes it worse.

So bonding can only come from legislation or lack there of. Interesting stuff this thread has been

Camps need time to do things like clean up, eat big meals, play cards, and not feel rushed to hunt. 2 days of camp prep before the hunt, that is the definition of tradition. No tradition time, no tradition, less driving force to come back in November the next year. Not difficult to picture.

There's labor unions in Pa. that have the first day of deer season as an excused or even paid day off.

I bet the majority of folks don't hunt out of a camp.

Welcome to the PA hunting scene. All change is resisted. The Board of Commissioners just scrapped semi auto inclusion yesterday due to the backlash from the Fudds here.

You're right and it's not even close. But the hunting camp crowd is a noisy lot.

LMAO. You really can’t see the forest for the trees.

It’s not about camp vs. no camp.

I own a camp and property in Potter county, once billed the deer hunting capital of the east, I own it since 1955. IMO the lamest excuse against a Saturday opener is "camp tradition". Sport hunting is about game management an the PGC is doing a pizz poor job of that.
For the record it was 1963 when the opener was changed to the Monday after TG. Instead of all these different deer seasons maybe they should open deer season in October and close it in mid December an let you use any legal weapon. Still can not kill more than 1 buck and doe per doe tag (s).
Want good deer numbers again then demand a cut in anterless tags....nothing will change until that changes. Bring back numbers and hunters will accept any date as the "new tradition".

Many camps don't even open anymore.

We still average about 15 or so for the first two days

Then 10-12 for each Saturday.

-Jake

I’m not going to read this whole thing but LOL. It is too the hunters. PA hunters on different hunting forums are dead set against semi-autos for hunting and wail about no hunting on Sundays because of god and family. We are our own worst enemy.

Hunting numbers are down,well, here’s a couple reasons why.

ETA: There it is above me. They scrapped semi-autos because of the Fudds. Muh traditions.

Seems if tradition is so fugging important, people would make it work. Just because a season opens on Saturday, instead of Monday, doesn't mean you can't do it just like you've been doing it.

My God, you people really do need government in your life. As mentioned elsewhere, looks like a bunch of fudds up there.