Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Unsuccessful PA rifle season

Wow. How long is your rifle season?

It may not have been productive, but if you got out and hunted instead of sitting on the couch, well, it was still successful.

That said, I feel for your disappointment. Last year was the first year in over a decade that we came home empty handed.

Then, this year we both shot two big ones.

My dad was at the barber shop today, from what he was hearing there, very slow season with not much sucess. Barber and his son both tagged bucks during archery but they went to camp anyhow. Their camp only got one deer.

I only saw 6 on the farm here, earlier in the year I could see upwards of 10 or 11 while out for my evening walk. So they are in the area, just not being stirred up. Lots of posted ground around and there seems to be more and more deer shacks. Hardly anybody out beating the brush.

Dale

We have a week of muzzle loader then rifle and another week of muzzle loader ours go went from 10/10-12/13 that's for our northern zone here in NY. Saw more fawns this past spring than I can remember ever seeing but hardly see any starting mid September.

i think the weather had an effect this year. it was too nice and people (like me) sat mostly. not much shooting in 4A even though it was buck/doe the whole two weeks. i hunt almost all SF land that is all part of one continuous mountain range and i have seen less deer since the combined seasons started but more nice bucks. it is actually kind of nice to get excited when i see a lone deer because a lot of the time these days it is a buck. might not be a shooter but a buck sighting is a win in my book. i had a decent one come in behind me before daylight the first day but i thought it left. then after daylight the wind shifted and i heard it snort and take off and thats when i saw the rack. nice buck, probably a 16" or so with quite a few points. next year i am going to the thicks early.

4A is where I rifle hunt as well. Clearville area mostly

Back in the 80s and early 90s we hunted just outside Gettysburg, within sight of the Eisenhower Farm. After the first few days, they all headed for the battlefield, where they were unmolested until the snipers started in on them.

Here in the Eastern Panhandle of WV, it gets tough after the first couple of days of Rifle season. Haven’t seen a deer in my last four trips (at least) since opening day 11/23. It’s an easy stroll to private land from the WMA. Have had some fine mornings in the woods though and seen a bunch of turkeys, squirrels, and songbirds. Still have a bunch of days to go, but also have an Earn-a-Buck hanging over my head. Gotta get a doe down before the end of the year if I want to be buck-eligable for the Mountaineer Heritage season.

i hunt buchanan over on sideling hill, rays cove and thereabouts. have also hunted the SGL down around clearville. i need to recheck those again. used to be some decent ground down there but i haven't hunted it in at least 20 years.

That's my thought as well. Time in nature and hanging with the buds is alright by me.

Lean year down here in 4O too. Our camp shot a small 6 and a nice 7 point. I didn't see a deer the last 4 days I hunted.

Our newest member at camp, an 11 year old, shot his first deer on the second Saturday with his Grandpa. He got a nice little 8 point.

Other than that it was super quiet. I hunted the first four days and saw nothing legal. Very few shots were heard. Many camps never opened. We had 7 at camp. We usually have 11 or 12.

The PA Game commission screwed up the rifle season. PA's rifle season is after the rut and requires pressure to get bucks moving during the day. Every year we're seeing less and less pressure.

Obviously been after the rut for years...the pressure comes from hunters.... and with many camps not opening, it means Pa hunters are as much to blame as the GC....The Pa Deer rifle hunting tradition has died....Some can write about it and the memories they have, but essentially all that is left is memories...Reason being there are not that many Pa rifle hunters that really want to hunt....I was out for everyday but two....After the second day almost all the shooting occurred after 4pm...Other than that I may have heard a total of 50 shots in two weeks....maybe less. It's died a long time ago..

Bab's singing the opening anthem would be appropriate...."Memories, nothing more than memories"

That and the fact the GC kisses the bowhunters ass.....gives them first crack, the best weather and season and in addition extends it...And the GC prefers the silent killers over the noise makers....Not sure they screwed it up...especially if that is what they prefer....

Not all that adverse to the bow crew...but my way would be to pick your weapon...You either hunt bow or rifle...but not both. Crossbow???? Well it used to be one had to have a Dr's excuse, but the liers on both sides made the GC give in.. Now half the "bow" hunters are really crossbow hunters...What a joke....

The GC has taken on the task of protecting the Eagles, Ows, Hawks, Fishers.....Let the Feds watch over them and spend their money, instead of Pa hunters dollars that could be spent to benefit us and them...What's next the Eastern Red Wolf....I wouldn't bet against it....

Addition:

An out of State hunter told me they never saw a boot track once they got around 500 yards off the road....they never saw another hunter back in...They killed Deer and plan on coming back...Perhaps they are the next generation to carry on the Pa Deer hunting tradition...

Addition: Not only has the Pa Deer hunting tradition died, but so has the Pa traditional Deer hunter...Those old boys would be screaming about what is going on today. Back then, right or wrong ...wrong, but killing mother Doe had yet to be wise management...they bought Doe tags and then publically burnt them in piles....A friend this year killed two Does when there were few in his area, and made himself feel good by donating the meat..

I was not able to get back this year but my brother and his boys got theirs the first day. Niece got hers during archery while she was off work due to coming down with covid.

Lol we should have all arranged to 'get covid' during season...I wasn't smart enough I guess...2 weeks to hunt would have been great

I couldn't agree more. But other than the old guys in our group, we are usually stomping, crawling and fighting our way through the thickets near water to see what kind of mature bucks we kick out. Never much success. Our lack of success definitely isn't because of a lack of effort.

Maybe we need a change of location or private land permission.

I've been hunting for 25 years now and my ambition and dream of a 160+ big buck hasn't dwindled a bit since I first stepped into the woods.

No it wasn't. I was off the entire two weeks but most days I was too sick to make it out. I had a lot of trouble breathing. I'm just glad I didn't end up on a ventilator because I did slip out hunting here and there and suffered a health setback each time.

Truth!

Don't know if you Flintlock or not.
When we had deer, it was by far my favorite hunting.

We complained and fought for years for a better season.

After a couple years of ads for in lines in the rule book (hint)
They gave us an October season.
For in-lines. CHA-CHING!!!
Does only, at the same time archery is killing bucks.

PGC blows. Period.

The PGC absolutely blows. If you use a bow you're golden

And then again let's not forget what we do to ourselves in the way of posted land...Growing up, when I got a drivers license the world of hunting opened up wide....Now, the youth of today predominantly will spend a tank of gas to find open private land to hunt....As a kid I pretty much had all of Armstrong, Indiana, Franklin, Westmoreland, Washington, etc counties to roam at will...Not today. And they can ask nice, but most times will be turned down...And then they say screw it and move on to something else...

Farmers and hunters at one time were in the game together....for the most part not any more...But when it comes to the farm bills....now we have a different game...."and you know us farmers are there for you, help us out here." Ya right.....

True that. I can remember in my youth thinking that I have more private land available to me to hunt than I can really get to in a season. These days I hunt all public land