I get closer and closer to a crossbow purchase every year
You should it's the best time to be out there if you want to hunt deer in their natural patterns. I can tell you from Halloween until the first week of December the deer movement is at it's highest due to the rut. I see bucks on my trail cameras that I have never seen and they only stay around here for a few short weeks and they are gone.
I know that. I was an archer for more than 20 years before I gave it up. My trouble is I don't like being in trees. I fell out of one.
Stopped and decided to check in. “May” you say... that’s funny....Don’t need you to tell me what you think I don’t know about crossbows...I’m around more than a few that use them. One especially who couldn’t come close to being good with a compound, but picked up a crossbow and started killing.
Once again nothing more than a difference of views. If I want to use a crossbow or compound, I know how the game is played..and you telling me the whys of it is nothing new or revealing.
Mostly you do it in order to go out in the nicer weather and pass the day more comfortable. Which are good reasons.
However, for the most part the only reason our local Deer in rifle season tend to be out of sync with their normal routine, is because the GC lets the bow hunters mess with them for three weeks prior to rifle.
And now the Bear hunters also.
In the Big Wood, most of you don’t get far enough in to have them even know the hunting season is in.
Hey, it’s all about you.....enjoy your compound and hunting opportunity....but you are far from the only one that gets it😉
I get closer and closer to a crossbow purchase every year
You should it's the best time to be out there if you want to hunt deer in their natural patterns. I can tell you from Halloween until the first week of December the deer movement is at it's highest due to the rut. I see bucks on my trail cameras that I have never seen and they only stay around here for a few short weeks and they are gone.
I know that. I was an archer for more than 20 years before I gave it up. My trouble is I don't like being in trees. I fell out of one.
A guy I hunt with hunts from the ground with his crossbow and he gets deer quite a bit. I go up 17' since it's too thick to see anything from the ground where I hunt.
Ohio has had a very liberal crossbow policy for 35 years; crossbows have been legal the same as all other forms of archer. I have not heard where any Buckeyes are squealing about it wrecking the Modern Weapons Season.
Just saying.
I've got a crossbow. I bought one to find out what the hoo-haw was. It worked about as well as a vertical bow-- out to about 40 yards or so. I found it clunky-- no great advantage. I'm just saying. PA deer may be more susceptible to them. I wouldn't know.
Until the last few years Ohio didn’t allow modern weapons for Deer hunting.... shotguns, if you want to consider those modern....and today only straight walled cases.
The percentage of bucks taken in archery season continues to increase each year. Longer seasons, or the inclusion of crossbows, take your pick as to which is the greater influence? For my money, full inclusion of cross bows is the primary reason for that increase.
Biggest advantage of using a cross bow over any other sort of archery tackle, is the ease of "mastery". Factor in the amount of time needed to become competent with a vertical bow, including the inherent muscle memory that comes with practice and there's no comparison in the amount of time required to master a cross bow. Have seen guys unpack a new cross bow at our archery range and start consistently hitting the bull in less than a half hou,r from the time they let loose the first bolt. Fine with me, if that's what they're into?.
Have no use for a cross bow. If my shoulder is agreeable and I can shoot my compound well enough to suit me, I bow hunt. If not, then I wait for rifle season.
As for the rut, the past two PA rifle seasons I've witnessed more than a little rut activity. Matter of fact, over 30 years ago I killed a buck on opening day of rifle, that was trailing a doe in my woods. Hope his last sniff made his day, because moments after he took it, he was dead on the ground.
If three or more people think you're a dimwit, chances are at least one of them is right.
Damn another old fart that doesn’t know shiit about crossbows....place is going to be overrun with them if they let them carry on.
If you don’t use them...WTH would you know??? Same old Campfire weak comeback....when some are defending a weak position. 😀
I'm curious to know, what do you think of deer numbers in your area. Not who gets to hunt first, or how long? Purely, the state of the herd. I don't care about the card game in 1977 the night before buck day where uncle Al won a hand with 4,7's and the camp killed 4 , 6 pointers the next day before going to the bar at 11 am......I'm talking about deer on the landscape, enough? Too many? Not enough?
Well fellers, the opportunity is there for you, take it or leave it, but there’s nothing unfair or preferential about it since you can play if you want to. I buy extra bow tags and antlerless tags so I can hunt deer here anytime from the opening of bow season until December 31 with whatever implement is legal, and then for a few more days in January. Been thinking about getting another compound as well for a little variety, probably in a lighter weight to accommodate my old bones.
Dube, the rut runs here into our rifle season, but the presence of a lot of hunters on public land means that the activity goes on at night. When I hunted private land during the rifle season West of here, the bucks ran with the does, not constantly for their lives. My son and his son hunt a small farm in VA a few miles from here, and the chase continues there in daylight until about the end of November. Now it’s all about food.
I think crossbows are a huge advantage but nothing close to a firearm. I don’t shoot over 30 yards but I can use a shooting rest and don’t need to stand. I used a compound for many years and standing up, pulling the arrow back and holding at full draw make it much harder.
You got it... For some reason we didn't see the numbers we saw in the past....Last year it wasn't rare to see 15-20 a day and we also took and bumped a couple nice Bucks. Which was the usual...This year I saw around a total of 40 Deer....hunting moving and sitting....and hunted every day but 2. Coyotes have been seen more often this year...so that may be an issue.
This year the Bucks were few....Bud had a couple decent ones on camera and the guy with the crossbow shot one....This has nothing to do with making any point, but he didn't find him, unfortunately it happens....He later shot a small 7 in rifle season. The others saw some small fork horns...I bounced out an OK Buck that I would have shot, but he beat me out....but glad I didn't....he should be much better if he makes it till next season..
The final answer for my feeling on the State of the herd on that 1200 acres, is we are well within what it can feed in winter....If we have any issue at all it would be our Buck to Doe ratio is way of of kilter...I say that not because of what I know, but what the guy who owns the place knows...He essentially lives there....spends part of his day in the morning having coffee and reading the paper in his vehicle at different points...Then he does pretty much the same in the evening....He likes to know what he has on his place..and says for some reason this year the Bucks went away close to when rifle season opened. Why?????
As far as total numbers...Many places have more and many less....from my view we are OK. But if I don't see the Bucks show up next year, I'll be hunting someplace else.....
If you can't find any deer you fit into one of these categories:
-you're stubborn. You expect deer to be where they used to be or where you want them to be.
-you're not physically capable of getting out and getting after them where they are.
-Or youre just not as knowledgeable about deer and deer habitat as you think you are.
All of those things get compounded by age. Not knocking anyone . it's just the way it is. And as a post script. I don't archery hunt or participate in early muzzleloader, and I rarely get a chance to flintlock hunt anymore , simply because I'm out of tags. There are deer everywhere.
I knew this thread would be ruined by one the huntingpa chest beaters. Bring your asses to 4A , and give it a try next yr if you want to voice an opinion on the hunting. There are literally half (if that) the deer there used to be HERE. Anyone that can't see that don't know his azz from a hole in the ground.Not wherever you do your great white hunting, but HERE in 4A. WTF do you think you are anyhow? Your opinion is just that, so don't think it carries anymore weight than anyone elses.
Dad would only shoot a nice buck (comparatively) on the first day. Or any of the first week, untill Saturday. He could find and shoot a buck Pretty much any day he wanted. By the time I turned 12, the buck/doe ratio had gotten screwed up. We still had a bunch of deer. But bucks were harder to come by. A point restriction 4 out of 5 years at that time would have produced Some dandy results.
I have hunted Somerset to Franklin counties, Cambria and Blair. I have never, ever seen a browse line in my Pa hunting. Other states, especially some big woods in WV yes, not here. To be fair, my hunting hasn't been in the all woodland mountaintop areas. So, maybe the Game Lands were different.
Thing is, what happens one place isn't truth. It is the condition there.
Here in Somerset and Bedford, reducing the doe population maybe wasn't a terrible idea. But it's went way too far.
Hell, when I was a kid, our county had a lot of deer. Numbers were managed by doe hunting. We would get 6-8k licenses per year. Single tag, kill a buck you don't even doe hunt.
Now we have, maybe, 25% of the deer we used to. And, guessing by county, we are giving out 15k tags. Each one a potential deer killed.
This thread like so many is limited by those who aren't intelligent enough to absorb information, process and understand it.
There are threads where I've been blasted for views on cartridges, bullets, all kind of stuff. Thing is, we have different experiences, and expectations.
Last year, I had about 4 hours into the season and shot the nicest buck of my life. He was running with about a dozen does.
A decent group with a nice buck, by any times standards here.
I didn't come on here bragging. Showing the buck, saying how great our management was. How many does came by and that there were scads of deer, if you were just as good a hunter as I am.
Because I know that's not the universal truth.
Parents who say they have good kids..Usually don't!
There are trophy hunters. Guys who will put out a lot of time and effort to seek out a big buck.
Good for them, if they do it right.
Thing is, a lot of guys can't, won't, just don't want to spend the time to kill a bragging buck.
Is that wrong?
Best buck I ever killed last year. I watched it walk by toward my 16 year old daughter. The does spooked, and it came running back. So I shot it. Big deal. Very disappointed. I still imagine seeing her right after she put him down.
Some of the best fun I have ever had hunting was in killing does with the flintlock.
And our reduced numbers have had a major effect on the hunting I loved. So, if you like killing a buck to brag, if antlers are your 1 thing. If you love that the bucks have gotten bigger (they have) good for you. I'm happy for you.
But, there is a long established culture of hunters who enjoyed hunting as a family or group. Actually helping each other, happy with any game they got and sharing the excitement of success.
Tell me that's wrong.
Parents who say they have good kids..Usually don't!
I've posted this before and in fact just sent it to another via PM...Notice this isn't ideal Deer habitat....There are not Deer running around in any great numbers...This is not Deer hunting for those who are unfortunately not up to it....This has some obvious adds....But this is almost Pa Deer hunting at its finest....even if they are bow hunters...
I watch it more than once during the year when the mood strikes....without question these boys would fit in with those old timers....and hunters from any time....
Odd that you have to make up what I didn't say to have anything to stand on.... Didn't say it had a negative effect, I did say crossbows are easier to use than regular bows or compound bows...I did say that the archery crew is given preferential treatment...I did say, why should they always get to hunt the rut? Why should they have a season that is essentially twice as long? More power to them, they pulled the strings to make it happen...I'm all for them...How about this year they get the rut and long season....next year the rifle guys get it...See what happens then.. Seem like you would be alright with putting a little more challenge into your bowhunting.
I did say the GC is all for the silent killers...from a PR standpoint.. And I will now say, their always getting the first chance, at the best Bucks has a negative effect on what is available to the rifle hunters....You are good with that....I'm not....
You can have your opinion and I have mine, but you will have more credibility if you don't make up what I said...I may be an old fart stuck in my ways, which is funny on a couple points.. I'm up there, put stuck in my ways? Not much......But I'll tell you this....I still can tell Bullshiit when I see it....
Got to go and get some ammo...see what you can make up while I'm gone...
I have said that since they started allowing crossbows for hunting.
While I don't have a problem with hunters using xbows in general: ABSOLUTELY NO SCOPES allowed. It's basically cheating. Open sights only.
I have never heard of anyone missing with a scoped crossbow.
Even though I archery hunt every year, I definitely agree that the PGC caters to the bowhunters.
Odd that you have to make up what I didn't say to have anything to stand on.... Didn't say it had a negative effect, I did say crossbows are easier to use than regular bows or compound bows...I did say that the archery crew is given preferential treatment...I did say, why should they always get to hunt the rut? Why should they have a season that is essentially twice as long? More power to them, they pulled the strings to make it happen...I'm all for them...How about this year they get the rut and long season....next year the rifle guys get it...See what happens then.. Seem like you would be alright with putting a little more challenge into your bowhunting.
I did say the GC is all for the silent killers...from a PR standpoint.. And I will now say, their always getting the first chance, at the best Bucks has a negative effect on what is available to the rifle hunters....You are good with that....I'm not....
You can have your opinion and I have mine, but you will have more credibility if you don't make up what I said...I may be an old fart stuck in my ways, which is funny on a couple points.. I'm up there, put stuck in my ways? Not much......But I'll tell you this....I still can tell Bullshiit when I see it....
Got to go and get some ammo...see what you can make up while I'm gone...
I have said that since they started allowing crossbows for hunting.
While I don't have a problem with hunters using xbows in general: ABSOLUTELY NO SCOPES allowed. It's basically cheating. Open sights only.
I have never heard of anyone missing with a scoped crossbow.
Even though I archery hunt every year, I definitely agree that the PGC caters to the bowhunters.
I don't know that scopes are that big of an advantage at typical, effective crossbow ranges. I know they aren't on a rifle or slug gun at those distances {sub 40 yards}. And anybody that needs hours and hours of practice to consistently sink arrows into a 4" bull at 30 yards with a modern compound, sights, release aid, 80% letoff, is an uncoordinated schmuck that should probably stay the fuuck out of treestands anyway.
We have a place here in Kansas that If I do a lot of hunting / work in the woods any given year we see maybe 5 deer a day on that place. IF we stay off the place, and walk into it a way that the deer can’t detect - we see 12 to 20 deer a Morning / Evening.
A key to that was NOT driving down a gravel road to the cabin which is almost a mile long - if you are hunting and someone drives down that road it pisses you off. Apparently the deer and yotes know it too... so they take off.
Do you mean people that put Wolf and Biden into office aren't bright enough to find deer?
Whose sockpuppet are you?
So you're pissy that he called you out?
No. I'm actually pissy because he and Nathan are too stupid to realize the 51% of Pennsylvanians who put people like Wolf in aren't found in the deer woods but instead in the cities. I'm also pissy because Trump has already told knobs like those two that he won PA big but was cheated out of it. I'm also pissy because I see this guy showed up at the same time our former most prolific poster's sockpuppet was banned and I'm waiting to see if this one starts talking about black cock and railing against Yankees. But you can think what you want. Your state is bluer than mine.
According to some in WV the arrow throwers don’t get any preferential treatment...so do any think they would/would not complain if their early October/November season was eliminated and they had to hunt the same time the rifle people did..
My vote is you could hear the cry all the way up in Pa....😢😀
Second question: Why do archery seasons start so early and last so long? Original answer was archery license sales were a small part of total sales in a State....Now that those numbers have changed rather significantly upward....should some adjustments be made?
