Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Unsuccessful PA rifle season

I've never hunted Pennsylvania, but I did get my F150 serviced today. And just so happened to flip through a copy of Petersen's Hunting in the waiting room.

In an article was mentioned the 3 states with the most bucks harvested per square mile; Michigan, South Carolina AND Pennsylvania at 3.7, 3.6 and 3.3 respectively.

On the antlerless side, Pennsylvania hunters harvested 5.1 doe per square mile in 2018, second only to Delaware's 5.3. QDMA found that Pennsylvania hunters turned in the top overall harvest at 8.4 deer per square mile.

So, some folks, somewhere, are seein' & killin' deer in PA.

https://www.pennlive.com/life/2020/...-management-rank-among-other-states.html

They surely were out this evening in western 4A. I left Flintstone,MD a little after 4, and decided to take the scenic route home to look see with the snowfall. I took Black Valley rd over towards Chaneysville and wound thru some back rds to and thru Clearville winding up over at Crystal Springs at dark. I saw 70 - 80 deer on my trip. It was nice to see them getting a break.

now thats a nice ride. then continue on up through akersville, hang a right on 30, go up past shortys and hang a left on 915 and go down through wells tannery and into cyper and out onto 26 and down into everett.

thats my loop on my bike the rare times i take it to camp.

The bottom line is that today’s PA deer hunting is much different than it was 50 or 60 years ago. I feel very fortunate to have experienced the 60’s and 70’s. In 50 years people will most likely be referring to 2020 as the ‘Good Old Days’. Nothing stays the same forever.

Naturally archery harvests will go up as more people participate because of the nice weather, the opportunity to hunt during the rut, and this one is big for me- the long season, which means you don’t have to shoehorn your hunting into a small time slot that can be disrupted by bad weather or other circumstances. Having long, early archery seasons before the rifle season is standard management practice in every state I know of; must be a professional game management reason for it, possibly to let breeding take place before the massive impact on deer movement by large numbers of hunters in the woods at once. Given the wailing and gnashing of teeth that occurred when PA implemented the antler restrictions and changing to a Saturday opening, the uproar caused by a major shift to the rifle opener would likely be earth-shaking.

You brought up ending the special season, mine, not yours, as a dig at me, not a serious suggestion, but my reply about the financial impact of eliminating bowhunting is still valid if the season was shifted or shortened and thus made less attractive. Many hunters would just skip it or take their license dollars elsewhere. As it stands, everyone DOES have an equal crack at the game during the best hunting times, without throwing a monkey wrench into the management plan, if they’re willing to bowhunt. You have that choice, or you can try to get the seasons changed; which do you think is your best option?

So, did you use a crossbow, or vertical? Private or Public? Don’t know where you hunt, but I can tell you that on the public land I hunt, it’s no cakewalk, there’s more foot traffic from dog walkers and other pedestrians than hunting pressure most days, and in what should be some of the best spots. This is my third season, and I’ve shot 5; three does and two bucks; two from a treestand, one from a ground seat, and two while sneaking in and out of my spots. The shooting part is pretty easy, not rifle easy, but at 35 yards it’s not tough. Getting the shots, with only scattered natural food sources and travel routes to cover, is tough. I’ve put in more time this year than previously, and only had two opportunities, one I decided to pass because a stick was in the way. Killed a buck while sneaking into my stand in Nov. Saw deer, but had no shots in rifle season, passed on my only shot in ML because of brush. Based on the gunshots heard, and lack of evidence of deer dragging, it’s been a pretty lousy season on this WMA. Still have some days left, mixed crossbow, Senior antlerless, late antlerless, and Mountaineer Heritage if I can get my musket dialed in.

You would probably like the way VA handles their seasons. Your license lets you take 5 or 6 deer, depending on location. The weapon choice is up to you; generally you buy stamps to hunt with bow and ML. Bow season runs through Oct. ML begins about the beginning of Nov, runs for two weeks, then Rifle begins, with the rut still well under way. After that, a lot depends again on where you hunt. West of the Blue Ridge and on private land in some counties there are Earn-a-Buck rules and other restrictions, but if you manage to use all your tags, you get 5 or 6 more antlerless tags at minimal cost. FWIW, deer are like rats almost everywhere, except maybe in some of the Western counties, so it’s safe to say their plan works pretty well. They even allow airguns and silencers, and have some liberal, IMO, Urban hunting and damage rules.

PA also appears to have the highest number of whiney hunters per square mile. Bucks are getting bigger, seasons are getting longer, can now hunt weekends...."but damnit we don't like that either!!!"

Our issue is the advantages given archers that is resulting in a yearly increase in the percentage of the total kill. I get the nice weather, etc,etc. However, with each year that goes on, the rifle crew has less opportunities. Let’s project a possible 50-60 percent archery kill 15 years down the road. What would that do to rifle participation or season length? Do they wait until the rifle hunters essentially quit because it’s not worth it?

Compound....public.

battue,

The video you shared inspired me a bit - thank you.

So, question for y'all;
Some of the bigger public land areas - can one get completely away from hunters with a bit of work? Or is it like northern WI with a litany of logging roads?

On public land, in Pa it is extremely easy to completely get away from other hunters...National Forests, State Forests and many Game Lands...Those guys in the video were on land that probably it would be rare to see another hunter let alone another foot print..There may be roads, but on the larger Game Lands you cant drive on them...The larger National and State forests allow vehicle travel, but it would be easy to get 1-10 miles from a road if you are willing to walk in...

However, in many places there are some repeated elevation changes that can occur quickly..and places that are not for the weak to get in or out.....

We did and it didn't require a lot of work. Surprising actually.

Closest SGL to my hunting camp is comprised of over 8,000 acres, Some of it is "bottom land" near the road, most is mountainous, forested and steep.

Know some who hunt there and have had success. They tell me once they get a half mile from the road and into some of the steeper stuff, they're on their own as far as other hunters..

So, lest I be guilty of making up stuff that you say, are you of the opinion that rifle hunters have a claim to a certain percentage of the deer, irrespective of the number of hunters who use either type of weapon, or as is common, both types? I don’t have any figures on how many hunters fit into those groups, do you? What about success rates within those groups; are they going up, down, sideways? Without taking those numbers into consideration, simple kill figures are meaningless.

Speaking of making things up, which body orifice did you pull your future archery kill projection out of? No, don’t tell me, pretty sure I know.

Funny, but for years the stickbow boys bitched about compounds ruining their hunting, then both had a tizzy when crossbows began to be accepted. This is the first time I can recall rifle hunters whin-, er lamenting about archers killing so many deer that their opportunities were growing fewer. I’ve always looked on special seasons as more opportunities for me to hunt, not an attack on what I was doing before. The article tzone posted a link to shows that PA is doing a pretty good, stellar actually, job of managing the deer compared to the rest of the states. Maybe there are local problems here and there, but the numbers show that great opportunities exist for those who want them and maybe are willing to adapt a bit as to how and maybe where they hunt. Contrast PA with states that make you draw for every tag. You’ve got it really, really good.

Pa does have it good.....as far as let’s project, it shows your usual thought process of not getting it. The percentage keeps going up, so perhaps we can project it possibly reaching that number.

Maybe it is your first time trying to recall rifle hunters having concern, but that isn’t the case in Pa...which if you look will be part of the thread topic. As far as pulling knowledge out of your asss, you being from WV perhaps you should try to stick with an area you are more familiar with. The State...it is obvious you are more than willing to show your asss. 😃

As far as the approximate numbers that fit into the bow vs rifle question...I do have a good idea from Pa GC records and did show a link to the current percentage of bow vs rifle in Pa? Wish I could say I’m surprised you missed it...but I can’t.

And kills divided by license sale will give a give fairly accurate number Re success rates. Let my 13 YO Grand Daughter ponder that for a short while and she would grasp it.

It is becoming more than obvious you can’t keep up...so until you are up to it Au revoir...😉 or au tout Pappy...

Just so you know...

So it’s like that huh? Well just GFY you whiney-ass, entitled POS. ES&D.

Well, that was pleasant? That's Campfire Forum talk. Doesn't belong down here, my opinion?

Yes sir...

+1!

We got 5 deer between my 2 kids and myself.

Daughter had about a total of 45 minutes into her season this year. She got her buck with a crossbow. It was the first day that she didn't have some kind of sporting activity after school and with about 30 minutes of shooting light left when I got home from work. She asked if we could go out back behind the house and I reluctantly said yes. We got into the double ladder stand and I handed the crossbow to her and reached into my pocket to get a face net. Right then she said, "there's a buck"! I looked up to see one walking a trail directly in front of us. I grunted to stop him but he started right back up. She asked, "how far". I said 40 yards and grunted again. Whack, she drilled him! That "hunt" lasted 3 minutes. Her doe was in rifle season. She didn't even go out until the last hour of the first Saturday. We got in the stand at about 4:00. At 4:15 I said to her, "we'll see deer in about 30 minutes". I was off by 1 minute. At 4:46 we had 5 walking single file at 110 yards out. She got on the last in line (and largest) and when it came through an opening she made a perfect heart shot with her new birthday model seven cdl 7mm-08.
4 of our deer were with 7mm-08's. 3 with 140 AB's and 1 with a 145 grandslam.

Awesome!!

How do you like the M7 CDL? IMO it's one of the best looking rifles Remington makes/made. I used that speer 145 in my 7x57. It was very accurate but penciled through at the 7x57 velocity. I'd like to load some up for my .280 actually.

Its a very nice little rifle though I think a 22 inch barrel would balance it better. The grip is a little thick for my daughter, but she doesn't seem to mind or notice it as much as I do.
She picked it over a New Haven Fwt, a .257 Bob Mnt rifle and my Montana.

The 140 AB's were new for us this year. Been shooting 145 Grandslams in 7-08's and 7x57's for years (decades). I used 46 grns of H-4350 in virgin RP brass and it shoots sub-moa in her CDL, my boy's LVSF and my Montana. Velocity's a bit low, but I couldn't be happier than to have only one load for the 3 rifles! They worked to perfection.

Tell me about the 145 Grandslams....Have some, but have heard conflicting reports.....