Deer and Deer Hunting article

[Dutch]

Your thoughts?

www.deeranddeerhunting.com/deer-hunt/deer-hunting-tips/the-pennsylvania-deer-controversy-20-years-later

[bushmaster]

It was a good read. I'm happy with current deer numbers and size in my little corner of the state.

[moosemike]

Something had to be done. I've always been of the opinion it was taken too far

[muttleysback]

I am long in the tooth, and have hunted all of the years since I got my first license in 1954, with the exception of the 1959-60 season when I was away at college and couldn't go. I remember the years when it was probable one would see 25 or more deer the first day of rifle season, and usually, all of them would be does or fawns. I didn't shoot my first buck until 1968, and it was a spike. Sorry, but I don't want to go back to those "good old days." In all of the years prior to 2000 I managed to kill only 10 antlered deer with a grand total of 39 antler points. Since 2000, I have taken 13 bucks with a total of 84 antler points.,  All of them but one were five points or better.  /The lone spiker was taken late in flintlock season in 2007.  The does I harvest in PA are rolling fat. Prior to 2000, nearly all of them weighed less than 100 pounds dressed. Several of the does I have taken in the past ten years have weighed well over 140 pounds. Thanks, but I'll take the situation today as being the best deer hunting has ever been in PA.
For another thing to consider, the habitat in the woodlands where I hunt is superb. The forest has an understory. No browseline exists. We do have a problem with hay scented ferns, but we will deal with that. The reason it is a problem is that for way too many years, deer ate everything else within four feet of the forest floor. This was because we waited way too long to do what needed to be done.
Some would like to let us older hunters go back to shooting spikes. I am against that. We have made great progress in deer management. I don't want to see that go away. Us older hunter don't need to prove our manhood by killing one more buck, especially if it is a scrub.
This is my opinion. Now yinzers can flame on.
George

[westfieldjoe]

I never figured I had the right to tell someone else what they could shoot, or belittle them for their choice. I've always believed that states like NY have the correct way to achieve the desired management goal. Best for all concerns overall.

[westfieldjoe]

I believe that HR went too deep, for too long of a duration. It stunted hunter interest that only partially recovered.

[rusty]

The first few years of HR really seemed to hurt deer numbers in a couple of the places I hunted. I also believe it lead to an big increase in the amount of posted and leased property, at least in the western half of the state.

Over the past several years I believe deer number have grown to the point of higher numbers than anytime I remember. They still get hit hard where access is easy, but the protection from posted and leased properties is keeping numbers high in most places and growing them in many.

I like seeing the nicer bucks ARs is producing, but I still do not favor the PGC not allowing hunters who are okay with a young buck from shooting one.

[stroupy]

My area I saw it go from plenty of deer to lucky to see one deer a year. I remember when I was a kid my cousin had off of work and I had off of school we hunted all week and my cousin said did you ever feel like you are alone. Now we are back to high numbers in my area again. Funny thing is we have deer numbers and the forest actually got thicker since I started hunting. So which is it?

[dougl]

They did exactly what needed to be done.We went through some lean years but I've seen the habitat make great strides in recovery and the quality of deer is something I never dreamed possible.The best time to be a deer hunter is right now.

[fleroo]

Us older hunter don't need to prove our manhood by killing one more buck, especially if it is a scrub.
This is my opinion. Now yinzers can flame on.

Though I advocated way back in the day, when my hunting mentor, uncle and WWII Vet was still topside, for that age group to be exempt from AR, at this point, it doesn't matter either way to me. I never shot dinks once I turned adult as it was. I didn't need a mandate for me to make that choice. BUT, here is the issue I have with how AR is structured demographically as it currently stands, and THIS opinion is more apt to receive the flaming you mentioned, rather than yours. THE KIDS. That's all we hear about nowadays. DO IT FOR THE KIDS. Well I gots to tell ya, those same hunting advocate fathers, mothers, uncles, grandpas, etc... that want to bend over backwards for THE KIDS in a hunting setting per rules and regulations, are some of the first to lament how spoiled those same kids are in other societal settings. How THE KIDS are coddled to, and don't have to work as a teen in the summer to earn a few spending bucks. How they sit on a computer, IPad, IPhone all day long, and can no longer adequately function on a person to person daily communicative basis. How they are entirely disrespectful in a setting of academia, and can no longer receive a good "spankin" from the principal, in order to restore a bit of that lost respect.

Those same KIDS, have to wait until 16 to get a drivers license, 18 to vote, 21 to drink alcohol. Yet daddy or grandpa simply can't stand not having Johnny or Janey, wait until the ripe old age of 12 to kill. And not only kill, but their gratification simply won't be satisfied unless what they can kill, is a buck. That meager, "lesser gendered", plain ol' Doe, simply can't do. And yes, Johnny and Janey can kill that "forkie" until age SEVENTEEN, because if they can't, they may kick and scream, and resort back their IPad and IPhone for entertainment. Those banes of society. Give Johnny and Janey instant opportunity, instant gratification, or they may lose interest. And we simply can't have that.

To me, I see some hypocrisy here. On how we can call KIDS spoiled in most societal aspects, yet hand everything to them in the hunting setting... OR ELSE.

Talk about "flame on" !

Oh, and yes, I raised 3 KIDS of my own. So I know a bit about it. And no, I'm not "The Jailer" from Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang.

[dougl]

LOL.You aren't wrong.

[Loggy]

Interesting article! IMO HR was initially overdone but now many areas of State are finally sustaining a reasonable deer population. The vast SF poor habitat management(deer wise) will never improve do to conflicting habitat  policies. This effects over 2.2 Million acres of public hunting grounds.

[dougl]

The worst years for me were around 2005-2007 and they still weren't bad.We had two miserable winters prior to that and that impacted the deer more than hunters.I would say that many of the areas where I hunt that the habitat reponded the most favorable are now close to pre 2000 levels and the habitat is starting to show it.Moshannon state forest was DMAP'd heavily,cut fairly aggressively and they stopped fencing about 12 years ago.Now they have to start fencing again.

[stroupy]

Jun 27, 2023 14:32:11 GMT -5 dougl said:

The worst years for me were around 2005-2007 and they still weren't bad.We had two miserable winters prior to that and that impacted the deer more than hunters.I would say that many of the areas where I hunt that the habitat reponded the most favorable are now close to pre 2000 levels and the habitat is starting to show it.Moshannon state forest was DMAP'd heavily,cut fairly aggressively and they stopped fencing about 12 years ago.Now they have to start fencing again.

I remember a year I went all of rifle season and saw one flash of a deer, I still can see the flash in my mind. A couple years it was really bad in my area. The last couple the mountain laurel has gotten so thick and I think there is a high number of deer. I saw 24 the last day and three were buck.