trinitydeerslayer - 
Button Buck
 | | 01/29/2008 11:10 AM |
| Just out of curiosity, what seems to be the general consensus of the antler restrictions in PA? Was there a lot of initial skepticism, or did most people seem on board from the get-go?
How do most hunters seem to feel about it now? More importantly, I guess, are y'all seeing any results of the restrictions?
I ask because I had read somewhere that a lot of hunters were very unhappy about this at the start and just wondered if an increase in more mature to go around had changed any minds (assuming of course that there ARE more mature bucks to go around).
A large part of the state where I live (TX) has antler restrictions of some kind, particularly in areas closest to Dallas and Houston, and we kind of went through the same deal when our's began about 7 years ago. The efforts have paid off very nicely though and these once marginal areas are turning out some very nice deer.
Anyhow, like I said, I was just curious how it's been going. Best wishes in your off-season pursuits! | | | |
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Kmehaffey -
Millersville Pa.
| | 01/31/2008 11:20 PM |
| | Deer hunting in Pennsylvania, will cease to exist here in the next couple of years. We are allowed to kill entirely too many doe, after the RUT, most of the does are pregnant when they are killed, our deer heard is dwindling fast,and probably too late to stop the distruction of our once great deer heard.Yes we do see some large racked bucks,since the antler restriction was introduced,BUT we always saw some large racked bucks taken. I for one will not hunt deer in this state ever again,There just aren't that many deer here anymore,and I probably wont live to see the deer heard re-establish itself .My money is good in all 50 states,not just Pa. I'll hunt Maine,and Colorado,and possibly some other states. | | | |
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tszakelyhidio -
Button Buck
| | 02/01/2008 12:36 PM |
| | personally since they did it ive seen more bucks than ever but like the last post said you send for ur doe tags and then in beaver and allegheny county you can also buy them over the counter the over all amount of deer is not what it was in years past when i was 20, 10 years ago it wasnt a big deal to see a herd of ten to fifteen doe running together but now im lucky to see three and thats usually a doe with fawns i wish theyd shorten rifle season and make a three day or a week long seperated buck and doe seasons. the old redneck motto "if its brown its down" isnt a joke its absolutely tru here in penns woods, all the game comission wants is the money from the tags. | | | |
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tszakelyhidio -
Button Buck
| | 02/01/2008 12:42 PM |
| | i read my post didnt entirely make sense if i want ten doe tags i go to the court house and pay sixty bucks. allegheny and beaver county never sell out and you can get as many as you want and people take advantage of it | | | |
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Kmehaffey -
Millersville Pa.
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| 02/02/2008 1:02 AM |
| | The problem in Pa. is killing entirely too many doe,after the rut,when they are pregnant. I hear quite a lot of hunters blaming the Pa.G.C. the Game Comission gave us the O.K. to harvest too many deer,Did we have to ? You and I know the answer to that Question . (NO). Did we (YES) and the future of deer hunting here is dismall,at best. I've been hunting Sullivan Co. for the past 10 years. and every year I was seeing less deer,in fact,I have'nt seen a deer there in three years. This past deer season, I hunted the 1st week,from before sunup,till sundown,I heard a total of SIX shots all week. Normally you could here hundreds of shots ,just on the opening day. The brown and down boys need a reality check, when they are'nt able to take any deer ,they will Bit%& and moan because there are no deer left to hunt,and we can only blame ourselves. I personally feel that threre should be absolutely no doe hunting for at least the next 15 years, to allow the heard to re-establish its self ,but you and I know that Aint going to happen. I'll no longer purchase a Pa. hunting license, I'll hunt other states ,where there Game Comissions know how to manage the deer heard. | | | |
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tszakelyhidio -
Button Buck
| | 02/02/2008 10:30 AM |
| | i cant argue with u at all the tags are there and hunters are going to fill them ive also been considering other states your right its the hunters fault but there still shouldnt be the amount of tags that there are | | | |
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pizzaman17 -
4-Pointer
McIntyre,Pa.
| | 02/02/2008 10:19 PM |
| | The Area I hunt in (Elk Co).the deer herd is dwindleing also. I just started hunting there 3 years ago and have seen progressivly less deer each year.But as for the success of the antler restriction. Take a look at my Hunting camp profile. The buck my Brother-in-law shot in 06 was smaller than the one he shot the year before and the bucks taken the past three years have all been bigger than in past years. | | | |
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Kmehaffey -
Millersville Pa.
| | 02/02/2008 10:47 PM |
| pizzaman
It wont be too long until those big racked bucks are killed also. In 05 I shot a 5pt buck with a 16" inside spread,the very next day my brother in law shot a 13pt buck with a 21 1/2" inside spread, less than 100 yards from where I shot mine. The word was out, In 06 my brother in law ,and I couldn't get close to the area we had taken those two bucks,WHY ? ,everybody and there brother was hunting there,most didn't have permission,This past season it was the same thing again,only this past year we didn't see or hear of any bucks being taken,all the kills were does,(Again the BROWN AND DOWN BOYS ) WE are killing entirely too many deer,and if it doesn't stop,deer hunting will become a thing of the past here in Pa. | | | |
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trinitydeerslayer -
Button Buck
| | 02/06/2008 11:15 AM |
| Geez guys. I'm sorry to hear about all these things. I truly am. I hope your game commissioners will wise about about the destruction they're evidently causing.
Thanks for y'alls thoughts just the same. Good luck with a turn-around in wildllife policy. Y'all have a rich hunting tradition up there. It'd be a shame to see too much of a good thing end it all. | | | |
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Kmehaffey -
Millersville Pa.
| | 02/06/2008 11:24 AM |
| trinitydeerslayer
I think it's too late for the situation to change for the better. We've been slaughering the heard since 2000. I dont think things will get any better in my life time. The Pa.G.C. is ruining itself, and they dont even realize it. | | | |
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pizzaman17 -
4-Pointer
McIntyre,Pa.
| | 02/06/2008 11:33 PM |
| | I heard something on the radio news the other day about the game commission making some changes to the hunting season in certain areas,Something about not being allowed to shoot doe during the antlered season. I didn't catch it all, I'll let you know if I can find out the whole story. | | | |
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Kmehaffey -
Millersville Pa.
| | 02/07/2008 5:27 AM |
| Posted By pizzaman17 on 02/06/2008 11:33 PM
I heard something on the radio news the other day about the game commission making some changes to the hunting season in certain areas,Something about not being allowed to shoot doe during the antlered season. I didn't catch it all, I'll let you know if I can find out the whole story.
They should have made those changes, no later than 2003. IMO
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tszakelyhidio -
Button Buck
| | 02/08/2008 7:37 AM |
| | they did make changes but they are not very good they changed the first week in some areas to antlered only and the second week is both i remember 20 years ago in elk county it was a bad night if you didnt see over a hundred deer spotting by the birch forest in the moshannon forest but i guess thats spreading all over the state | | | |
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Kmehaffey -
Millersville Pa.
| | 02/08/2008 11:38 PM |
| | I hunt out of a camp in Cameron Co. We just spent 4 days there at the end of January, had about 4" of snow on the ground,we hiked every day, and found only 1 set of deer tracks,coyote tracks out the WAZOO. | | | |
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donjohnk -
Button Buck
Oswego County
| | 02/27/2008 12:36 AM |
| Yes, I do see a difference in the size of deer and also the antler growth of the bucks around where I hunt.
The last 6 yrs I have been seeing way more mature bucks. | | | |
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jbarr13 -
Button Buck
| | 02/29/2008 3:27 PM |
| | i wish Pa.G.C. wood look at this and do something about the it. | | | |
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Jenza -
Button Buck
North Versailles & Mahaffey, PA
| | 09/17/2008 9:51 PM |
| Ive hunted in Clearfield County for the past ten years, and my family has been there 40ish years...
And honestly... past 2-3 years, Ive seen more deer then i did 1st starting out. Granted we never had a large deer population up there.. And when my dad 1st started hunting (30 some years ago) there wasnt ANY real big bucks around... he'd tell me they were lucky to see a 6pt... Now the past 2 years we've have multiple 10 pts, and sightings of 13pts...
Don't get me wrong, im in agreement with the fact PA deer populations are going down the drain... but then again... last year a mall by me had problems with deer in there parking lot... and a 20pt buck that was always there too.. ha... sadly enuf seems like the biggest populations are all in city/subs parts of the state. | | | |
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