flintlock deer season so far in pennsylvania

[Daryl]

Yes - bears are bad - that's for sure and not adverse to taking livestock as well.   

[Jim Thomas]

Will attempt a link to a fawn mortality study.

http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?a=465&q=152750&p

[winemaker]

I live in 1 of the top whitetail counties in western pa< washington co. Our deer population is getting worse every year by my house. I live on the property I hunt. We own 60 acres, 10 in pastures, 3 in yard. I have 47 acres of woods. The problem here is the masacre of does. My neighbor is a farmer, actually his dad is but he is on a mission to kill every deer they can. They built a round bale fort over looking many hay fields for first day 11 guys in the fort. 19 doe on the first day, 13 on the second day, 16 for the rest of the season. I haven't seen a doe since the end of the season. The neighbor farmer pool their money and go to the court house to buy as many tags as they can afford, then donate all the meat to " hunters sharing the harvest". I saw 1 buck in 9 days hunting, my brother missed a huge 10 point, that I had been hunting for 2 years. My son got a 7 point that lived in a thicket behind our house. I think the antler restriction is an absolute joke. I only saw 5 legal buck all summer around the house. Most of the bucks I see now you can put a coffee can over their racks. We had the midge problem in greene county last year but none reported this year.  Less than 15 miles from my house are the uniontown mountains, you could walk up there for days and 6 bear for every deer. I don't kill doe but from now on I will be buying quite a few just to keep them from people like my neighbor.

[McGill]

I was out Friday Eve, Saturday and yesterday in Potter County.  Saw a few doe. Didn't take any. Was looking for a buck.  My neighbor called and said one was in his yard! It was too late to shoot, though. I did see two bucks in Liberty, PA today while driving.

I used to see at least 10-15 deer every time out, but since the new way doe season is, I see 3 or 4 if I'm lucky.

The year before they changed doe season I saw 35 doe and two buck opening day of regular season. The following year I saw 4 or 5 doe. Big change.

I've hunted Potter for 28 years now.

[sonny]

mcgill............you are fortunate to see that many left!....just a little bit more doe shooting, an deer hunting there will be right with the rest of us.All we have to do is stick together on this idea an the game commission will wise up!.........I am not saying to stop doe hunting completely/forever!.all i am saying is two weeks of doe season mixed with buck is way too much.License sales are way down so the commission is sweetening the pot with mega doe bonus tags.........one deer in one season should be our battle cry........back to three day doe season the first monday/tuesday/wednesday after buck season like in the 70's.....sonny

[alex e.]

Remember also that in Pa a bow hunter has a month & a half to take a doe also..And an "early season" for a week to hunt with "anything you can stuff something down the muzzle.........

[Roger Fisher]

roger ol pal...........I am so burned up with this political bull about the deer herd balance by the college geek's that don't even get out there an look,it makes me spit fire.Ok rodger..how many deer did you see on private property this season?.....sonny

Private Property!  Penn Haven Mt 10 first day of rifle season,  1 the first Sat and 0 the 2nd Sat.  My buddy saw 8 the last Sat.  We got one 3 pt one horner the first day!

I got orders not to hunt alone on the snow and ice.  So we are heading out tomorrow for snowshoes 4 old guys and an old arthritic hound dog.  I plan to do some sneak hunting with my jaeger after the 1st of Jan,.   

Really don't give a hoot if I don't shoot a deer.  Actually I figure I 'harvested' enough deer in my day!  If I took a buck from my mt top tree stand hunting alone they might find me in spring stuck to a pull rope and a very dead deer. 

As you know the deer draw in to the built up areas.   Food and Cover and no pressure= gangs of deer!

This all probably belongs in "Over the Back Fence"  But what the hey!
So we found yesterday that the swamps and their edges at Bradys Lake area in Monroe Co Pa (N/E) had just too much solid frozen snow for our old hound to chase.  Our end man put up 1 snowshoe that made a slow route to our other end man and he got the shot and the rabbit.  Had two more 'out' and the shooters missed their shots.  More on subject we made an enormous circle around this large swamp and saw only 3  buck rubs, a v few fresh tracks and this snow laid about 4 days...!  The low ridges (hardwoods) are very overdue for timbering and barren on the ground (NO oaks) this equals poor deer herds.  I have hunted this area now for 60 years and saw it change from brushy to mature timber and from lots of deer to few deer!  That is how mother nature works!

[Jim Thomas]

I agree Roger.   I can only comment on my area,  but all the clearcutting that occured around the turn of the 19th/20th century turned an entire county into a deer habitat. 
Much of the forest area that provided deer with what they needed, has never been logged since.    Oh, some areas have been logged.   The commission sells timber,  they slash areas off.   But, the total is much smaller in area than what an  entire county offered  way back when.   

Rather than provide a habitat for one species,  the plan seems to  provide habitat for a range of game animals.   ie... wild turkey, bear, and deer. 

My best shots  for turkey and bear have occured in this flintlock season....which leads me to question,  why not allow it?  How much of hurt can we put on them?  I gotta eat something and bear meat goes good at the rondys!          

   

[Daryl]

With the bug-killed pine, and the increased logging efforts to salvage the dead trees,(only 2 years before they're no good for lumber) there will be an absolute explosion of deer and moose populations in this area - maybe 7 years, will see a incredible rise. Already, we've got impressive numbers of ungulates.

[BuffaloGun]

I just got back from hunting my usual farms in Wyoming and Bradford counties and while I did fill one doe tag I saw few deer and what I did see were no where near the size and condition of the animals I saw just 10 years back.
As I only hunt a few private farms with great food sources I'd have to think the deer I am seeing should be in pretty decent shape but it seems as every year the does I take are smaller and smaller. The bucks may not have had racks like some other States back then but there were some big deer and I still have never found a decent recipe for antlers.
Back in the days before Dr. Alt rewrote PAs' deer management these same field were filled with good sized deer. There was one night my brother and I sat in a field with night vision and counted over 90 deer in a single pasture. Last week that same field was empty.
Between expanding migration west from New Jersey & New York (talk about immigration problems!) and the Alt deer management program PA's deer population have been pretty hard hit.
I hope they don't start helping the bear population the way they did the deer.

[billd]

Sonny,   I hunted game lands in Luzerne County yesterday. I saw two, maybe the only two left.  No, I didn't shoot them.

Bill

[Jim Thomas]

Tioga county has never been known for producing trophy sized buck.  In the whitetail world,  probably never will.   Prior to 2006, the largest on record scored 150 B&C.     That record stood since the 1940's.     In '06 a buck that scored in the 160's was taken near Mansfield.  I myself took a 143 that same year.   A few more in the 130/140 class were also taken.    

While not many in that class of buck show up, there are clearly more instances.    I saw a 12 point ,taken the first day, that will score in the 150 class.   An 8 that will go into the 120's.  

Trail cameras are picking up nice buck more frequently.   While racks may not be huge, more show improved mass than what was normal a few years ago.

Those big buck are only moving at night.   They lay all day,  but will get up and move a bit.    Just enough to stretch, take a leak and maybe browse a little.   Then they lay back down.    Makes for a cold, lonely day for us BP nuts.  

 
    



            

[sonny]

geez bill..carve the location of the sighting on your powder horn.......some day you can show people where you saw deer before they disappeared....like the buffalo......How close to the kids swing set did you see those deer?........sonny

[YORKTOWNE54]

i HUNT PENNS WOODS ALSO AND IT SEEMS TO ME IF WE WANT A CHANGE WE HAVE TO CHANGE THE WAY WE AS HUNTERS THINK. WE ARE THE ONES SQUEEZING THE TRIGGER NOT THE GAME COMMISSION!!!