Author Topic: Antler restrictions (Read 3296 times)

pa ridge-runner · « **Reply #30 on:** January 01, 2004, 03:45:31 AM »

:eek: Turfman,
You must have a super place to hunt! Are you on private land?Me(and my buddy) have hunted hard since the opening day of archery season.Our field observations are not like yours.On the opening day of deer season I took a button buck(at 4pm),the only deer I saw all day.On the second day I saw a spike buck and one doe...all day!We have hunted 6 days so far with our muzzy's...NO SHOTS yet.Last saturday we got together with 10 other muzzy hunters,and did some organized drives,only one doe taken....piss poor to me!!I DO believe that the deer harvest this year will be way down.It is true that some areas hold more deer but where I hunt(Pocono's) is pretty much depleted.Private land is better now,if you have it.We have not been lucky enough to hunt private land.It is my opinion that deer have been slaughtered on public lands but pretty much left alone on some private lands.I dont know how the game commission is going to balance this out.We feel happy to even see a deer when we hunt.Things have gotten much worse in my opinion.The game commission wants less deer and they have alot less than the past years.Pa used to boast a herd of 2 million deer.That total I'm sure is about 1.3 now,and dropping.I think we will have about 1 million deer soon.A loss of half the total we had...of course we see alot less deer.I'm happy you have had a good season,wish I could agree with you :oops:

Anyway that is my observation of this years deer season.

turfman · « **Reply #31 on:** January 02, 2004, 04:36:26 AM »

Pa ridge runner.

You are correct. My father in law and I own and lease about 400acres, and our land also boarders a 160 acre golf course. There isn't to much public land left here in these parts. You have state game lands 31, 54 and a couple of smaller ones up here. My family has hunted sgl54 since there was a sgl54; and they all got buck (3pts on a side). It wasn't all that long ago where most of the buck that came off of that game lands were spikes and 3-4 pts I don't know; maybe its a regional thing. You can definetly tell like you stated above that the deer population and kill is down; but the quality of the deer here that I have seen are better. Just what I see though.

Also where are you located. I used to hunt alot in carbondale; up by scranton. My buddy I hunted with up there still has a lot of deer running around the farm.

turfman.

pa ridge-runner · « **Reply #32 on:** January 02, 2004, 06:30:04 AM »

:DHi Turfman
I hunt all over the Pocono's,but mostly near Hickory Run S.P.We hunt near Brady's Lake also.Have hunted the Gouldsboro game lands and we also head out to Berks county and hunted near Ontelonie Lake area near Reading.The second day of deer season we hunted near Straustown.Very little game seen.I have hunted these parts for over 35 years and this is nothing like it used to be.I do believe that we will see larger bucks in the future ,but less deer in general.Private land is the key to success as usual.Have heard from other hunters from other states that hunt public land and its not the same as Pa.Here its like an army has landed :eek: Oh Well,Oh hell.Keep up the good work!,and congrats on your good year!! PA RR :grin:

MarlinMan · « **Reply #33 on:** January 06, 2005, 04:02:21 AM »

I reside in Lycoming county and hunted 8 days of the deer season.
Nobody in my group fired a single shot,however the deer that I have seen taken by guys from work and other aquaintences where some of the biggest (on average)bucks that I have seen in 29 years of hunting.
The overall numbers seem to be down (at least here) but the antler resrtictions seem to be working.
As for myself,I could care less if I get a deer or not.I enjoy just being out there trying.My hunting buddys and I have been letting smaller bucks walk for some 10 years now.These days it takes a pretty decent buck for me to sqeeze the trigger.I always have at least one doe tag which I usually save for the flintlock season since I enjoy that soo much.

JPSaxMan · « **Reply #34 on:** January 06, 2005, 05:26:33 AM »

Quote from: longwinters

But if you want to cut down the doe population, bring in some wolves like Michigan did. In a few years you will wonder where all the deer went? :eek:

We got these things called coyotes, I THINK they're similar to wolves.... :roll: and they might not do the damage the wolves would do but trust me, they do their job.

Then again we also have these things called a$$hole hunters who, like an acquaintance of mine did, take 2 bucks and then still want to use their doe permits. There's lousy deer control for ya.