PA DEER HUNTERS???????????

[BigHink66]

Alot of things going on in PA.

For the most part the deer hunting has gotten worse.  

Private land has become more private since the AR and HR began.  They still have lots of deer in some locations.  Access has become an issue. The amount of property being leased has significantly increased also.  Everyone is a trophy hunter now.  

The number of archery hunters is way up over when I started almost 20 years ago and the amount of rifle hunters seems to be down.

Everyone sits in a stand also, which doesn't help with movement.  Used to be guys kept deer moving all day, not no one wants to move around.  

In fact, across the state their has been a big change in deer hunters attitudes towards others.  Lots of in fighting amongst and between groups.  Lots of criticism for other or different types of hunting.

I think the health of the habitat has improved and would be glad to see more grouse and other species as a trade off.  They could allow the deer to come back in some areas and I think they should.  Not to the levels of seeing 50 a day, but to consistently see a deer or two would be nice.  

Personally I think the outlook is dismal for this state and deer hunting. Hunting in general.

[Tioga]

I'm with ya BigHink66. These last few weeks of having snow on the ground has really opened my eyes. I've been hitting traditional winter areas that are interlaced with hemlocks and oaks. These areas have always been host to a good number of deer that have yarded up to take advantage of the thermal cover provided by the hemlocks and the food resource provided by the oaks. The results are very few tracks. I've put quite a few miles on these last few weeks in search of some decent deer sign. It doesn't exist.

  These deer numbers are truly pathetic and they aren't going to change until the house is cleaned out and rebuilt on Elmerton Avenue.. I have no reason to kill another deer until the Pa Game Commission recognises the predator problem in NC Pa and initiates a program in the form of more opps for bear hunters and more opps for bobcat harvest along with lower antlerless allocations in the NC counties. That's the view from my part of the state and I'm sure that others in other parts of the state agree.

  For you folks that are still experiencing good deer hunting, all I can say is protect it at all costs, because many of us have seen our deer hunting go right down the tubes for no good reason at all.

[Bob Macioch]

Originally posted by Jim Keller:
I think antler restrictions will work, but not with our current program of low deer numbers. I remember when Gary Alt was selling it, I said to a buddy that it would really help our taxidermy businesses. He didn't agree. He was really worried about the doe kill. He was right, I was wrong. When all deer numbers go down, so do the big buck numbers. Where I hunt in Clearfield Co. the scrubs are breeding, that's mostly what we have. The finny thing is ,it's not just Pa.. I'm reading it on here about Wis. hunters are upset and N.Y. hunters too.

I can tell you Pa and NY are going in the same direction.They both are now dependent on the money from doe permits.They will continue to give out tons of permits even if there are less deer.No science there.JUST GREED

[Tioga]

We had a good thing going in 2001.....sure doesn't sound like the deer were starving.

  DCNR DEER STUDY  

   

 DCNR Studies Gauging Health of Forests, Deer

Ice choked the slower waters of Pine Creek, snow squalls whipped through the stream valley, and gusting winds of an Arctic front were downing tree limbs everywhere. It was not a good day to be hunting deer in this stretch of Tioga State Forest.

But, says DCNR wildlife biologist Merlin Benner, you should have been here yesterday. Or, more precisely, Nov. 27 through the 29, when the state’s regular antlered deer season opened.

 On those days, Benner and his Bureau of Forestry colleagues were kept busy checking and weighing deer: big deer, healthy deer. Bucks that sported 6- and 8-point sets of antlers and does whose size showed food was abundant.  

But that was yesterday. Today, on the second day of the state’s antlerless deer season, Benner sat idle in his deer-check trailer not far from Lycoming-Tioga county line. Today weather would be the deer’s strongest ally, and Benner would have time to discuss what he and the Bureau of Forestry are trying to accomplish by staffing deer-check stations in both Tioga and Elk state forests.

Above Benner hangs a map delineating an 18,000-acre tract within Tioga State Forest. A combination of pins and other makings tell the biologist where forest regeneration is being monitored; where deer habitat is best and deer numbers highest; and, finally, where hunters are killing deer.

“We are keeping one eye on where forest vegetation is rebounding,” Benner said, “and another on deer densities. As a result, we are able to direct hunters to areas where their chances of seeing deer are good.”

The Tioga study and a similar one in the Quehanna Wild Area of Elk State Forest are supplying the Bureau of Forestry with invaluable data on what happens in a forest when deer multiply beyond a woodland’s carrying capacity. It also gives some hunters needed ingredients for success.

“Just about everyone who comes through these doors has been pleased with what they have seen in the Tioga tract,” Benner said. “One man stopped in on the third day of buck season, asked for some suggested areas, tried one, and came back with a beautiful eight-pointer.”  Most of the deer weighed in this year have been large and well fed, the biologist said.  
That was not always the case, Benner said. Too many deer took too great a toll on available browse and other foods in the Tioga State Forest tract. Too many deer, mostly protected does, were tilting a fragile balance, and the population in this study area plummeted.

“The equation for a healthy forest is a simple one,” the biologist said. “The more deer you have, the more have to be shot. If not, we will return to not so many years ago when the population collapsed because of too many animals and too little food.”

Successful hunters, most of whom are grateful to participate, are asked when and where they killed their deer. They then watch as Bureau of Forestry personnel weigh the animals, measure its girth and, if a buck, the spread and thickness of antlers. Finally, a tooth is extracted for aging.

The teeth and study data will be forwarded to the state Game Commission, whose Deer Management Section has stated a commitment to deer management policies that seek both a healthy deer herd and thriving forests rich in biodiversity.

As the 2001 hunting season approaches next fall, hunters wishing to participate in the deer-check studies can receive details by telephoning Elk State Forest at (814) 486-3353, or Tioga State Forest at (570) 724-2868.