PA Eye Opener

[MJB]

Usually don't vent much but this caught me off guard. Got off to a late start (noon) had to take Mom to the Doctor. Then planned to stay out afternoon / evening hunt.

Got my stool set up in some hemlocks natural blind/dead fall. Plenty of deer runs through the area. Everything about the area just seemed right, so I thought.

Around 5pm I hear movement shifted my eyes to the left. I seen two hunters dressed in head to toe in flo orange 45 yds from me. I stood up coughed and said as low as I tried there's a bowhunter over here.

I knew they heard me, seen me (waving orange hat). They proceeded to put a sent dispenser in the ground around 40-50 yds to my left. Totally ignoring that I was there.

Then it got pretty quite and I thought they had left. Several minutes later I hear leaves being cleared out. I cut my head back and noticed they were set up around 50 yds in back of me.

I thought I've had it !! Going to go talk with them and see if maybe they didn't understand something. As I was getting closer to them I asked are you bow hunting ?

They replied no , I asked them what are you doing here, I know you had seen me. As I approached it was a father & son and they said they were rifle hunting.

I said rifle hunting for what, reply was deer. I said it's not in. Father replied it is for youth. Puzzled dumbfounded I took out my season and bag limits from my licence holder.

Sho enough it's open for youth accompanied by an adult. I wished the young lad luck, and said to his father. HUNTING FUTURE , me thinks he knew EXACALLY what I meant.

This caught me off guard , when did Pa throw a youth rifle hunt into the bowhunting mix ? Sorry for the rant. But seems there is less respect in the woods anymore.
Mike

[doug77]

bad things happen but what is he teaching his son. kind of the same thing happened to me this fall also. pulled up to some private land and i knew other people had permission to hunt their also. while getting changed a father & son pull up to go hunting ( youth season gun) so i go talk to them and let them hunt with me going some ware else while backing out the father pulls out two 5 gallon pails of apples ( baiting is not allowed in iowa ) what did he teach his son. it is a sad world some days

doug77

[fields]

Youth hunt has been in place for a couple years now.  That, in addition to the muzzleloader season and next week the fall turkey/small game seasons.  Oh well, next year maybe we will have crossbows too...   Nothing like sitting in my tree stand only to be scared sh..less when the rifle cracks.  Only seen five doe so far this season, hunting everyday, we should shoot more of them.............hahahahaha

[trapperzeke]

Crappy situation, but early youth season has been around for quite awhile now...as is the early muzzleloader season for all ages.

[longbowben]

Im all for youth season best thing to get young laides and men involved in hunting.As hunters we want to share with the youth and teach them the proper way .

[vtmtnman]

We have youth deer and turkey seasons here as well.I wonder sometimes about what some of these guys are teaching their kids.I think some of them just take the kid along so they can shoot a deer early.

[DEAN]

Just wait till next year when you hear a muzzleloader go off followed my the TWANG of a crossbow flying past your stand!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Robert Honaker]

Tennesse did that very thing also last year.
Crossbows are now legal archery equip. too.

[bowhunterfrompast]

Here in Missouri they have extended bow season by a month. We also get to share more time in the woods with other special weapons seasons.

Be careful and aware because they aren't looking out for the bowhunters. Know when those special seasons are and take the necessary precautions.

bhfp

[Doc Nock]

Yup, Mike... I think when they decided they had to elminate more doe BEFORE they bred... and instituted the MZ doe season for 7 long days (2 weekends)they also said that Sr.'s and kids could use rifles the last 3 days!

Everyone complains that archers have such a long season... actually by archery standards, we get to hunt unmolested deer for 2 weeks...then come the in-line, scope sighted, MZ doe hunters driving and pushing through bedding areas we tend to avoid to not alter "natural deer movement."

By the last 3 days of that week, rifle or in-line seems moot..other'n I get more concerned, orange or not, being in trees...but then, last weekend, grouse and squirrel came in so .22 shots into trees are common too!  :eek:  

Last opening day of gun season, I walked in a state game lands only to have a guy and his kid come both riding ATV's on the boundary trail, fully on the game lands... in the rain... and back out 2 hrs later after shooting! I avoided confronting them. I was too ticked off to be sensible, so I sat and sulked in my blind getting soaked!

Public hunting land is a zoo...but the more land gets taken out of public use, the more difficult it becomes to manage the herd as they just tuck over where they can't be hunted...and the more pressure...and more overlapping seasons we have, the less quality hunting there is for archery deer.

Guys with more acreage, private access, etc....surely don't have the same number of conflict issues and it seems moot to them.

Maybe it's also an age thing... I know growing up, we were taught to always gave another hunter a wide birth! It was what we were taught was "considerate and ethical"!

Today, people have limited time, limited understanding of the true code of outdoorsman and the "me first" attitude means that "oh, I can sit here and watch and you can sit there and watch!"

Kinda like opening day of trout season, eh?  

[wollybear]

i think that they wear not hunters, not in the sence of what hunting realy is. but life is great and you wear hunting. that is a great day .   :D    

[Peckerwood]

Pa. is without a doubt the worst state for hunting and fishing I have experienced. Don't know if I am going to buy a license next year.

Bill

[Jayrod]

yeah everyone just thinks especially city folk that they can just walk in on an piece of property desired even if the posted signs are there and dont ask permission or some story that they know who owns it

[tjjsidekick]

PA is not that bad. As stated earlier, you got the first two weeks of October uncontested, and  as of the last couple of years, we can hunt the rut through mid November with out the worry of getting hit by a high powered rifle. In the second season, I virtually have the woods to myself (outside of Allegheny County).

[OBXarcher]

I am from PA originally and was up there last week for the youth season. Obviously it is good to get the kids out there but it needs to be done right. There are inconsiderate "hunters" in every state.

I would recommend every person on here to become a Hunter Safety Instructor for their state and get involved in teaching the youth. Our local group is great. We teach Safety first and harp on the ethics of being a good hunter and sportsman. You would be srprised how many fathers come and take the course with their kid. It is a good time to open some of their eyes too.

[JOKER]

About 6yrs  ago PA was overpopulated with deer does and yearling bucks everyware. Almost everyone that hunted killed a doe and a yearling buck every year. This was not good for the deer heard or the enviroment.

The PA game commish deciced to go with a three or four point buck rull (depending on area) to save some of the yearling bucks. They also extended the old one doe tag per person three day rifle doe season to a two or three tag per person two or three week rifle (depending on area), one week early inline scoped ML (single shot rifle)and three day early youth rifle.

Now, the deer heard is devastated and instead of killing all the yearling bucks they now kill them all at 6mth old as button bucks.

GREAT JOB PA GAME COMMISH !!!!!

[Matt Fowler]

I think PA is a great state to hunt in. I have a cabin in north central PA, the big woods. I also support the Game Commission and it's deer mangement program. I have seen the results. There is plenty of public land in PA and all you need to do is walk a little ways and you can have the woods to yourself. There are big bucks in the northern tier that die of old age!! I have no problem giving youth and senior hunters 3 days during bow season. We need young hunters and old guys need a break. Changes in the regs are easily found in the beginnig of the digest you get with your license. There has never been 3 weeks of rifle any where in the state. You can only apply for 1 antlerless tag per WMU in the first go round, then apply for unsold tags. You can get more tags in Special Regs areas.

[danseitz]

What I think is curious is that the Pa Game Commission allows kids to hunt with rifles in the muzzleloading/doe/archery season to encourage them to stay interested in deer hunting and at the same time has over the last 5 years issued so many doe tags that have had the result in some areas of practically wiping out the herd in public land.  I've lived in Pa most of my life.  It is my home state.  But anyone who thinks the Pa Game Commission is doing a good job to protect our hunting heritage and encourage young folks to stay in the game is not looking past the end of their nose.  From my perspective and the thousands of public acres that I hunt, Pa hunting stinks.

[JOKER]

Sarry Matt but you are wrong, Look at your hunting and trapping regs. WMU's 2b,5c and 5d have a regular firearms antlerless deer season from Dec 15-23 & Dec 26-Jan 24. If you add that up it is almost 6 weeks. This dose not count the early rifle youth hunt and inline "muzzlleoader" week. It has been like this since they started the deer reduction program. Also, when there are enough unsold antlerless tags availiable that everyone gets two or three I count that as two or three not one.

[Matt Fowler]

That's the old Special Regs  areas, no rifles unless your considering slug guns rifles. Lots of guys use bows and MLs during those times also and yes you can get more tags in those units. Something had to be done to the deer management program and I think they went in the right direction.
In PA now you can take 1 buck and a few doe, 2 turkeys, 2 day archery bear, 3 day regular bear, decent upland bird hunting, good small game hunting, can try and draw an elk tag, good predator hunting, good to excellent trout fishing, and beaucoup acres of public land to get lost in. Don't sound too bad to me:)