Pennsylvania Wilds?

[Magwa45]

This Maryland boy has been dreaming about that northwest area of PA. It sounds like a hunter's paradise with plenty of state and national forests, room to roam or maybe get a few acres at a good price and put up a small cabin to get away from it all. Any Pennsylvania Wildmen out there to tell about it? Man, that sounds like a good place for a "Waldmensch" like me.

[Whip]

I have no idea what the hunting is like, but I've driven through parts of it and it is truly a beautiful area.  Good luck on the search for your own Shangri-La.

[The Butcher]

I live on the ohio,wv,pa border, right where the ohio joins all three states.  I have hunted northwestern Pa, and It is beautiful.  I don't think the deer herd is what they publish, and for a while, #s were down.  I have friends who have cabins in Potter and Forest Co.  And they stay here and deer hunt.  This is a nice area, and I can be in oh or wv, in less than 10 min.  Access to private land is tough, and public land, around here, yeilds little game.  What makes up north nice is the national forest, and plenty of game lands.  hope this helps.

[khardrunner]

The deer herd is supposedly low up there right now, though if I had the $$ it would still be one of the places I would seriously consider putting a cabin. It's a beautiful area for sure. If you are in to bear hunting, it's not a bad place for that either.

[Matt Fowler]

I'm in north central PA. deer numbers are low but quality is up. Lots of room to roam.

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[Matt Fowler]

tryin' a pic again.
 

[Jerry Jeffer]

I live in NE PA, but have been all over the state. True there are not the deer there used to be in PA, but there were way too many. Though I see less deer, I still see plenty and they are healthier then they used to be. I have several public land places to hunt. Some only 10 min away and some up to an hour away. All beautiful country with deer, bear and other game. Fish and game dept has a lot to learn here. They only made major changes several years ago after allowing only one deer a year for a century.

[ThePushArchery]

I live in Western PA, right in the heart of Butler County.

We hunt as far north as Erie, and all the way down below Pittsburgh.

The deer numbers are much higher down here near Butler, and Allegheny County.

As you move north the numbers decrease until you get to Erie. Erie and the surrounding area are very nice hunting. I lived up there while in school for quite a few years, and the hunting is good.

PA is a deer hunters paradise right now. Our Game Commission as far as I am concerned is doing a top notch job.

[Doc Nock]

2 Matts and Jerry,

Thanks for the positive posts. There are a couple of folks here that have gone sour on PA and make no bones to lament vociferously.

We've all seen changes. Pressure seems to be the biggie where I see more hunters now than ever did... and a lot less consideration and sportsmanship than a short time ago.

Also seems that the pressure has equated with the deer patterning us better'n we pattern them.

Seems they live there and rest of us want to run up to our favorite spot a time or 6 and do the same thing we did for a lot of years and lament things aren't the same...

Had a job offer up in Butler..place rented, went through all the testing (big company) and they even had me in their "relocation" vendor and was ready to move me...when they "reorganized and eliminated my job". Got a "sorry for inconvenience".  :(

Through the many trips out there, I sure did see beautiful country...and liked the idea of 3 contingent states RIGHT THERE!

My heart still longs to have made the transition from SE PA to up where you guys hang...

Enjoy and report for some vicarious thrills!  

[danseitz]

If you want to hunt deer, go hunt somewhere else.  The Game Commission here in Pa has waged war on deer for the last 10 years.  The Game Commission won and now the low numbers are managed by preditors.  Much of Pa public land stinks. If you are seeing deer where you hunt, do yourself a favor and stay there.

[Shooty1]

Grew up hunting Jefferson and Elk Counties, mostly private land where I got shooting every year. Yep, land is cheap and the country is beautiful. Deer, though, were always feast or famine; either you had a good spot and got shooting every year, or you saw nothing at all. There were years in which I got skunked, even with a rifle. From what I hear lately, it hasn't improved much.

As for eating, I'll take these fat soy and cornfed MD and DE deer any day over the laurel and brush eating mountain deer. But as for the hunt, no, it's tough to beat the scenery of the older forests of NW PA.

[KumaSan]

Grew up in NW PA, and years ago the hunting was fantastic. Deer numbers are way down from 20 to 30 years ago, and the antler restriction makes it tough. The general consensus from the older hunters is that we have less trophy buck now than in the past, and some taxidermists will testify to that.

I live in South Central PA, and generally hunt Central PA. It depends where you go to hunt, as to whether or not you see deer. Where I live now we have about 25% of the deer we used to have. Since the restrictions, the numbers have plummeted, but we don't have the small deer we had before. Good luck on finding a place.

[gobblegrunter]

My family is from north-central PA (Bradford Co.) and I know that the #'s there are down. It's beautiful country though. I have a buddy down in Sykesville MD and an Uncle that goes down to Western MD to hunt (from PA). From what I understood, theres some excellent huntin' down there?

[Magwa45]

Yes, we have lots of deer down here, more in central and eastern MD than in the mountains in the western part. It is nearly unlimited bag limit on does in some areas. They don't get as much to eat out west.

But it would be a dream to have a cabin up there in NW PA, a few acres backed up to a state or national forest. Good place to get away from it all and just relax, get out the canoe and fish, be out alone in the woods.

[gobblegrunter]

Can't say I blame you. It is beautiful country, that would be somewhat nearby for you, and probably the most affordable in the region for that sort of thing too (depending on whats happening with the marcellus shale projects in the specific area that you're looking of course)

[Magwa45]

Now what is marcellus shale? Have not heard of that.

[gobblegrunter]

They're finding massive quantities of Natural Gas across Northern PA. Well-heads are being drilled for and established all over the place, pipelines are being run, and leases are being paid out to property owners by way of 5yr contracts. Again, my family is in Bradford Co. (north-central) and leases are being paid out left and right there. Not sure what it might be like west of there or how it would affect property rates where you're looking.

[wollelybugger]

They have drilling rights to most of the game lands thanks to our Pa. politicians. They got over 100 million for the drilling rights. That is the land our hunting license money bought so we would always have a place to hunt. The jury is out to how much damage they will do. The real worry is they are going to destroy all our native brook Trout streams with the run off from the wells. It takes a million gallons of salt water to fracture into the gas pocket. With new roads and roads into the woods I don't think it will be good for the hunters or the deer.

[gobblegrunter]

You bring up very good points. I cringe everytime I go north and see several more new well-heads. My entire life, that area (Canton, Troy, etc) has been the one constant, never changing in it's beautiful country/landscape. I always drew some comfort from that each time I made the trek. I understand that it brings people up north some great income, but definitely has it's ugly side to go along with it, as you've mentioned.  :(

[bunyan]

I'm originally a Maryland Boy myself, and currently live in Erie County, PA.  I may not post on here much, but if you ever want to come up and look around, drop me a pm.  I may not be as familiar with the area as some of the locals, but its not a bad corner of the state.  And if you like (fly)fishing, this is definitely the place to be for steelhead, smallmouth, etc!