Anyone seen PA harvest #'s for 05?
02-15-2006, 08:31 AM
#11
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location:
Posts: 317
RE: Anyone seen PA harvest #'s for 05?
ORIGINAL: Legacy357
i think pa needs to get the phone-in check station like va. I am from pa but live in va now and i shot 2 deer down here this year. you call it in and they give you a confirmation number. All of it is automated and would give deer harvest numbers up to date. Seems like a good idea to me.....just don't know how much money it would cost but who knows how much it costs to hire people to take in those cards and add them up.
As for the deer harvest numbers, I would like to know the "calculation" they use for the "actual" numbers. It is some formula that takes into count the number of cards received to a percentage of ones not received. Like for every one card they receive, they predict that .2 or something don't.
I never think they will get an actual count in pa though because of what the others said. Some people tag the deer but then forget to send in the card. I did it by mistake one year and that is why I like the VA system a lot more. The deer is not tagged unless you get a confirmation from the game commission. When you take your deer to the butcher, he asks what is the confirmation number. Makes sense to me.......
i think pa needs to get the phone-in check station like va. I am from pa but live in va now and i shot 2 deer down here this year. you call it in and they give you a confirmation number. All of it is automated and would give deer harvest numbers up to date. Seems like a good idea to me.....just don't know how much money it would cost but who knows how much it costs to hire people to take in those cards and add them up.
As for the deer harvest numbers, I would like to know the "calculation" they use for the "actual" numbers. It is some formula that takes into count the number of cards received to a percentage of ones not received. Like for every one card they receive, they predict that .2 or something don't.
I never think they will get an actual count in pa though because of what the others said. Some people tag the deer but then forget to send in the card. I did it by mistake one year and that is why I like the VA system a lot more. The deer is not tagged unless you get a confirmation from the game commission. When you take your deer to the butcher, he asks what is the confirmation number. Makes sense to me.......
02-15-2006, 08:40 AM
#12
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: S.W. Pa.-- Heart in North Central Pa. mountains-
Posts: 2,600
RE: Anyone seen PA harvest #'s for 05?
When I started hunting back in the mid-50's, on the first day of BUCK season, the shooting was almost non-stop until around 10:00 A.M. This was the way it was for many, many years. I noticed the lack of shooting on the first day about 10 years ago. This past year, I heard more shooting the first day of bear season than I did the first day of deer season. No exaggerations.
Yes, I hunt northcentral PA. Yes, the mature forests offer little browse. Yes, timbering needs to take place for regeneration. But not ALL the area I hunt is mature forest. There is plenty of browsable woodlands in the area to support more deer. Yes, I also hunt these areas. The deer are gone. Plain and simple. Just listen to the amount of shooting you hear (or don't hear). This isn't rocket science, folks. It's what is referred to as common sense---- something that is a rare commodity in our leaders today.
Yes, I hunt northcentral PA. Yes, the mature forests offer little browse. Yes, timbering needs to take place for regeneration. But not ALL the area I hunt is mature forest. There is plenty of browsable woodlands in the area to support more deer. Yes, I also hunt these areas. The deer are gone. Plain and simple. Just listen to the amount of shooting you hear (or don't hear). This isn't rocket science, folks. It's what is referred to as common sense---- something that is a rare commodity in our leaders today.
02-15-2006, 08:41 AM
#13
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location:
Posts: 317
RE: Anyone seen PA harvest #'s for 05?
Sorry, but just because you don't like the numbers doesn't make them wrong. Why is it that the only people who don't think the harvest reports are correct are the whiney hunters who don't like herd reduction? There are a lot of reasons why there are fewer shots on the first day of rifle season, but nobody wants to believe them.
1. There are fewer deer where you hunt than there used to be. There are fewer deer where I hunt.
2. The deer are shot at earlier, especially the does, and they change their behavior. Maybe yours are dumber than the ones I hunt, but my deer are much more wary than they used to be.
3. When the deer density was fifty/square mile, you could sit on any stump in the woods and eventually a deer would walk by. It isn't that easy anymore. Get used to it.
4. There are fewer hunters in the woods after the first hour than ever before. Most are in the cabin drinking beer.
5. Hardly anyone drives anymore. It is too much like work.
6. With antler restrictions, us ethical hunters can't drop the hammer on the first patch of brown we see. We have to look for antlers, and then when we see them, we have to make sure they are legal. We also try to avoid killing button bucks.
7. From checking into message boards, there are a lot of people posting during hunting hours. Why do you think they aren't getting their deer? Hint: The deer are in the woods, not on your computer screen.
Flame on, now.
1. There are fewer deer where you hunt than there used to be. There are fewer deer where I hunt.
2. The deer are shot at earlier, especially the does, and they change their behavior. Maybe yours are dumber than the ones I hunt, but my deer are much more wary than they used to be.
3. When the deer density was fifty/square mile, you could sit on any stump in the woods and eventually a deer would walk by. It isn't that easy anymore. Get used to it.
4. There are fewer hunters in the woods after the first hour than ever before. Most are in the cabin drinking beer.
5. Hardly anyone drives anymore. It is too much like work.
6. With antler restrictions, us ethical hunters can't drop the hammer on the first patch of brown we see. We have to look for antlers, and then when we see them, we have to make sure they are legal. We also try to avoid killing button bucks.
7. From checking into message boards, there are a lot of people posting during hunting hours. Why do you think they aren't getting their deer? Hint: The deer are in the woods, not on your computer screen.
Flame on, now.
02-15-2006, 09:02 AM
#15
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location:
Posts: 317
RE: Anyone seen PA harvest #'s for 05?
Actually, T, the hunting got a whole lot better during the second week. Sorry for the lousy hero shot. Nobody was around to take a proper one. This guy walked past my stand at 9:00 on Thursday of the second week (public land).
I saw very few hunters where I hunt, even on the first two days. Maybe they don't hunt in the rain.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v440/patrkyhntr17252/2005eightpoint.jpg
I saw very few hunters where I hunt, even on the first two days. Maybe they don't hunt in the rain.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v440/patrkyhntr17252/2005eightpoint.jpg
02-15-2006, 09:11 AM
#16
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location:
Posts: 576
RE: Anyone seen PA harvest #'s for 05?
Sure was. We had snow on the ground as well. I hunted outside the military facility up your way the first day. Miserable day to hunt, very little shooting, a lot of complaining except from me. Iwas successful. 
02-15-2006, 09:37 AM
#17
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location:
Posts: 317
RE: Anyone seen PA harvest #'s for 05?
I consider it a lucky break for me to be able to spend so much time in the woods, T. I assume you were talking about Letterkenny? I have a photo of me holding a rack from a buck taken a short distance from there in Horse Valley the first day.
There is a neat story that goes with this buck. I was scouting on Monday, looking for tracks and doing a winter inventory again. On the way home I stopped in at Mac’s Taxidermy shop. Mac is my critter stuffer, and is also a good friend. He has several things he is doing for me now, including a grizzly I took in British Columbia last September. While I was there, he showed me a set of antlers from a buck a teenager took a few miles from his shop. It was a huge eight point with several kickers. Obviously, this was a trophy to be proud of, but the story about the taking of this buck shows that there really is justice in this life.
The teenager hunts with his father and a group of other guys in Horse Valley. Horse Valley got its name during the civil war, when local residents hid their horses there to keep the Confederate Army from stealing them. It is mostly state gamelands and state forest.
One of the group of six hunters fancies himself as the “deer guru” of the bunch. He picks the best stand for himself, and tells everyone else where they are to hunt. For the past five years, he has used one particular stand, but because he had not taken a really nice buck there, decided to hunt elsewhere this year. The teenager had picked a stand for himself, but the guru decided that was where he wanted to be this year, so he told the kid to go to the stand he didn’t want to hunt anymore.
At nine o’clock, the kid looked to his left and caught a glimpse of antlers. A huge buck walked out in front of him. He raised his rifle and downed it with one shot. Needless to say, he was a bit on the excited side.
Mac usually hunts most of the first day of rifle season, and then comes in to his shop around seven o’clock in the evening to check his phone messages. When he arrived, he had not one, but three messages from the kid. When he returned the phone calls, the kid came right over to the shop with his father, and also one slightly upset deer guru.
Now, most people I hunt with would have been excited and happy for the kid, but obviously, this was not the case for our guru. This leads me to believe that there is justice in this life. At least there was in this case. In the photograph below, I am holding the antlers from this buck. The kid sure has a right to be proud of this one.
Click on the link below to see a photo of the rack.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v440/patrkyhntr17252/HorseValleyBuck.jpg
There is a neat story that goes with this buck. I was scouting on Monday, looking for tracks and doing a winter inventory again. On the way home I stopped in at Mac’s Taxidermy shop. Mac is my critter stuffer, and is also a good friend. He has several things he is doing for me now, including a grizzly I took in British Columbia last September. While I was there, he showed me a set of antlers from a buck a teenager took a few miles from his shop. It was a huge eight point with several kickers. Obviously, this was a trophy to be proud of, but the story about the taking of this buck shows that there really is justice in this life.
The teenager hunts with his father and a group of other guys in Horse Valley. Horse Valley got its name during the civil war, when local residents hid their horses there to keep the Confederate Army from stealing them. It is mostly state gamelands and state forest.
One of the group of six hunters fancies himself as the “deer guru” of the bunch. He picks the best stand for himself, and tells everyone else where they are to hunt. For the past five years, he has used one particular stand, but because he had not taken a really nice buck there, decided to hunt elsewhere this year. The teenager had picked a stand for himself, but the guru decided that was where he wanted to be this year, so he told the kid to go to the stand he didn’t want to hunt anymore.
At nine o’clock, the kid looked to his left and caught a glimpse of antlers. A huge buck walked out in front of him. He raised his rifle and downed it with one shot. Needless to say, he was a bit on the excited side.
Mac usually hunts most of the first day of rifle season, and then comes in to his shop around seven o’clock in the evening to check his phone messages. When he arrived, he had not one, but three messages from the kid. When he returned the phone calls, the kid came right over to the shop with his father, and also one slightly upset deer guru.
Now, most people I hunt with would have been excited and happy for the kid, but obviously, this was not the case for our guru. This leads me to believe that there is justice in this life. At least there was in this case. In the photograph below, I am holding the antlers from this buck. The kid sure has a right to be proud of this one.
Click on the link below to see a photo of the rack.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v440/patrkyhntr17252/HorseValleyBuck.jpg
02-15-2006, 10:31 AM
#18
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location:
Posts: 576
RE: Anyone seen PA harvest #'s for 05?
Good for the kid. A story with a happy ending.
Spent some time fishing & hunting Horse Valley while in college at Ship.
I dropped that deer off at a local butcher shop in ... can't think of the town name. Anyhow, they had plenty of pictures of some very nice bucks taken in previous years and during archery season. Town is past Pleasant Hall headed towards the mountain.
Spent some time fishing & hunting Horse Valley while in college at Ship.
I dropped that deer off at a local butcher shop in ... can't think of the town name. Anyhow, they had plenty of pictures of some very nice bucks taken in previous years and during archery season. Town is past Pleasant Hall headed towards the mountain.