PA early muzzle loader season
02-18-2003, 12:05 AM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Lancaster, PA
Posts: 3,240
RE: PA early muzzle loader season
The early does season in 2002 - you were allowed to use inlines. The late season was flintlock only, check out the PGC' s website ----.>Pennsylvania Game Commision
02-20-2003, 06:22 AM
#4
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Lehigh County PA USA
Posts: 12,157
RE: PA early muzzle loader season
With the same thoughts in mind I purchased my first " muzzleloader" a week or so ago. It is an Knight inline. If I really enjoy shooting it I might just take it out for rifle season as well.
I am still unsure how much I am going to use it as I do not want to run into a situation where I have the inline in hand during that October season and then have a dandy buck walk right up to me....
I am still unsure how much I am going to use it as I do not want to run into a situation where I have the inline in hand during that October season and then have a dandy buck walk right up to me....
02-20-2003, 10:31 AM
#5
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Garfield NJ USA
Posts: 3,067
RE: PA early muzzle loader season
I hear you, I would really hate to be in that situation, especially if it was a really nice buck. I' ve been putting off buying a muzzleloader because I really didn' t want to spend the money on a flintlock. I' m not concerned about hunting the late season, so why spend it.
02-23-2003, 11:17 AM
#6
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Port Matilda PA USA
Posts: 344
RE: PA early muzzle loader season
I already shoot a flintlock and it has me hooked on blackpowder. I am lucky and have a TC Firestorm so I plan to purchase an inline to use during rifle season. I have everything to go with the gun already.
However my first love is archery. I am not quite sure how I feel about the early season. I understand the reason the game commisssion is trying this, but the extra hunters in the wood make the archery season tougher.
However my first love is archery. I am not quite sure how I feel about the early season. I understand the reason the game commisssion is trying this, but the extra hunters in the wood make the archery season tougher.
02-23-2003, 07:52 PM
#7
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Lehigh County PA USA
Posts: 12,157
RE: PA early muzzle loader season
I tend to agree with you....especially on public land where hunter participation is not regulated. My only real complaint about the current management plan and coordination of seasons is that archers only have 1 Saturday/1 full week to themselves. This is deterimental to the outcome of the hunt for folks that hunt pressured public land.
02-24-2003, 07:27 AM
#8
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Sinking Spring PA USA
Posts: 210
RE: PA early muzzle loader season
PABowhunter
I don' t understand how you can say 1 week and 1 Saturday.
Sat. October 4 thorugh Friday Oct. 17 it is archery only. That is nearly 2 full weeks and 2 Saturdays of acrhery. Then one week including 2 saturdays of the interuptions(Early muzzleloading season and Jr. Sr. Antlerless)
Then nearly 3 weeks including 3 Saturdays of archery only yet again Monday Oct.27- sat Nov. 15. Which this time frame is just about guaranteed to be the closest to peak rutting time in PA and only archers get to hunt during this time.
I call the early muzzleloading an interuption for that reason it brings more people into the woods and causes changes in deer patterns and pressures them more than archers would like. Is it better to eliminate the does before the rut? yes there is a benefit there. I won' t argue that. I will say I think the fact that archery requires a ton of patience, skill and scouting and it all goes to crap once the deer get pressured is frustrating. Does the added pressure take all the patterning learned from scouting and early archery hunting days and toss it out the window? to a certain degree it does.
Does that effect me? No I have the privellege to hunt on private land where I don' t have to deal with added pressure. But If the time comes around when I can' t hunt the private land I will understand the frustrations of the added pressure all too well.
Do I use my muzzleloader in early season? Yes I hunt the morning archery and afternoon I go to public land with the smokepole.
Without getting much further off-topic I think the use of in-lines is great. (I prefer my flintlock) but if it brings more excitement to hunting and doesn' t become detrimental to the deer herd as a whole then great. A few less does that probably aren' t bred yet is a good thing. I mean we could discuss the management plan in great detail I am a fan of the AR but not the mangement plan and we would probably have a great thread but the issue on this thread is early muzzleloading season. It is kind of nice to be able to sit without freezing my rear-end off and use the muzzleloader.
I wish more people would still hunt in the early season and maybe PGC should make driving deer illegal during early season out of respect for the archers. Can we all co-exist afield during this early season? You bet with a little mutual respect we can all have a great time during October.
I don' t understand how you can say 1 week and 1 Saturday.
Sat. October 4 thorugh Friday Oct. 17 it is archery only. That is nearly 2 full weeks and 2 Saturdays of acrhery. Then one week including 2 saturdays of the interuptions(Early muzzleloading season and Jr. Sr. Antlerless)
Then nearly 3 weeks including 3 Saturdays of archery only yet again Monday Oct.27- sat Nov. 15. Which this time frame is just about guaranteed to be the closest to peak rutting time in PA and only archers get to hunt during this time.
I call the early muzzleloading an interuption for that reason it brings more people into the woods and causes changes in deer patterns and pressures them more than archers would like. Is it better to eliminate the does before the rut? yes there is a benefit there. I won' t argue that. I will say I think the fact that archery requires a ton of patience, skill and scouting and it all goes to crap once the deer get pressured is frustrating. Does the added pressure take all the patterning learned from scouting and early archery hunting days and toss it out the window? to a certain degree it does.
Does that effect me? No I have the privellege to hunt on private land where I don' t have to deal with added pressure. But If the time comes around when I can' t hunt the private land I will understand the frustrations of the added pressure all too well.
Do I use my muzzleloader in early season? Yes I hunt the morning archery and afternoon I go to public land with the smokepole.
Without getting much further off-topic I think the use of in-lines is great. (I prefer my flintlock) but if it brings more excitement to hunting and doesn' t become detrimental to the deer herd as a whole then great. A few less does that probably aren' t bred yet is a good thing. I mean we could discuss the management plan in great detail I am a fan of the AR but not the mangement plan and we would probably have a great thread but the issue on this thread is early muzzleloading season. It is kind of nice to be able to sit without freezing my rear-end off and use the muzzleloader.
I wish more people would still hunt in the early season and maybe PGC should make driving deer illegal during early season out of respect for the archers. Can we all co-exist afield during this early season? You bet with a little mutual respect we can all have a great time during October.
02-25-2003, 08:42 AM
#9
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Lehigh County PA USA
Posts: 12,157
RE: PA early muzzle loader season
cableguy,
The first Saturday that the season starts and the subsequent week up until the following Friday is what I was making reference to. That second Saturday is when the PGC introduced the youth pheasant hunt last year and unless I am mistaken it will be held the same day this year. Do not misunderstand me, I am all for getting kids in the woods but with the kids comes the parent...and the uncle..and the uncle' s buddy..and...so on and so forth. Ofcourse, only the child is hunting but the mere presence of the others is enough to disturb the deer enough for them to stray from their normal travel patterns..and that disturbance does not just disappear once the youth pheasant hunt is over. I believe it takes at least a week for things to settle down to the point where the deer can again be somewhat predictable....and, ofcourse, at that point it is time for the muzzleloader/youth rifle hunt to occur followed by the small game season.
So, in essence, bowhunters who hunt pressured public land in Pennsylvania really only have the first week of the season to hunt in an environment that is conducive to the effective use of the weapon that the season was created for.
And though I am sure that I sound like I am complaining, lets not forget that the early muzzleloader season will be starting the same day of the " proposed" new early extension of the regular small game season. That will mean quite a few hunters toting firearms in the woods all at the same time. There might even be more than on the first day of the regular firearms deer season.
Personally, I think that there are too many seasons crammed into that little October/November window of opportunity. All of the varying seasons need to be spread out more from September through the end of January in order to be fair to the sportsman that utilize them as well as an effective management tool for the game that we pursue.
The first Saturday that the season starts and the subsequent week up until the following Friday is what I was making reference to. That second Saturday is when the PGC introduced the youth pheasant hunt last year and unless I am mistaken it will be held the same day this year. Do not misunderstand me, I am all for getting kids in the woods but with the kids comes the parent...and the uncle..and the uncle' s buddy..and...so on and so forth. Ofcourse, only the child is hunting but the mere presence of the others is enough to disturb the deer enough for them to stray from their normal travel patterns..and that disturbance does not just disappear once the youth pheasant hunt is over. I believe it takes at least a week for things to settle down to the point where the deer can again be somewhat predictable....and, ofcourse, at that point it is time for the muzzleloader/youth rifle hunt to occur followed by the small game season.
So, in essence, bowhunters who hunt pressured public land in Pennsylvania really only have the first week of the season to hunt in an environment that is conducive to the effective use of the weapon that the season was created for.
And though I am sure that I sound like I am complaining, lets not forget that the early muzzleloader season will be starting the same day of the " proposed" new early extension of the regular small game season. That will mean quite a few hunters toting firearms in the woods all at the same time. There might even be more than on the first day of the regular firearms deer season.
Personally, I think that there are too many seasons crammed into that little October/November window of opportunity. All of the varying seasons need to be spread out more from September through the end of January in order to be fair to the sportsman that utilize them as well as an effective management tool for the game that we pursue.
02-25-2003, 12:05 PM
#10
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Sinking Spring PA USA
Posts: 210
RE: PA early muzzle loader season
Sorry my area has so few pheasents and not much small game that it doesn' t really affect me. I see pheasents few and far between.
I agree with you 100% about to many seasons being crammed into oct/nov time frame. And our group doesn' t small game till late seasons after flintlock ends because we value our time in archery. No sense sitting all day only to have another person come marching through with a dog and shotgun.
I think PGC should try to balance the seasons out a bit better there has to be a way where small game can co-exist but no infringe upon archery. One of the few solutions to that would be to open September up to archery. Or maybe have a break in small game for the first 2 weeks of november to allow for archers to enjoy the rut. It isn' t like the small game season is short. And being a few years away from losing a ton of hunting property to development I can relate cause I will be back on SGL with you and others.
I agree with you 100% about to many seasons being crammed into oct/nov time frame. And our group doesn' t small game till late seasons after flintlock ends because we value our time in archery. No sense sitting all day only to have another person come marching through with a dog and shotgun.
I think PGC should try to balance the seasons out a bit better there has to be a way where small game can co-exist but no infringe upon archery. One of the few solutions to that would be to open September up to archery. Or maybe have a break in small game for the first 2 weeks of november to allow for archers to enjoy the rut. It isn' t like the small game season is short. And being a few years away from losing a ton of hunting property to development I can relate cause I will be back on SGL with you and others.