Cornelius08

Here is the results of a poll on this site up in the "deer hunting" forum. Pa got the most votes, 11, for poorest deer hunting state out of the options provided. New Jersey was a close second with 10. The only option getting more votes than Pa was "other" with 18 votes which was the vote to account for any other states not listed, and wouldve been split amongst 44 other states!!!

That doesnt even account for all the votes that would have said pa hunting stinks, but there might be at least one state worse...

Ah, the product of our fine pgc deer management team/econuts.[:'(]

poll results

HEAD0001

That is pretty good news to me. Hopefully a few less people will come to PA and hunt because of this survey. Personally where I hunt in PA the hunting has never been this good(I have been hunting PA for 35 years). Deer numbers are a little high, I do wish they would reduce the numbers a bit. However buck quality has gone through the roof since they started antler restrictions. So IMO I say keep it up PA. And I live in WV. But the better deer are in PA. Tom.

Cornelius08

"That is pretty good news to me. Hopefully a few less people will come to PA and hunt because of this survey"

Then you should be tickled pink. Because out of state license sales are declining. Guess people just dont want to pay that much cash to hunt a dud state with a failed deer plan when they have much better hunting at home for much less cash.

Most areas Im aware of, the effects of antler restrictions have been far and away nullified by excessive mass reduction. You dont get more and bigger buck when you slaughter 50+ % of the herd.

In this area quality and quantity are at their worst in decades.

Pa is and always has been a joke qualitywise. Quantity wise it is also now becoming a joke for no good reason other than econuts and dirty politics.

I am for anter restrictions and they most likely could have some real effects if allowed to do so without slaughtering the doe and killing recruitment.

"Deer numbers are a little high, I do wish they would reduce the numbers a bit"

LMFAO!!! Why? It isnt enough that overall hunter satisfaction is in the cellar, pgc is being sued, audited, hunters #'s declining at over double the national average and pgc is going broke? (LOL)

Reduction is continuing despite the fact stabilization was supposed to be the goal, and the numbers are already as low as any deer density goals of any state in the country, including Maine for christ sake! (LOL)...and thats according to pgc annual report deer density numbers. Find it hard to believe someone from WV would complain about too high deer numbers in Pa when the ow deer density in the worst wmus is barely double digits, and in the very best wmus are below 25 dpsm! (LOL)...and some areas of WV have 3 to 4 times that! WV has as high of deer densities in some areas as anywhere in the northeast, and many areas much higher than any average deer density in any wmu of Pennsylvania.

HEAD0001

It sounds like you are singing a pretty sour note.

I do not claim to be an expert. AllI know, and I know it for sure is that in our little corner of PA the hunting is better than it has been in the last 35 years that I have been hunting. And that translates to better buck quality, and larger deer numbers.

I think if you look at the stats you will see that hunting license sales are falling off all over the country, so if PA had more hunters to start with. Then it is logical that PA numbers would have a greater fall?? Makes sense to me.

I am not sure why you think PA hunting is a joke?? We have had a lot of fun over the years. And each year it gets abit better. But then we hunt for the pure pleasure and joy of hunting. Not necessarily for just a kill.

If you think PA should be like one of the midwest states, well I just do not see how that would be possible. PA just does not have the agriculture the Midwest has(and PA has substantially more hunters), and the agriculture in PA is getting worse, not better.

As far as license costs are concerned. My WV resident license is only a few bucks less than my out of state PA license. Granted I can shoot more deer in WV, but our WV deer herd is not of the quality that the PA deer herd is. Our doe population is completely out of whack. Heck WV is bringing in 2 additional weeks of doe hunting is Sept. this year to reduce numbers. If you think PA is screwed up, then you should definitely stay away from WV.

And the PA ground hog hunting is definitely better than the WV ground hog hunting. Tom.

Cornelius08

"I think if you look at the stats you will see that hunting license sales are falling off all over the country, so if PA had more hunters to start with. Then it is logical that PA numbers would have a greater fall?? Makes sense to me. "

Nope. Thats not an accurate assessment. Yoiu would be correct if we were speaking of numbers.. But Im not, we are talking PERCENTAGES. Not numbers. From 2001-2006 the hunting license sales for Pa declined by 10% according to pgc license sales figures on their website.. Nationwide according to usfw it was 4%.

"I am not sure why you think PA hunting is a joke?? We have had a lot of fun over the years. And each year it gets a bit better. But then we hunt for the pure pleasure and joy of hunting. Not necessarily for just a kill. "

I still greatly enjoy hunting. I think most do or they wouldnt do it. It just sucks the direction we are going and being dictated to by ecoextremists. There is no reason we should be accepting so much less compared to the potential for no good reason. I contend that hunting in the poorest state, no matter which state that is, is better than a good day having to work. That doesnt mean I should support a failed deer management plan.


" If you think PA should be like one of the midwest states, well I just do not see how that would be possible. PA just does not have the agriculture the Midwest has(and PA has substantially more hunters), and the agriculture in PA is getting worse, not better. "

Not like midwest states...just improvement. All need be done is discontinue the continued reduction and allow herd growth to counter some of the loss, not necessarily to the point prior to reduction, but reasonable levels. We would then have somewhat better quality and quantity.

"As far as license costs are concerned. My WV resident license is only a few bucks less than my out of state PA license."

Im aware of many states resident licenses, and most arent even close to our NONresident price. INCLUDING WV. What is the price of a combo license....Hunting license, plus various tags plus fishing for what? Dont remember which but its either 33 or $43...FOr all included with that license our RESIDENT equivalent is over a hundred bucks.

"Granted I can shoot more deer in WV, but our WV deer herd is not of the quality that the PA deer herd is. "

Try the "bow only" counties. Better hunting than anywhere in Pa qualitywise except for our sras...Urban areas with highly limited access. Big bucks are taken there regularly and always have been. Unfortunately that doesnt make up for the 95% of the rest of the state that is crap by comparison.

"Our doe population is completely out of whack. Heck WV is bringing in 2 additional weeks of doe hunting is Sept. this year to reduce numbers. If you think PA is screwed up, then you should definitely stay away from WV. "

Ive hunted west virginia, not in recent years, 'but several years in the past.

.

HEAD0001

My WV hunting and fishing license with the extra deer tags cost me $118 this year. And I did not buy all the tags. So your price is off just a bit.

Cornelius08

Im afraid not chief. In fact, I cannot even FATHOM how you complain about WV prices compared to Pa's.

Cost you $33 bucks to deer hunt small game hunt, FISH, TRAP, BOWHUNT, MUZZLELOAD! LOL. (you want tags for umpteen deer, you can add those on to Pa as wel, im not gonna be sympathetic though. If you want to kill 14 does, you should pay through the nose to do so.l) But as for license fees, $33 compared to over a hundred for the same in Pa. Here is the link. WV fees

And if you wanna add "Extras" to that WV license, then you do the same to Pa license and you stay WAAAY higher in Pa, unless someone wants to be a greedy gamehog and buy ridiculous numbers of doe tags. We dont want to be deceptive and compare one simple base license from Pa with a license and gazillion additions in Wv now do we??.

So as a PA resident, I pay over a hundred bucks for what you can get for $33 as a WV res. You might choose to pay more for priveledges you want in WV but not when you hunt in Pa..., but that doesnt mean Pa is cheaper. you just buy less tags etc. Comparing equal and apples to apples Wv is by far cheaper.

And that doesnt even account for the fact you mentioned WV resident being comparable to Pa NONRESIDENT!! Thats by far even worse comparison

dmen

Pa would definitely win the votefor the biggest whiners for hunters.The whole northeast forum is constant complaining about deer numbers or lackof deer numbers in Pa.and whose fault it is.How many hunters are in Pa, the hunting pressure in PA. heres an idea, go somewhere else and hunt if it is so bad. I am not trying to sound like a wise guy but i find it hard to even visit the northeast forum because all their will be is whining about Pa deer numbers.

BTBowhunter

Amen to that!

And you hit it dead on with "biggest whiners" and not most. We don't have all that many, but man oh man, are the few we have loud!

Cornelius08

Double post.