Pa Trophy Man

Bob sounds like an excellent idea to me.

Just in case that happens they could always use the telephone check for those that get lost in the mail. I think that would lead to superb accuary for harvest reporting.

muzzyman88

I think mrfritz makes a very good point here. All of the old growth forest, and there is a lot of them, are just that, mature, old growths on the end of their life cycle. Go in and select cut that and take out any tree over 16" on the stump once. Five years later you will see a thicket so thick you cringe at the thought of it. Deer heaven. Problem is, the tree huggers won't allow that sort of ridiculous thing to happen. Instead, we'll just let them rot inside and fall down, not benifiting anyone except some species of wildlife that eat insects. I'm not saying cut all old growths, but it needs to be looked at.

I actually heard a very interesting thing today. My family, who owns and operates a large timber company here in central PA is currently doing a select cut about 30 miles from here on state land. The game commission has set up a fenced area close to where they are cutting. During last weeks ice storm, tree came down, ripping down portions of the fence surounding this area. My father counted 27 deer inside the fenced area during the day eating. Makes a pretty legitimate case for lack of food I think.

I'm very concerned about what is going to happen here in the future. Sometimes I really wonder how much better off we are without Alt. Not saying he was 100% correct, but with the hornets nest I see is about to take place, we could be in for a real mess. And, the anti's are loving every bit of seeing us fighting over this. The image of "blood thirsty" hunters angry because they don't have as many deer to shoot fuels their ambitions.

MikeE51848

And this is where the Audubon Society enters, no? You don't see birdies making nests in sapplings. And Sierra Club members want to hike in mature canopy forests for their outdoor experience.

ulysses

germain: you just made the full circle, I suggested on line reporting 2 months ago right on this site and was beaten down for it. Was told " ..can't get them to send in a card now....we already have some on line reporting, ...the PGC can't get up to speed with a program for on line reporting...etc."

T_in_PA2

Financials are reported on by a seperate Comptoller (sp) that is not employed by the PGC. Gentleman up the road from me did it for years.

Uly, you would never be happy with anything unless you wrote it yourself.

ulysses

and the PGC has the right to publish anything they so choose to in their rag

livbucks

This is exactly where the pressures are coming from. The ecomaniacs want forests like the redwood stands in out West. The want to tour all the city yups thru for their "Natural experience". They also place more importance on the existance of slugs and salamanders and tiny beetles and flowers that only grow where the sun hasn't hit in a hundred years. How much economic benefit this holds over game hunting, that is the issue. Truthfully, you don't see many birds in giant mature forests. At least not on the dead forest floor. If there are birds, they exist in the top of the canopy...a hundred and fifty feet up, where you need $1000 birding binocs to see them.[:'(]

rybohunter

Any of you guys see that BASF forestry commercial promoting forests with "no choking underbrush", visibilty and safety for hunters and those enjoying the woods? THAT is what we are up against.

ulysses

you boys are both wrong, what we hunters are up against are horn hunters that have aligned themselves with those eccoweenies so the few deer that do remain grow bigger racks, biologists like Dr. Gary Alt that are in bed with the Audubon, etc.

BTBowhunter

Online reporting's time has come. Personally, I would feel a lot more comfortable reporting online and being able to print evidence that I did it than just mailing a card. Especially if they institute meaningful penalties for not reporting. I've already had them lose my kids DMAP card.
Took half a dozen phone calls to sort that one out.