mauser06

need to base SEASONS ON WMUs!!!!!!!! and make them a bit smaller......manage the herd......take time...and thinking...but a good biologist and his team could handle it....and make this a great deer hunting state.....right now some places are so out of whack its not funny....some places its rare to see a deer now....kinda funny....the places deer are rare now are the places where youd see 20 in a herd and call it normal.....they need better management....they were in the right direction...but it all hit the fan....it kinda went over board with HR in some areas.....so slack off on the tags handed out next year in them WMUs...maybe shorted seasons on does in those WMUs.....but it wont happen....some polotician will take the seat and flush deer hunting in PA down the toilet the rest of the way.....

Deer902

Buck harvest is dropping OH NO! Buck harvest is dropping OH ON!
Shoot a freakin doe and get off your buck kick.

The overall harvest has remained close to what it was before AR. Yes, less bucks are being harvested but the age and size of these are bigger than before. If you weren't so narrow minded you could see that, even by going to the local butcher.
Before AR only 20% of the buck harvested were 2.5 yr old. In 2002 it was 32% and 2003 it was 44%
80% of 1.5 yr old were harvested before AR and now its down to 50%.
Your right stats don't lie.

Chick if you still want to shoot your spike every year so you can be a REAL hunter, go ahead, I won't tell.

jhalfhill

Deer902, i don't think he said anything about AR's being ****ty. The subject at hand here is the many doe tags and 2 week rifle season to kill them. I'm sure chickory would love to shoot a doe if he could just see one.

I myself love the antler restrictions, and like you said I've made a trip to the local butchers. Here almost 50% of antlerless deer were button bucks. Now say what you want but I think thats freakin ridiculous. Either people need to open their eyes and check for buttons before they go on a firing rampage or we need shorter antlerless seasons so less are killed. I vote option #2.

*EDIT* And deer herd reducing is not an excuse that they should be able to use because this land held that many deer for well over a century, and its surely capable of doing it now. The only reason the PGC is whining that they need herd reduction is because they're being pressured by insurance companies.

SteveBNy

Deer902 - stats don't lie but they may be slightly misleading. Instead of percentages, what are the actual numbers of 2 1/2 plus taken in those years? Going from 20% to 44% suggests a doubling in the take - actual numbers will show if this is true.

Steve

Deer902

In 2002 - 52,600 2.5 yr old buck were taken and in 2003 - 62,000 2.5 yr old. Not too bad in my book.

wvdeer4u

I think people are shooting to many button bucks because that's the only deer they are seeing, they aren't looking carefully, don't care or can't see. But it isn't hard to tell a BB from a doe if it's within 50 yards. You have a scope, binocs or let it get within bow range and look at its head. The 2 week season was so people could look before they shot. The people in the western counties with plenty of deer have no excuse for shooting button bucks. You can find a doe in two weeks. I drive through Washington and Alleghany county 4 days a week for work and dodge deer the whole way, even now after season is over.

MikeE51848

Well he is unemployed here effective 1/1/05. You can have him but be careful what you wish for.

chickory

During the time Dr. Alt was in control of deer management strategy, he was able to take the buck harvest from 203,000 bucks the year in 2000, down to 165,000, then down to 142,000 an then down to this years dismal performance of an estimate by a PGC commissioner of 100-110,000 !!


Now to take 93,000 buck hunters and send them home without a buck since Alt took over, in order to make 9,300 more 2.5 year olds is not worth it to a boatload of sportsmen who are now writing in droves to PA officials and saying it is indeed not worth having a handfull of hunters take a deer that may have been a six point and now is a 7 or 8 while sending 93,000 hunters home with no bucks.....

Pa lost 41,000 hunters last year as a result of poor performance on the deer harvest and they will again this year if no changes are made.

Even Dr. Alt said after he retired, that he was "not effective" at delivering what he was appointed to do. If you can't believe the words right from him, then who would you believe?

Rick James

What was the TOTAL harvest in 1999, including bucks and does? What is the total harvest now? As long as that number is the same........wouldn't hunters still have the same opportunity to put meat in the freezer? I don't have issues seeing deer in PA when I hunt, but I hunt private land. I do think that HR is out of control a bit in certain areas in PA, however I dont' have any problems with AR. People get the two confused too easily, it is possible for one to be good without the other IMHO. I have seen more and bigger bucks since AR, so I love it. I wouldn't mind seeing less does killed though.

clearanceman

What is the deal with 79 through Greene county? I have never seen so many deer there. They aren't running low over there. Between the WV line and little Washington, I counted 30 dead deer one day in 30 miles. During the rut, there is at least one per mile on the side of the interstate in that stretch.