deer hunting sucks here in PA

What's the problem red-man ?

ya right my dad shot a doe and his buddy shot a nine point i think in frew mill road
 
hunting is okay here u just have 2 do ur best and try i kno u will shoot something this season :-)best wishes

:frown Hey it's gone to pot here, Kentucky.i posted were the paper said it bad.

Quote from: buckshot roberts:frown Hey it's gone to pot here, Kentucky.i posted were the paper said it bad.

 
 
 
   well just like i said earlier u have 2 try ur best and look for that monster buck;)
 
  o and good luck:)

It seems like more of the bucks you see are big, there just aren't as many deer as there used to be.  A couple of my friends got monsters this year.  I don't think it's all that bad.  I've actually seen more deer than the last couple years, but most people I've talked to havn't seen many at all.  My dad just came up and started knockin real hard on the door to the bathroom while I was in the shower because there was a huge buck in our back yard.  He said it was at least an 8, but it ran away right when he opened the door.  He also said he has never seen a bigger buck (other than in pictures and stuff).  I'm checking out the window every couple minutes hoping it comes back to eat some more corn.  Actually, I'm gonna go check now.
 
Later
Andy

So true, but I had heart trouble and missed gun season, now the weather is good an cold now, not in the low 70's, not like when it opened, and black powder  is coming soon, so I'm give'n that a try, my first time at it. I do hope you get one red-man, a big'n.

yep u just have 2 try ur best and hope u come home with a monster

Son you do the same, and be safe, and good luck to you.

Just a few years ago, people were complain' that there were no big bucks. Now there are, but because you can't see vast herds from the road, they complain there are no deer at all. You can't have it both ways. At least they ain't wreckin' their cars every other day.

I'm not sure where in PA you are hunting, or if you are hunting public or private land. My father has 200 acres in teh southwest corner of the state and I saw deer everyday, could have taken a doe at will - and did just that on Tuesday of the first week. I saw a real nice buck enter a patch of brush that I never dreamed would hide more than 1 deer, I waited and waited and when the deer jumped out, it was one of the largest does I had seen at this farm (I've hunted there since 1979) and I just figured that what I thought were horns were just branches and let her have it (I had a doe tag, so I figured I'd fill it and look for a buck later), well after the shot off to the left I saw the buck scamper off into the hardwoods.
I missed the opportunity on an 8-point on opening day - I was waiting for the deer to stop at teh edge of a clearing when someone over the hill opened up and this guy darterd across the opening and was gone in a flash (figured that would teach me to wait. The guy over the hill was one of the neghbors and he was shooting at a doe, which he finall got with the 4th shot.
I saw non-legal bucks (ones with less than 4 points on one side) every day I hunted as well. On Friday, I was looking at a nice 5-point (would have been legal in most of the rest of PA, but I was in the 4-point on one side minimum srea) and was tempted, but he was safe since he wasn't legal. I watched him for about 5 minutes when he looked back down the hill and here came a different 8-pointer than I'd seen before. I'd already learned not to wait too awful long and he was just trotting along, I whistled and he stopped and I got him.
So, I think it really depends on where you are hunting in PA as to whether or not the hunting sucks or not. When I was a teenager, I hunted Bagley ridge between Bagley and Youngstown and for 3 or 4 years, there were deer everywhere and I got a small buck every year and then thanks to poaching and excessive doe kill, I saw a total of 3 deer during the next 3 seasons and that was in the mid to late 70's when the state was touted as overflowing with deer - couldn't prove it from where I was hunting. So it all depends upon the area and the herd management taking place where you hunt.
My father and his neighbors all believe that each hunter can take 1 doe and if lucky enough 1 buck each year so as not shoot off all the does - so we have good hunting every year to come.
 
Good Luck and if you want tough deer hunting, come here to Vermont. We've let the herd get pretty much all killed off and if you see a few deer during the 2-week season, you are lucky - let alone score on a buck!

In my area of Pa they messed up. A couple years ago the Game commision decided to change the point requirement and allowed an enormous amount of doe to be shot.So many hunters were complaining that deer were scarse. They were seeing bigger buck but fewer deer. Doe were open for 2 weeks during buck season.Jr. and Sr. were allowed to use a rifle in Blackpowder season. And you could get as many bonus tags for doe as there were left to buy. I read the last minutes of the Game Commision meeting and they were at odds what to do because they sold everyone on the new plan.  It was even praised in Sports Afield.One person recommended leaving things alone as it could hurt them politically if they admitted they messed up. A game commisioner from our area told the other commisioners that if they didn't think there was a problem then to come to his area and hunt to see for themselves. We now have a new leader in the commision that is from our area that is determined to fix the problem instead of ignoring it. Hopefully things get better.

I agree only too a point, where I hunt in Western Pa there are a pretty good amount of deer. I defently agree that there are not as many deer because 2 years ago on the first day I seen prob. 30 doe. This year I didnt see a single deer. But I think there are still ALOT of deer out there. In that same spot I got a buck and 2 doe. You got to scout and know where the deer trails and stuff are.
 
PS. Bottom picture is part of area where I got the deer. But only shotguns.

We hunt susq. county and the hunting has never been better. This year the first day I killed a 9 point, my dad killed a big 5 point, and another buddy killed a giant 9 point. I passed on 6 legal bucks before shooting. My dad passed on 10 bucks some of which were not legal but should be there next year. I have been comning to Pa for 10 years now and as far as seeing bucks there seems to be more bucks than does where we hunt which is nice comning from Vt where you are lucky to see a buck all year.

I hunt manily private land in the north east of p.a. mountains and it has gotten worse the only buck we saw wasnt big enoug by the game commission rules to shoot and in 2 weeks of hunting saw only 3 other doe so its bad in P.A and it wont get better till the change there laws and admit they were wrong gary alt ruined it and now the new leadership has to fix it.