Brushbuster

I hunted 80 acres that has not been pushed all season and it is loaded with scrapes and rubs in lots of thick cover. I walked all the hot spots after a couple days of flurries that left an inch of snow and was stunned that I could not find a single deer track. I pushed a huge flock of turkey and saw where they had been feeding throughout a thick hillside but no deer. I also understand that there was no shooting on any of the adjacent farms on opening day. This is in 8R which historically does pretty well. Theyre still out there but this has been a strange season.

A bunch in our group hunted Potter Cty for 30 years and then a few in Canada in treestands all week so they decided to do some "real" hunting in Maine. After 4 years of busting their shins and no shooters, they are back to basket buck hunting in NY/Pa

Santamour, Not cutting a track in 3 miles ?? I am not sure that is not more related to hiking than hunting.

Mixed reports about the Pa opener too. http://www.huntingpa.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1998608&fpart=1 I hope the warm weather and split rut might be the problem.

Not much moon light last night and with the weather, I thought they would have the feedbag on today. I had lots of turkey and squirrel active till 9:30 but not one deer. They are in the woods and one scrape was still tended- I just dont know why they are not moving.

If you want to stalk nicer bucks, you might want to consider Maine althought they have been hit with some bad winters. The Adirondack big woods are not that productive.

Wow I must be wrong then. So then tell me - how about a list of all the states that do AR without doe hunting? Tell me when you are done digging that hole.

"Doe permits are used to help manage the herd size." You conveniently forget that it is also a huge revenue source for govt agencies that are suffering from budget cutbacks.

"AR specifically means antler restrictions, it has nothing to do with doe permits. " Well then how come every game commission that pushes AR also pushes doe permits. Why dont we have AR without doe hunting?

Hey everyone: The article title is "Pa. deer harvest drops to lowest level since 1987" and Joe wants to know where does it mention anything about herd decimation. Joe, how can you cut a track on a big buck and kill it but not find the glaring truth in this article. Excessive doe hunting under the guise of AR has made for record poor hunting in Pa - the worst in 25 years. This is the game commission's fault and no one elses. They do it because the sale of doe permits means MONEY.

Joe, If you dont want to read the comments, I certainly am not going to do it for you. To the other readers: Note that the big problem is the doe hunting that is part of every "AR" program.

Big moon, big wind, and warm temps means deer are not moving except at night. All the scrapes were tended and the weather moving in at the end of the week should help things.

Hey Joe, Read and weep - and the Pa Game Commission is making things worse and worse. http://www.topix.com/forum/city/steelton-pa/T5G5KVGKH2TT4P7EM

Agross, We hunted Pa for 30 years and my friends that still hunt they say it has been a DISASTER because the real program is to decimate the herd...which they have done admirably well. They are seeing more coyotes than deer on opening day and this is in Potter and Tioga county.

We stopped hunting Potter Cty in Pa because you now see more bear and more coyote on opening day of buck than does (never mind buck)!

Yep - same here - saw a huge buck run into a car Fri night and then shrug it off and kept running. Also, lots of buck and a couple doe road kill since Fri - 6 between my house and work since yesterday morning. I think the cold snap has them moving at night.

Zemmer, That was a helluva hunt - you wont forget that one.

My first Pa buck with my "new" Springfield 1903-A03 that I spent all year sporterizing including a polished barrel and receiver with peep sights. It was second day and after sitting, I started slow hunting into the wind. Amazingly, the buck was walking down wind and didnt spot me until I looked over my shoulder. I knew he was going to take off if I moved anymore so I figured which way he was going to jump, swung around to a spot about 6' ahead and fired once his chest hit the front bead. I thought I missed since he did not skip a beat but when I ran up to the spot and saw blood sprayed against the hillside, I let out a whoop - I followed the tracks in the snow and then around the bank, he was piled up. I think more about hunting that basket buck than any of my wall hangers. I am not sure why.

Joe, You finally said something with which we both agree. We dont travel in the same circles. I remember when the measure of a good hunt had nothing to do with "points". And when Pa was loaded with deer before your "experts" decided to "control" the herd in the name of AR Enjoy your bone porn industry - it has nothing to do with my tradition of hunting.

"Malnutrition is the inadequate intake of any of the required nutrients. This can even occur in an animal receiving large amounts of food, but is not able to ingest, digest, absorb, or utilize this food. Causes for this inability are injuries, poor teeth, parasitism, disease, foreign bodies in the digestive tract, tumors, or an increased motility of the digestive tract. " Notice that the article you referenced makes no mention of overpopulation causing starvation and that is the point I am making. Proponents of excessive doe hunting want you to believe it is to "keep them from starving" when this occurs only in extreme environments.

Well, enough idle chatter. Weather is coming in and they will have the feed bag on. I'm heading out.

Hey what do I know - my dad was a butcher for 30 years and I guess the USDA should change their standards so they can start charging less for veal and more for barren milk cows.

I am still waiting for anyone to show me where whitetail have starved - other than in a late and heavy spring snow where their instincts force them to yard up (for no good reason). I live in an area that has more deer per square mile than anywhere in the history of the US because of no hunting for 40 years and they have NEVER starved.

Steve, I'm not disagreeing with you - I think more about my first basket buck that I killed still hunting than the wall hangers I got sitting in a tree stand for a week in Alberta.

Thats right. Its pretty easy insulting someone in the third person on the internet. Its not quite the same doing it face to face. But hey, I hope you get the biggest P&Y racks with hams that taste like veal and lots of color photos to show on the internet. This way, people will finally know how much better you are.