Poachers? PA State Land

[BizCT]

Saturday, Jan. 7th drove up to Pike County, PA to State Game Lands Number 180 (11,000+ acres). Never been there before, so I got there just after light. Found parking areas, the food plots I was looking for, etc. Everything went smooth. Sat in some hard woods from 9am-11am, then did some still hunting and scouting. 2pm - dark sat watching a food plot. Sunday (no hunting in PA) I did a bunch of scouting. Monday I hunted from sunrise to sunset. 3 full days in the woods and seen no deer, not one. I was very surprised given I had never seen so much deer sign in my life. I found a swampy area near a few food plots and there was fresh crap and prints everywhere. Tons of buck rubs, etc. Honestly, can't believe I didn't even 1 deer. Seen 1 bird hunter and talked to him, he said people get a lot of deer out this land, and that the deer come into the food plots at night to eat. Maybe with the full moon, they came in after dark? I dont know. Anyway, on Sunday i found my first ever shed and nice one at that. It was so fresh, must have been dropped within the last couple of days. It was laying in a food plot, perfect condition. Would be a nice 8 pointer!

Ok, so onto the weird stuff. I checked out like 4-5 parking areas within this state game land area and found a bunch of dead deer carcasses and 1 bear. Most of the deer still had fur and looked like they were skinned somewhat then just dumped there? I dont know if it is poachers or a dumping site for the Dept. of Transportation, but weird none the less. Found 1 ditch that had 3-4 deer and a black bear! In a tree was a rack, with the antlers cleanly sawed off, the antlers were laying on the ground. I plan on sending the pics to PA Game Commission to see what they say.

[chrismgon]

I never knew this until this year but some guys skin and quarter out their meat right there. Check this vid:

One of those pics looks like this was done maybe... maybe not

[BizCT]

just dont get why someone shoots a nice thick 6 pointer, saw the antlers in half, throws them on the ground and put the skull in a tree and dumps the body in a ditch next to a dead bear. All of this on the edge of a food plot?

[the blur]

I've seen that upstate NY, state land parking lot, rotting carcass. looked like they cut the backstraps out, and a few other cuts of meat, and dumped the rest. and no tags on the carcass, so he could hunt another day. looks very wasteful, as much of the mean was left behind.

[BizCT]

Guess this is the answer, below.

From: GM, Comments [mailto:[email protected]]

Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2012 3:49 PM

To:

Subject: FW: SGL # 180 - Poachers?

This is one of our deer pits. The skull was probably from a deer I dumped in the pit and sawed off the antlers. It was pulled out by a scavenger. We do have a problem in all the State Game Land parking lots with people dumping carcasses.

Mark J. Kropa

Wildlife Conservation Officer

Pike County

District 5-52-1

[Culvercreek hunt club]

and no tags on the carcass, so he could hunt another day.

The tag would have to stay with the meat, not the carcass. I have seen guys only take hinds, tenderloins and backstraps. Some people don't like messing with the front shoulders. I can't see wasting that meat.

Edited January 12, 2012 by Culvercreek hunt club

[Dave]

I never knew this until this year but some guys skin and quarter out their meat right there. Check this vid:

One of those pics looks like this was done maybe... maybe not

Would rather butcher the deer in the garage having a few beers with the guys.

[WNYBuckHunter]

just dont get why someone shoots a nice thick 6 pointer, saw the antlers in half, throws them on the ground and put the skull in a tree and dumps the body in a ditch next to a dead bear. All of this on the edge of a food plot?

The Dept of conservation may have done that to an animal they found dead. Some states have funny laws pertaining to what parts of a found carcass you can posess.

[G-Man]

wow...

[BizCT]

heading back Sunday (scouting) and hunting Monday (last day of the season). Any tips for finding deer this late in the season? I will probably try a different SGL, this time.

[Geno C]

The tag would have to stay with the meat, not the carcass. I have seen guys only take hinds, tenderloins and backstraps. Some people don't like messing with the front shoulders. I can't see wasting that meat.

im with you.... i love the from quarters just as much as the back, i hate wasting

[WNYBuckHunter]

None of it goes to waste anyhow. Me? I like to get as much meat as I can, but the front shoulders are a lot of work for a little meat, so I can see why some don't bother with it. There are some that would say I'm wasteful for not using every bit of a deer and throwing the hide, bone, etc out in the hedgerow for the critters.

[Joe Red]

Hey to bad I just read this post I could of pointed you to a few good places to hunt there. I lived there and hunted that piece of land for 8 yrs,it was my backyard. Took some real nice deer off that 11000 acres and saw some of the biggest racked bucks in my life there. There are some hugh bear there also. What I have seen happen there is that the deer head right into the communities as the hunting pressure gets going. You need to be on the out skirts of those communities as the pressure lessens after the first week. The deer start to go back to there habits and start to come out of the communities,I have shot all my deer this way. Just gotta wait till the deer passes you and you can shoot it as it is heading into the woods and the house are nowhere in your line of fire. That's the nerve racking part but it's worth it.

[BizCT]

Thanks, but i didnt see many houses....can you be more specific? understand if you dont want to be.

[Joe Red]

Biz-r-oworld sent you a pm