Is it Deer commission or Game commission

[manofthe45]

Ok here it is Do we have a Game commission charged with managing the land for the good of all animal species or do we have a Deer Commission that is trying to help other game animals and screwing up in the process?

[flabbydan]

Instead of Wildlife Management Units, it would be more realistic to call them "Antler Management Units".  
Although I personally feel too much attention is focused on deer hunting, the fact of the matter is that deer hunting is certainly  the most popular.  At least it generates the most "hype" and publicity.  Maybe the PGC--for better or worse--is just trying too hard to please deer hunters.  They are certainly the most vocal group. 

[DDelle338]

I think all the "Hype" about the deer is because that is where the Commission screwed up the worst and most recently. And by reacting to insurance companies, lumber companies, and biologists that thought they knew better, the commission wasted allot of time and money trying to prove an un-truth. And the fences that were put up! To prove what?! To prove that the deer are over-browsing the under story?  They cut down loads of trees, then fenced the area in and now are saying that since the deer can't get in, the ground cover is really thick. Well, if you cut down 98% of the trees on a 4 or 5 acre plot anywhere, the ground plants are going to thrive. Deer or no deer. All the money wasted could have been used for more pheasants, habitat, food plots etc.  The deer hunting tends to generate more income for them also. So if you toss a little bit of greed into the mix, you have what we have today. A commission that is more worried about a financial bottom line than it is about wildlife and habitat.

[Steelbanger]

Well said DDelle338. I agree that deer are the reason most hunters buy a license. Alienate the deer hunters and you might as well close up the shop. That's exactly what they're getting to.
I didn't vote the above poll because I don't fit in any of those three categories. That stinking like cigs & booze category looks like someone from PETA made up that poll.

[manofthe45]

Nope just someone who has heard to many"I sat in greatgrand dads old spot until i packed it in around 10:30.  I never used to run out of coffee and cigs before getting my deer and the hangover I had from the beer I guzzled during the poker game last night.  Why everyone at the PGC should be fired"

[Davemuzz]

Nope just someone who has heard to many"I sat in greatgrand dads old spot until i packed it in around 10:30.  I never used to run out of coffee and cigs before getting my deer and the hangover I had from the beer I guzzled during the poker game last night.  Why everyone at the PGC should be fired"

The only problem now is that you can sit in old great grand dad's spot for 4 days and not even see a deer. I guess this is "habitat regeneration"? But by the time the "habitat" is "regenerated" the PGC is going to have to dart some deer and truck 'em in......'cause there wont be any "natural" deer for miles around to breed. Of course, I'm talking about the hunting...er..I mean the fishing camps up north.

Dave

[manofthe45]

Dave you are greatgranddad!

OK:
13 years ago I got permission to hunt a small farm.  Scouted it then and located two main trails coming through the property.  I sat one my father the other.  First year we both harvest deer.  Second year sit the same spots and again harvest deer.  This continued for years until three years ago no deer seen in two weeks, but we were confident in our stands and stuck it out.  My father joined the Blame the PGC bandwagon and I went out flintlock style.A slight snow and cold weather kept me moving.  Not sitting my stand and the snow showed me the problem.  They were no longer moving N to S they were moving E to W accross the property.  A home had been built in the thicket they always bedded down in two properties over and they changed their pattern.  Darn inconsiderate of them if you ask me since me and the oldman had our comfortable stand sites.

Are there less deer in Pa than years gone by?  Yes
Are people intitled to hunt their comfortable stands that have been handed down to them?  Yes, but why must we have to hear the constant whining if those stands don't produce deer?

[DDelle338]

  I'm going to go out on a limb here. ANYONE who sits back and says that there are still lots of deer to be found are hunting private and probably POSTED land. I have been covering allot of area in the last 2-3 years on public and adjoining private land. I am not seeing any deer worth talking about. I have hunted archery quite a bit this year and honestly say that there are only 4-6 deer in the area I've been hunting. Saturday I "snooped and pooped" all day, covered allot of area. I saw ZERO, Zip, ZILTCH, NADA, NIL, however you want to say it NO SIGN of any deer. No droppings, No tracks, No trails. The one thing I did see allot of was acorns! Lots and lots of acorns! That isn’t right! Deer Candy all over the woods and no tracks around it. Come on, I'm no rocket scientist, but I can add 2+2.
Lots of acorns + no tracks = NO Deer
  BTW,,,,,  I don't drink, don't smoke, wash clothes and myself in the scent free anti bacterial hunting soaps. Never wear my (scent blocking) hunting clothes or boots anywhere but the woods. I change into and out of them at the parking areas. I'm real careful of wind direction etc. etc. I know what I'm doing and what it takes to sneak up on them if they are there. Maybe I'm just very un-lucky and have picked the only spots that have no deer. Not one person that I have EVER met and talked to in the area had anything good to say about the deer situation.
I heard this morning that the game commission has said that next year they are going to cut the doe tags by half. Kinda late I think. One thing is certain, as much as I love hunting; next year I will be spending the time horseback riding with my daughter instead. I won't be buying a license.

[Davemuzz]

Horseback riding is a good thing. I prefer drinking myself.  Crown 'n anything actually. My buck season should be over. Yup, I missed one the other day. A basket rack 7 point. Not your wall hanger, but I was ready to call it a season....and I don't eat the horns anyway. But I missed. Maybe there is a wall hanger in my year yet. Maybe not.

Deer up north are "thin" at best. And yeah, in some places non-existent.

Dave.

[irold]

As usual I'm a little late joining the thread.....I think DDelle338 certainly hit it  on the head, at least in our area of Pa. (western Pa, Clarion Co. )  Over time deer certainly change habits, but when the sign completely disappears , unless they've adapted and grown wings....they aint there !  Hard to keep my 13 year old interested !   Nice post DDELLE338

[JPSaxMan]

I got out once during the firearms season; saw what I thought was a buck (legal) too far away and at a bad place to shoot even if he was close. I saw him within 20 minutes of being in the woods, but I have to agree with the many who have said that the numbers of deer are not the same of what they used to be - not even close. The only place I hear of deer anymore is in the hidden random mountains of New York state. 

[The Gamemaster]

Just eight years ago, a friend of mine moved to Brockway. 
I had just moved out of there a few years before that, so I knew what the hunting situation was up there. 
They had plenty of deer and lot's of places to hunt.

My friend thought that he was in paradise.

Five years ago, I talked to my friend and he said that it was still good, but more posted signs had gone up and there was less deer than before.

Three years ago, my friend informed me that he joined A hunting club - outside of Punxsutawney.
He paid $500 to hunt on a lease of 1000 acres and thought that he had it made.

Two years ago, my friend told me that he paid his $125 a year maintenance fee to hunt on the lease.
He was not seeing many deer and didn't know if he was going to renew his membership the next year.

Last year my friend was looking for a new place to hunt.

This year on the first Saturday, I was driving from one hunting spot to another hunting spot and who did I see driving down the road in the game lands? 
My buddy from Brockway.

I think that they ought to rehire Gary Alt and let him take care of the squirrel problem in Pennsylvania. 
I'm seeing lot's of squirrels but no deer!

As for all the money they wasted on deer fence. 
They put a gate in the corners to deer can get out but not into the fence. 
Somehow the deer know where they are and can find it and it works.  NOT

My brother was dragging his buck out of the Game Lands and in the middle of the road there was a buck and it JUMPED the FENCE. 
It actually got hung up on the top and bent the wire. 
Fell on the other side of the fence and kept going. 
The plot of land that was fenced in had to be 10 to 20 acres. 
Anyone is welcome to go inside the fence - if they think that they can kick a deer out of it.

But you tell me - if they can and will jump the fence, how are you going to do a study - where you say that the woods regenerated its self - if the deer were in there all the time eating as they pleased.

Those fences were a total waste of time and money.

That money would have been better spent on Pheasants. 
As long as there was Pheasants - nobody was complaining. 
Now you can't small game hunt and you can't big game hunt. 
What else is left to screw up besides squirrels?

[manofthe45]

Somebody correct me if I am wrong but did Alt already retire or move on.  99% sure he is a thing of the past. 

[buckbeast]

Dr. Alt has been retired for some time now

http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?Q=162956&A=11

[Davemuzz]

Yeah,....he took the job.....screwed the pooch....then took his pension and went out west where there are deer to shoot. Imagine that!

Dave

[JPSaxMan]

I thought I remember Alt being asked to leave?