deer hunting

I hunt, or hunted I guess you could say....


here in PA the laws have changed drastically.


You are only allowed one buck...and the buck has to be a specific buck, 4-5 points on one antler...otherwise you cannot shoot it. In one are aof the state you can shoot a 4 pointer, in another only a 5 pointer (no less).

You have to send in separetly a special request for a doe tag most people who do will recieve one, and then they can send in as many bonus tags for does as they want and the game commision issues them out as they see fit.

However, if most people live in areas taht dont have vast hunting land, they are NOT like you see on the hunting shows. Atleast around here, the deer are normally DASHING like MAD when you spot them as they've been flushed out from other hunters... gives you virtually NO chance to count their antlers... it's like they want you to go "oh deer! can you slow down or atleast stop for a second so i can count your points on your rack?....oh, never mind, thanks anyways, you're one point short, move along..."

To add to this, in some areas for certai parts of the 2 week season (i think its' two weeks) you cannot hunt doe. You can also only hunt in the area you select on your license when you are filling it out. Legally, you cannot hunt deers in any other section if it doesn't say so on the tag. Not to mention that land is being bought up like mad here and being posted... so along with the antler restrictions, doe restrictions, theres also limited areas to hunt. Take that all into consideration, and the fact that every year hte price goes UP AND UP for license... and you're left
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So. Because of this, many people are poaching... Or in my situation, im prengant and will be too pregnant to hunt this year, and also I just have no interest to... the game commission has ruined it for us with the need to produce bucks that are trophy worthy... (meaning more than 5 points to an antler).

I am all for responcible hunting but PAs laws are a pathetic attempt not at managment, but at makign PA a trophy spot for torrist and what not... and it's just stupid. I read in some places you can take 100 deers, or take an antlered deer... wow... not here. I wouldnt' even want to take 100 deer in a year... 1 or 2 without major restrictions would be nice...
 
Rooster Cogburn Jr. :

I'd pack the freezer with those bonus doe tags. You can't eat horns

the bonus ones are hard to get, and again, limited hunting ground equals limited does to shot and then the fact that theres areas like mentioned that you cannot hunt does in for specific times of the season. I personally like the antlers and collect them wether found shed or shot. However I have ntohing against hunting a doe other than the time to buy the doe license is during the summer, and you can only buy a doe license if you already buy the hunting package license (which includes a buck license). it's very expensive. I told my husband we need to just go to a deer farm and buy some meat... we'd atleast get our moneys worth then...​
 
Yeah, DH just said those deer in the really overpopulated spos are tiny. He diddnt call them bambi-rats
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..... but he said they were small.

I shot a 8-point muley my first year, two years ago. 300 lbs. My DHs 10 point whitetail from the same year was about 250 lbs. We could never eat 13 deer a year!
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We had it made into 30% each ground, sausage and cuts. This year I plan to do it myself and ground most of it, except for a few cuts.

We will make the antelope into jerky, it does not taste good plain.
 
Oh, I would like to move someplace where the deer are bigger than my dog, and things are as they should be ...
 
I have the rifle that I used to hunt deer with as a kid. I haven't been deer hunting in over 25 years. Out west, they are big mule deer and I ruined my back on enough of them from age 16 to age 25.
 
Our "deer stand" is about 100 feet from the back door. It's actually a shooting bench on a mound of dirt overlooking the field behind the house. The fields are set up perfectly for shooting, there is a drainage ditch just a little over 100 yards out and the field behind it is almost exactly 200 yards deep. no need for range estimation.
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There are so many deer around here it's no problem getting one it's just deciding which one you want. We harvest about 3 or 4 per season. I enjoy the handloading and target shooting more before the season more than the actual season.

Steve in NC
 
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I still have a freezer full of chopped meat and sausages. What am I going to do with it?! Strangely enough, our 8 year old son, who claims to be anti-venison, has been demanding venison chili lately! I keep forgetting to take some chopped meat out so that I can make some. I brown the meat in bacon fat, by the way.

I don't hunt. I'm just not interested. I've known since day one that my husband hunts. It didn't bother me. As long as the hunter has scruples, and doesn't kill just for the sake of it, I'm okay. We know people who go by the "if it's brown it's down" rule. I have a problem with that. True, taking down a fawn will help with the over-population problem, but .....
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We have a neighbor who "hunts" from his bedroom balcony, any time of year. His allegation is that he can hunt whenever he wants because he pays high property taxes. That's poaching, and it's not hunting. Yes, they eat the meat. Yes, we have a high population of deer around here. But, a lot of the deer that he gets I know that he's hunting from our land, and not his. So now we have poaching and trespassing. He thinks that's what neighbors are for. Never mind that he's a retired police officer and we sold him the land that he's living on. And, he didn't think there was a problem with planting his son in a tree stand on our land, without asking for permission. Darn good thing my husband didn't get shot when he was out wandering around in our own woods, when this teenager hunting newbie was in a tree stand in one of our trees!

Needless to say, the friendship has been strained since then.

Again, although I don't personally hunt, I have no problem with hunters. I just have a thing for following the rules.
 

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