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Road Hunters/poachers on Beech Creek Mountain

3K views 16 replies 14 participants last post by  TATERDAVID 
#1 ·
I was at camp Saturday for archery hunting and in the afternoon I used one of our logging roads to access a gated logging road(Jeep Trail) that cuts across about a 1/2 mile of our property. The road is gated shut by the camp on our West side and also locked off on the other end by our East side neighbors. Both neighboring camps felt the need to post their properties due to problems in the past with motorized trespassers so we put posters at both ends as well. We have always allowed locals to hunt if they walked in though as many hunted this area for generations. Anyways, I pulled my Toyota in tight against the bank about 100 yards inside our line then headed to my stand nearby.
About 4:30pm I heard a couple stones "popping" on the Jeep trail, then could hear a truck quietly creeping along at idle speed. I knew they were well inside the boundary lines by the time I heard them. I had to chuckle as they came around the bend and spotted my truck...sure didn't waste any time getting out of Dodge ! I heard them jam their truck in reverse and roar back to the first spot they could turn around. I could them spinning rocks out for several hundred yards as they sped away in the direction they'd come.
My way of thinking has me labeling this as suspicious activity due to their obvious reaction to spotting my truck and their stealthy approach beforehand. Not sure if it was a local(unfortunately they get blamed for everything) or more likely someone from a distant camp behind ours as they came from that direction through posted ground to access ours....Sigh...tis the season eh!
 
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#2 ·
Hope they didn't molest your hunt !
I once followed one from Liberty to Williamsport. How do you suppose they felt when they got home and I pulled in behind them? LOL! I watched them watch one of my fields until dusk, then followed to see where they went, 30 miles!
The guy said one of his relatives was friendly with my camp in the 1960's, therefore he thought it was OK to hunt there!
I assured him he was mistaken!
 
#6 ·
bigbear said:
Now that crossbows are legal its amazing the amount of windows down, creeping at snails pace trucks you see in the mountains.
I ride with my windows down and nice and slow all the time on the backroads. Does that automatically classify me as a poacher?? What does the legalization of crossbows have to do with anything??
 
#11 ·
The crossbow poaching issue is well known within the PGC. http://www.outdoornews.com/June-2013/PGC-ponders-spotlighting-prohibition/ It is mentioned in this article by a PGC Commissioner. the also was a "Field Note" in the Game News back in the spring where a WCO from northeast PA spoke of the big problems they are seeing with it.
The crossbows are golden to the PGC because they have led to an increase in the sale of archery tags. They are seen as a recruiting tool for the young, and a retention tool for the old. Thus, I don't expect much action. But, it ia a festering issue, with yet another commissioner speaking against crossbows recently.
 
#14 ·
They’re especially tempted by large-racked bucks, which are in bigger supply these days because of antler restrictions, said Rich Palmer, director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Bureau of Wildlife Protection.
His fear, he said, based on anecdotal reports he’d heard from the field, is that poachers have been using crossbows to shoot deer illegally at night early in fall, when spotlighting is legal.
A ban on spotlighting then might ease that problem, he said.
The article puts more emphasis on the increased amount of large-racked bucks than it does on crossbows being a cause for a possible increase in poaching. Maybe we should ban large-racked bucks?

Spotlighting has been a favorite activity for me and my daughters on our annual camp vacations for a long time.

Outlawing privileges and, in some cases, the rights of law-abiding citizens because of the abuses of relatively few slobs and criminals has never been a good solution although far too many politicians and some citizens have thought that is the case for far too long (one reason we have so many unenforced/unenforceable laws now).

A much better solution would be a large increase in the enforcement of existing laws.
 
#16 ·
Heading off on rabbit trails from original post. Just giving guys a heads up who hunt or have camps in that area. Lots of folks drive slowly with windows down but not on gated roads through posted properties to reach our land and the immediate "pedal to the metal" to exit pretty much reinforced my belief they certainly weren't on a foliage tour.
 
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