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Saturday opener awareness?

5K views 56 replies 38 participants last post by  indianahunter 
#1 ·
Talked to two more hunters yesterday that had no clue that the first day of rifle deer is on Saturday this year. This seems to be almost a weekly occurrence for me. The reality is many hunters are not very tuned into yearly changes made to hunting seasons and regulations.

Anyone else running into folks not aware of the change?
 
#4 ·
I ran into 4 people(non-Hunters) yesterday around 11 that were headed out hiking as I was heading home ! 2 guys and 2 girls ! The guys were wearing black jacket and a black hoodie and the girls had on a black hoodie and dark gray yoga pants and the other had a pair of black yoga pants on with a burgundy top and a black sweater over it ! I stopped to just let them know that it was the first day of Bear ML season and I wouldn't advise them to go out hiking today in those clothes unless they had FO vests to put on and even then I wouldn't advise it ! Not sure what they did as I left and headed home !

People act like they don't even know about hunting around here !
 
#6 ·
A very small percentage of licensed hunters get on hunting websites Or pay much attention to anything hunting other then the few days or day they hunt a year. I know that some live it 24 - 7. Even on here the huge membership is impressive but it’s a small percentage that actually are regular contributors.
I know some older hardcore hunters that don’t have cell phones or computers. I know some hunters that still haven’t bought a license cause they still have time before rifle season. They haven’t shot anything in years but go to camp each year for whatever they get out of it.
It’s really not that important to them. Plus we went years and years without any changes for the most part. Now I here older guys complaining of all the changes.
 
#8 ·
Remember all the hubbub, back when the dates changed for doe applications?

People just do not pay attention. Over forty years ago, killed my first grouse at deer camp on the Saturday before buck. Took it to a local taxidermist near camp to have it mounted. Guy in his shop had a fit, accused me of shooting a grouse out of season.

Taxidermist knew him, asked him if he'd gotten one of the little rule books with his license, because grouse were still in Saturday. The guy still insisted we were both wrong. So the critter stuffer got his own little rule book out of his license holder and showed him the dates.

:sad:

Aside from hunters, wondering how many rural organizations that always do a Sunday night hunters' feed, are aware of the change? As of about a month ago, the group that does that near my camp, were unaware of the change.
 
#9 ·
As someone who hunts nearly year round in multiple states and countries, I have to admit I have trouble keeping up with the different changes PA seems to make on an annual basis. Not the major changes like the opener, but the FO regs, and mentored youth hunts, and what weapon can be carried when and for what. I always read the regs but then get confirmation from others as well to be certain I'm understanding them correctly. To me PA seems to get more complicated each year instead of less complicated.
 
#10 ·
"Not aware of the Saturday opener." >>> Now when the license sales increase doesn't manifest itself like it was supposed to and save hunting, we will all know what the leading excuse will be.

All I have to say is that if they don't know the opener was moved to a Saturday, then they aren't very serious hunters at all and a Saturday opener wasn't about to help them in the first place.


ALL OF THIS FANTASTIC CHANGE AND INCREASED OPPORTUNITY that was supposed to help so many people, and in the end the outspoken few on here will blame it all on the PGC for not communicating it effectively enough to make hunters aware of the change.

Some people need fed a bottle and their diaper changed. Then you have other people who need their bottle warmed up before you feed it to them, rock them and sing them a lullaby while they are drinking it, burp them, give them a bath, powder and baby oil, tuck them under a warm blanket and sing them to sleep. We all now which one of those categories the clueless hunters who don't know about the Saturday thing fall into. And that is exactly why no amount of change will ever help them and they aren't worth "helping" in the first place.

Rant over...
 
#13 ·
"Not aware of the Saturday opener." >>> Now when the license sales increase doesn't manifest itself like it was supposed to and save hunting, we will all know what the leading excuse will be.
As a big proponent of this change, I don't believe I ever said it would increase license sales. I am more interested in participation rates.

I do think the PGC has done a good job of getting the word out the best that they can. I saw lots of media coverage of it this past spring. No excuses from me. I am surprised that apparently there are a fair number of hunters not aware of it though.
 
#12 ·
EXACTLY...A lot of people will find out the Sunday before the first Monday after Thanksgiving...or Saturday afternoon when they go Walmart to get there license and a box of shells on their way to the gun range...

...then they'll cry and whine about the PAGC pulling a fast one on them LOL
 
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#18 ·
I can't imagine many scenarios where word hasn't gotten around about the Saturday opener, it's just such a gigantic change to many many years of the same thing.

Outside of that, I do think there are far too many changes year over year, and rarely to make things less confusing. I agree with/like plenty of the changes, and I read the paperback at least once for fun, but I miss things...
 
#19 ·
Not hard for me to recognize that many won't know about the change to a Saturday opener.

Many were unaware that the date for the license year changed, to renew on July first, earlier dates to send in for doe tags, changes in concurrent seasons in WMUs and so on.

WMU 3A was still concurrent until a few years ago, when it joined almost all the others in bucks only the first five days. Quite a few that lived up where my camp is, were in the dark that doe season started on Saturday.

As someone already noted, many hunters don't pay attention to changes from year to year and over the past decade or so, there have been many changes to hunting seasons.
 
#24 ·
Not Saturday hunting related, but I belong to a face book group with a similar name to this group. I'm amazed at the guys on there who don't know you can hunt small game, predators and varmints with a semi auto rifle. Anytime someone posts about buying a .22 for their kid and the Ruger 10/22 is suggested, there's always a few guys who will state "You can't legally hunt with that" (not to be confused with the "you don't need a semi, make the first shot count, the sky is falling, woods full of Rambos", replies). They really throw a fit when you inform them semi auto shotguns are legal for big game state wide. I usually try to add a picture of a Saiga shotgun with the 25 round drum as an example of a legal weapon for big game.
 
#26 ·
My McKean camp crew is well aware of the change, and these are older gentlemen that are not getting their hunting information online. Myself- I'm thrilled for the Saturday opener. No more sitting around waiting all weekend for the season to start. As far as the other guys, I'm not so sure how happy they are. But most people don't like change. It's a fact of life.
 
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#27 ·
Should have seen the look on the face of the senior hunter and his son 2 years ago when I told him the boundaries for 2C and 2E had changed. That was after his Dad, who was a senior hunter, shot a doe the Friday of the early muzzle loader season that senior and junior hunters can shoot antlerless deer with a rifle. Lets just say they didn't stick around very long to chat. I agree that many of the hunters don't pay attention to the changes from year to year.
 
#28 ·
The Saturday opener has helped me in a BIG way. We travel travel to my in-laws house for the holiday. We usually come back Sunday afternoon, and I hunt Monday. Well now the trip is shortened and I'll be coming home on Friday afternoon to hunt on Saturday. Thank you PGC for saving me from speding more time than I desire with my in-laws!!!
 
#29 ·
You're one of the fortunate ones. That's actually the PROBLEM for many. Moving to a Saturday, means those that travel, or host family members, are out in the cold. Only those with very understanding spouses (wives mostly), will let their other half off the hook to hunt, instead of spending time with the family over that holiday weekend.
 
#35 ·
We had one of the old guys in our group that we would bust on because the year after the change he shot at but missed a spike because he forgot the new rules. So the next year his son read the rules to him all weekend before the opener and we even made him a handy visual reference guide. We took some old pre-AR racks and screwed a spike, a 4pt and a 5pt to a board and wrote “Don’t Shoot, Don’t Shoot, Shoot” on the respective antlers and hung it in his stand the day before. It was a good time but he stopped hunting a few years ago and has since passed away.
 
#32 ·
Saturday opener SUCKS. I have been hunting since I was 12 and now I 67 its not change that bothers e but the TRADITION it has killed. Its not just about getting a deer to us its about all the good ties getting ready for Monday, opening day. Most of us were LEOs but each year we made sure we saved vacation time to hunt. Our shifts were 6 on and 2 off rotating. We made sure what we had to do to go hunting. This year we will not hunt until MONDAY. But that's just us old guys, You know the ones that taught you guys about hunting.
 
#34 ·
Not terribly surprising to me but I am the one who informs the family and our hunting group of all the yearly changes. I did however have one surprise me a couple weeks ago at a get together at our friends house.

I was talking to one of our neighbors about the fact that our area is now in a DMAP zone and I got DMAP tags so I could hunt does the first week of rifle. He asked why I didn’t just use my regular tag and I told him it was buck season and his response was “So you mean this year we can’t hunt does on the first day like we did last year?” We have been buck only since 2014 so he clearly hasn’t read the rules lately but even he knew about the Saturday opener.
 
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