[Frbritt]

I know that the PGC has allowed buck only during the first week of rifle in 2g for a year now. Does anyone know if they are evaluating the herd impact and hunter satisfaction enough to consider applying these rules statewide?

 

[TusseyMtMan]

It was political pressure that caused this. The PGC made a deal with some legislators to shorten the doe season. In return, the PGC was supposed to get a license increase. The legicritters did not deliver.
Guess you shouldn't make deals with the devil.

 

[fishkrane]

They do it statewide,I'll be for a license increase,just one area doesn't help the rest of us out.if the pgc comes to it's senses,I'll gladly pay double for my license.

 

[jun1or]

that wouldn't be a good idea. there's too many places that need doe's harvested, and don't need their season shortened. we get 2 months of doe season down here and that's not enough.

 

[hopper]

I do not hunt in 2g and I dont know all the rules. But I have heard that you can still take does using dmap tags and that sort of defeats the purpose. Is this true or have I heard wrong.

 

[brewyak]

I think that it would be a great idea. I hunt in 4d, and a WMU next to it, I think it is 2g is buck only for the first week. More and more people go from that WMU to 4d because they can shoot doe during the first week. I am also not seeing nearly as many deer as in the past. I think it would be good for the entire state to go to buck only for the first week

 

[TERMINAL]

I think that it would be a great idea. I hunt in 4d, and a WMU next to it, I think it is 2g is buck only for the first week. More and more people go from that WMU to 4d because they can shoot doe during the first week. I am also not seeing nearly as many deer as in the past. I think it would be good for the entire state to go to buck only for the first week

they did it here in 2D and i honestly dont think much has changed.... still got 2 saturdays to kill doe....id say the kill is about the same

 

[tdd]

There's no need to make a change like that in 5c. They're upping antlerless allocations year after year here, why in the world would they issue more tags and then lop a week off the time to use those tags?

If anything, the precedent of splitting up the WMU's and changing seasons based on the local situaton in the WMU is a good thing. 5C is supposed to be this land of thundering herds of deer, so why shorten anything? Other WMU's are reported to be hurting in deer populations, so why give them the same extended seasons that we have?

There's no reason to shorten the doe season here. My field observations of deer show things to be pretty stable here population wise for the last couple/three years. If anything, I see a few more deer now than I have in the last few. I could go out any day I wanted after Christmas last year and see at least half a dozen does. Some nights I saw almost 20. Where's the sense in shortening doe season here, especially since it runs all the way till the end of January? You can shoot a doe here with a bow in mid-Sept, and with a very few exceptions, shoot a doe all the way through to the end of January. Why shut it down for a week because it might be necessary elsewhere?

 

[JasonN]

I'm all for it! You guys in the lower corners of the state don't need it, but those are already SRA's with their own rules as it is.

Yes, you can still fill your DMAP tags in the first week in those 4 units that have a buck only M-F....2D, 2G, etc.

 

[tdd]

I'm all for it! You guys in the lower corners of the state don't need it, but those are already SRA's with their own rules as it is.

Yes, you can still fill your DMAP tags in the first week in those 4 units that have a buck only M-F....2D, 2G, etc.

That's exactly my point....the change that occurred has set the precedent that each WMU can have a season change for that individual WMU. So the WMU's that are feeling a pinch in population can have a season or limit change made without affecting the entire state, which is the topic of this thread...affecting the entire state.

I would vehemently oppose this being made statewide, as it is ludicrous to make that change here in 5c, and I imagine there might be a couple other WMU's where it would equally make no sense to do it. If other WMU's need that change, I don't mind or care if that change is made, but don't change it in this WMU because someone half-way across the state thinks I should have to live under the same rules he does when the population and hunt conditions are entirely different here than they are there. Wasn't that the whole point of the WMU system? To make decisions for areas with commonalities in population and habitat?

 

[deertick]

My $.02 on the two month doe season in 5C/5D. I have hunted the 5D area for near 40 years and ten years ago I would agree on the long length of the season, now what I see is chopped up land that is some hunt some "no" hunting and when you couple this with giving a LONG season what you get with many is NO sense of urgency to get out in the woods; once buck goes out, rain, wind, cold, Xmass shopping etc. will keep many locals out of the woods because they still have a load of time left to fill tags...the result of this and the problem that exists now that did not used to be, is people in the woods moving deer. It is unbelievable the lack of shooting that we see down here now, there are lots of deer but with a checkerboard of open and closed properties coupled with properties that have hunters not afield, it makes it tough....you sit and wait, especially due to the fact that many of us are on "postage stamp" size lots...the deer are getting harder to get at. If the season were more compacted, people would have a sense of urgency to get out there and get it done thus moving some deer around...this is just my opinion/observations from spending a lot of time in the woods in Lower/Mid Bucks County.

 

[big cow down 80]

seeing more deer in 2d this is the 2nd year no doe 1st week.i hope it stays that way

 

[m77lewis]

I hunt in 2E for the first day and wouldn't mind if Doe was only a week long up there like home!

 

[JET]

I think the deer season should go back to what it use to be 2 weeks of buck season and 2 or 3 days of doe

 

[bobcat]

i don't know....... i wouldn't want their job of figuring it out. too many diverse areas even within a WMU. 3 of us never sw a deer in 3 days of hunting in 3b where you can shoot doe both weeks. went to 3c where they just took it out for the first year and saw 35 deer in one day. talked to a guy 4 miles away in 3c and he and 2 boys are seeing next to nothing. next week while hunting cats i'll probably see deer all over in the spots i didn't in deer season.

 

[spur]

3C bounced back a little from last year. It will still take a few more years until there is a healthy number of does.

 

[TheASlayer]

I'm in 5C and somethings gota be done... it seems to me that more and more people are seening less and less...name one person (besides me) that has sat 6 times in rifle season for a combined of 30 hours and i've seen 3, YES 3 deer the very first day... WOW!! like it's really worth sitting out in the cold freezing your behind off in the snow to see nothing.. going out tomorrow(sat) again... do i expect to see anything?? crap no.... my question is... how does the PGC expect to get kids involved in hunting anymore? i started hunting just 5 years ago... but crap i've see such a major difference in the deer herd since then going from seeing buck after buck my first 2 years to hardly even being able to find a rub or scrape this year.. does the PGC expect the youth to get involved with hunting rabbits.... oh wait theres hardly any of those around

 

[SpiritNugent]

that wouldn't be a good idea. there's too many places that need doe's harvested, and don't need their season shortened. we get 2 months of doe season down here and that's not enough.

Unfortunately JR, I think there's only 2 areas statewide that can handle the season you guys have for doe. Your area and Western Pa. And they already have that taken care of.