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Pa AR changes pos

15575 Views 308 Replies 68 Participants Last post by  LONZO, 
nicerack
www.abc27.com

Changes proposed to Pennsylvania deer hunting rules

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – A Pennsylvania lawmaker is proposing a change that would change rules for many of the state’s deer hunters. According to a memo to House members, Rep. David Mal…
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Woo Hoo. Good ole days for us old farts. 👍
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50
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The Pennsylvanian
Potter Co. Joe said:
It would have ZERO effect on the deer herd, with that said why would anyone be against it?
Beyond that the youngins out there may understand better when they reach Sr. status.
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While I'm not really against it, you can't say it will have zero effect either. Because you don't know.
It is ironic though, that the most vocal group in pa seem to be this demographic. To that, all of the items they are vocal about seem to be trying to "make things the way they were" so to speak. Go back to Monday, remove the AR. I often see comments like we didn't have that when we started hunting, or what have you.
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The Pennsylvanian
Potter Co. Joe said:
This years license will be my will be my 52nd, I think I deserve to have the option.
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Sounds a bit like entitlement to me. What did you do to deserve it? Suffer through deer camp all those seasons. . . .
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Potter Co. Joe said:
It would have ZERO effect on the deer herd, with that said why would anyone be against it?
Beyond that the youngins out there may understand better when they reach Sr. status.
Click to expand...
Because it's unnecessary. IMO the only exceptions to AR, if we're going to have any should be limited to Junior/MY hunters and Disabled hunters.

What I understand is that this is just an attempt by some older hunters that never accepted AR to get around it.
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The Pennsylvanian
..
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Potter Co. Joe said:
It would have ZERO effect on the deer herd, with that said why would anyone be against it?
Beyond that the youngins out there may understand better when they reach Sr. status.
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I'm not so sure anyone, even with the deer management section of the Game Commission, could say that removing antler restrictions for seniors would have no adverse effects on deer management. At least in some parts of the state.

I suspect where it would have the greatest impact would be around the larger population areas where you have the most senior hunters. In some areas allowing seniors to harvest any buck with a three inch spike or more might very well remove more than 50% of the 1 1/2 year old bucks. Keeping 50% of those 1 1/2 year old bucks was, and still is, the objective of the antler restrictions because it is what is needed to have the correct breeding mature buck to doe ratio the next fall.

I don't think anyone knows what the impact of that change in the buck harvest would have without first trying it for a few years. The problem is if the law gets changed, to allow it, they would probably never be able to change it back or correct it even if they had positive proof it was being harmful to the future of sound deer management practices and principles.

What we have right now is working for good deer management. I'm not sure if this proposed change would have an adverse effect but I'm also not so sure it wouldn't either.

Dick Bodenhorn
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RyanR said:
Because it's unnecessary. IMO the only exceptions to AR, if we're going to have any should be limited to Junior/MY hunters and Disabled hunters.

What I understand is that this is just an attempt by some older hunters that never accepted AR to get around it.
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Well I think it is Unnecessary for the Jrs. as well. Let them earn their way thru the ranks as we all did. IMO that would mold a better sportsman.
I see some very young kids in these MY success pictures and wonder how many actually shot the deer. Like all the Mentors
trout fishing on the kids day.
As for those mentioning entitlement well so be it, beyond hunting Srs. get many perks in todays world so why not hunting.
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Wingatchtochwilsit
Potter Co. Joe said:
Well I think it is Unnecessary for the Jrs. as well. Let them earn their way thru the ranks as we all did. IMO that would mold a better sportsman.
I see some very young kids in these MY success pictures and wonder how many actually shot the deer. Like all the Mentors
trout fishing on the kids day.
As for those mentioning entitlement well so be it, beyond hunting Srs. get many perks in todays world so why not hunting.
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yup. Can’t have anyone getting an option we didn’t have growing up now can we….
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Wingatchtochwilsit said:
yup. Can’t have anyone getting an option we didn’t have growing up now can we….
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Well technically juniors have always had the option to shoot spikes so . . .
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Potter Co. Joe said:
Well I think it is Unnecessary for the Jrs. as well. Let them earn their way thru the ranks as we all did. IMO that would mold a better sportsman.
I see some very young kids in these MY success pictures and wonder how many actually shot the deer. Like all the Mentors
trout fishing on the kids day.
As for those mentioning entitlement well so be it, beyond hunting Srs. get many perks in todays world so why not hunting.
Click to expand...
Petty.
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Wingatchtochwilsit
RyanR said:
Petty.
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Yup. I think the mindset of “that wasn’t an option for me when I was xxx” is what’s keep PA laws and regs 30 or more years behind the rest of the nation for a century or two.
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Wingatchtochwilsit said:
Yup. I think the mindset of “that wasn’t an option for me when I was xxx” is what’s keep PA laws and regs 30 or more years behind the rest of the nation for a century or two.
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Thirty takes us back to 1993. Definitely "more" years, like about at least twenty more. :D
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SRA-5C+
So you want to shoot a spike, and not let him see his second birthday. But why? If you want to shoot deer, buy a doe tag. There are more doe than spikes. Or is it again, the clinging to the past, where shooting the first spike you saw meant you could pack it up early and go home? AR made you have to hunt, and some are not digging it because you gave that spike and Y buck another year to get just a little bit smarter, and it seems some hate that. Why regress back to whacking a spike?
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Wingatchtochwilsit
Pennsyborn said:
Thirty takes us back to 1993. Definitely "more" years, like about at least twenty more. :D
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man, that reality check just made me feel old…
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bohunr
back when we could shoot any buck we wanted there were so many deer running around they instituted AR and HR programs, thats how bad it affected the herd back then, when the deer ran past your stand , you couldnt count them there were so many...🤣🤣

waaa...that old guys gonna shoot a small buck...tell him not to...waaaa
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The Pennsylvanian
bohunr said:
back when we could shoot any buck we wanted there were so many deer running around they instituted AR and HR programs, thats how bad it affected the herd back then, when the deer ran past your stand , you couldnt count them there were so many...🤣🤣

waaa...that old guys gonna shoot a small buck...tell him not to...waaaa
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Given the fact that AR include "old guys", and now you wanting to change it, it's really the old guys saying " whaa I wanna shoot what ever I want, and they won't let me whaaa"
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L
Senior hunters get to purchase a lifetime general license, hunt antlerless deer and bear with a rifle in October. And pre 2017 hunt pheasants for free. We don’t need anymore benefits handed to us.
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Senior here and I hunt with several seniors on private property in the SRA and we could care less about a rack. Our goal to a man is to fill the freezers with doe meat.
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bohunr
The Pennsylvanian said:
Given the fact that AR include "old guys", and now you wanting to change it, it's really the old guys saying " whaa I wanna shoot what ever I want, and they won't let me whaaa"
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i could care less about shooting a buck anymore. if one walks past..Okay, in the freezer it goes. i have killed 5 does since september and currently working on number 6. this coming September i will kill 4 more. WMU 1 B

THANK YOU FOR SERVING (y)(y)
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B
I can only report on what I've seen myself in the Pa. outdoors. Since AR, I've seen many more big bucks than I ever did years ago. Mature bucks to breed does. Our sons started out shooting spikes as their first deer - but neither of them wanted to shoot a spike again after seeing what other bigger, mature bucks were walking around. They both have NICE, big-racked bucks to their credit since AR went into effect.

Arguments can & will be had over who has the "right" to shoot spikes and such - but with as many years as I've been hunting deer, AR have made a big difference in the numbers of mature bucks I've seen. Taking the "meat-in-the-freezer" position out of it - I feel MUCH more confident of my chances of seeing a big buck these days than in the years prior to AR.
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