Pa AR changes pos

Potter Co. Joe said:

Keep hearing the same Tune, the reason Politicians get involved because they get flooded with request from SPORTSMAN .
If the PGC continues to ignore our voices than this is what some resort to.

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My bet is they get approached by people with money/influence.

“I am a meat hunter I don’t care about horns” code for I want to shoot the first buck I see so I can tell everyone I got my buck.

I think these things are often driven by the segment of folks who are stuck in the past and complain that hunting is "ruined" because it is not like it was when they learned.

AR and expanded doe tags and seasons - OMG!

Use of semi-autos - Armageddon!

Saturday opener - Satan!

I bet given the chance, most seniors would let a small buck walk. Not saying if they were legal and someone killed one they are somehow bad or inferior. Just that most old dudes that are still in the game have been there, done that, and hope that forkhorn grows into a wallhanger. They hunt for other reasons. And in 2023, they have lots to chances to take a doe which they did not have before.

My late father-in-law used to walk around in the woods with a pistol, moving deer for the rest of us. He never wanted for venison, he'd get all he wanted for us. He had a blast, and never got cold was his reasoning.

williamlw said:

My bet is they get approached by people with money/influence.

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Could be, maybe that's why we have a Saturday opener?

The only opinion that counts is that of the deer biologist. Outside of whatever his/her opinion is, it becomes dictating. Telling others what they can shoot. Be it a spike, or larger that should have been passed up.

DeeringGT said:

The only opinion that counts is that of the deer biologist. Outside of whatever his/her opinion is, it becomes dictating. Telling others what they can shoot. Be it a spike, or larger that should have been passed up.

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While I tend to agree with this, it's still not that simple. Look at how the turkey biologist recommended not adding sundays to turkey season with out justification as to how it would benefit the states population. Just that it'll give them a break. The point being, game management is complicated, and things get even worse when police tics and personal opinions are involved.

bohunr said:

i think dropping AR for seniors is all about giving someone a last chance at a buck, any buck IF THEY CHOOSE. for some, it could be their last season, sitting 20 yards behind camp because that's as far as their legs and lungs will take them,

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I'm 68 with my lifetime combo and can't walk far any longer. My ladder-stands are within 25 yards of my cabin as I am usually solo. This year I shot my first crossbow buck, an 8 hot on a doe after both tried the stare game. He was all of 10 yards north of the rear of my outhouse!

He ran back toward the road and fell about 20 yards from the road so I was able to bring the truck out on the road for a real short drag.

I like things the way they are.

wis bang said:

I'm 68 with my lifetime combo and can't walk far any longer. My ladder-stands are within 25 yards of my cabin as I am usually solo. This year I shot my first crossbow buck, an 8 hot on a doe after both tried the stare game. He was all of 10 yards north of the rear of my outhouse!

He ran back toward the road and fell about 20 yards from the road so I was able to bring the truck out on the road for a real short drag.

I like things the way they are.

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thats awesome, great job. but if things change, nothing prevents you from doing the same thing, it doesnt stop anyone from waiting and shooting what they want.

bohunr said:

thats awesome, great job. but if things change, nothing prevents you from doing the same thing, it doesnt stop anyone from waiting and shooting what they want.

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That's it in a Nutshell. Not every Sr. is going to shoot the first spike they see.
I myself have no desire to do so but as I posted earlier I've come across some big Bodied Bucks not sporting legal headwear in my day's afield.
2 of them I would have definitely shot. I just don't get the big deal against it.

Dear good sir, I am writing today to ask you for your kindness in letting me see past my second birthday. I will make you proud one day, I promise you, the only thing I lack is a chance to reach my full potential and you shooting me with my first set of antlers will not let me achieve this. So again, I ask you good sir, in your haste to get home quickly please let me get past my first birthday.

Signed: Yours sincerely a spike with potential.

....my son passed up spikes..forks...and 3x3s his whole mentored youth and junior seasons....thats what he chose to do. He even passed on bucks I would have shot in a second.
Funny how people think that 65+ year old hunters with over 50 years hunting under their belt, shouldn't have the mental capacity to choose what they want to shoot....whether it a fork...a 3x3 or a 5x5....almost all of the senior hunters(10ish) I asked the past 2 weeks would pass on 1970's legal bucks..... I even asked them if the saw them on last day...they said still wouldn't shoot them.....only 1 said would shoot a rack of any size and is the same one that said he shoots a doe...the others do not shoot doe.

IN RESPONSE TO LETTER
Dear good sir, I am writing today to ask you for your kindness in letting me see past my second birthday. I will make you proud one day, I promise you, the only thing I lack is a chance to reach my full potential and you shooting me with my first set of antlers will not let me achieve this. So again, I ask you good sir, in your haste to get home quickly please let me get past my first birthday.

Signed: Yours sincerely a spike with potential.


Dear spike with potential....
While you have had a history of having a bad reproductive rap...I fully understand your concern. But unfortunately the bottom line is you still have a negative effect on the forest and crops of this great landscape....your antler size makes not a difference ...for I am here for population management purposes.....and your spikes matter not in my soup.

Signed: A good Sir.

limbhnger10 said:

IN RESPONSE TO LETTER
Dear good sir, I am writing today to ask you for your kindness in letting me see past my second birthday. I will make you proud one day, I promise you, the only thing I lack is a chance to reach my full potential and you shooting me with my first set of antlers will not let me achieve this. So again, I ask you good sir, in your haste to get home quickly please let me get past my first birthday.

Signed: Yours sincerely a spike with potential.


Dear spike with potential....
While you have had a history of having a bad reproductive rap...I fully understand your concern. But unfortunately the bottom line is you still have a negative effect on the forest and crops of this great landscape....your antler size makes not a difference ...for I am here for population management purposes.....and your spikes matter not in my soup.

Signed: A good Sir.

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Just when you think HPA has lost all sense of humor. Good one, good one indeed.

What is this? A Walt Disney movie?

I think I'd rather watch Herbie the Love Bug...

It is the 2023 version of "Whack a spike", good story. Almost picked up by Disney. A terrible saga of a young spike whose mother kicked him out of the clan in Pike County at the end of the golden age of AR. He wonders as young bucks do, stretching his home range, but alas as the days grow shorter and the sun sets low, he grows ever wary of people knowing that some guy with failing eye sight and an intolerance for cold with an itchy trigger finger will make short work of him. He lays up behind and old wooden shack, biding his time under cover of darkness till he sees an unfamiliar glow from the shack, as the first frost arrives.................. more to follow on Netflix.

I’m not even 40 years old yet and I support the change letting the seniors shoot what they so please. Biggest reason that I support it is my late grandfathers last 2 years of hunting had a crack at a buck each of his last rifle seasons but did not pull the trigger for fear that his 86 and 87 year old eyes were playing tricks on him and what if the buck didn’t have 3 points on that one side as he thought looking through his old weaver k4.

limbhnger10 said:

....my son passed up spikes..forks...and 3x3s his whole mentored youth and junior seasons....thats what he chose to do. He even passed on bucks I would have shot in a second.
Funny how people think that 65+ year old hunters with over 50 years hunting under their belt, shouldn't have the mental capacity to choose what they want to shoot....whether it a fork...a 3x3 or a 5x5....almost all of the senior hunters(10ish) I asked the past 2 weeks would pass on 1970's legal bucks..... I even asked them if the saw them on last day...they said still wouldn't shoot them.....only 1 said would shoot a rack of any size and is the same one that said he shoots a doe...the others do not shoot doe.

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That’s the problem with small, non-random, non-representative samples.
Results all depend on who you talk to.
From witnessing chatter on other sites, seems to be a pretty big segment of Sr’s that wouldn’t hesitate to put another PA 11 Point on the cabin wall.

I think the bigger problem is 90% of the guys you surveyed don’t shoot doe…

5chunter said:

I’m not even 40 years old yet and I support the change letting the seniors shoot what they so please. Biggest reason that I support it is my late grandfathers last 2 years of hunting had a crack at a buck each of his last rifle seasons but did not pull the trigger for fear that his 86 and 87 year old eyes were playing tricks on him and what if the buck didn’t have 3 points on that one side as he thought looking through his old weaver k4.

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If you can't ID a buck, you don't shoot it, no different than anyone else. And if your eyesight is that poor you can't tell at all when with a scope, then it's time to hang up the rifle, sit on the front porch at camp and reminisce. Sorry bit this is a ridiculous argument, like most of thr others here. Safety first, no excuses, no sentimentalism.