[R. S. B.]

I honestly think that poaching in PENN is not as bad as it used to be back in the 70s and 80s

I agree with that statement. I started with the Game Commission back in the mid 70's and poaching was a real issue back then. Back then it was one deer per year, and you were done. At least done legally. For many, maybe even most, one deer a year simply wasn't enough. For some it was the meat they were after and others it was that they didn't want to end their hunting.

Back then if I found a local archer with a dead deer there was almost a certainty it was not going to be tagged. I higher percentage of the camp people tagged their archery kills but it was not at all uncommon to catch them reusing the tag on another deer or using someone else's license.

During the firearms deer season untagged deer and multiple kills in a season were very common, even among people who were normally not of a criminal nature.

On fall and even some summer weekends the camps would be filled with hunters and a lot of them were going to take a deer back home with them. There were nights when you would hear as much shooting as you would hear the second day of buck season.

I remember one weekend night a deputy and I were totally frustrated because we didn't catch our first poacher of the night until the 17th shot. Then while we were writing them up we watched a vehicle a few hundred yards away spotlighting and shooting. We were too tied up to even go after them.

By the time I retired, in 2012, you were lucky to even see a spot lighter out at night and I wouldn't hear as much night shooting during the entire fall as what I would hear in one night back in the 70's and 80's. When hunters could get more deer tags they simply didn't need to risk getting caught poaching. Now it seems the people killing extras or illegal deer are mostly after the big bucks or extra bucks simply because don't want a big buck or they aren't willing to be finished buck hunting for the year.

Dick Bodenhorn

 

[R. S. B.]

Well there was always the "cabin meat" deer. RSB tell us about the old timer you had at your tours that showed us the antler collection he shot back in the day. Also tell us what he said when he showed multiple antlers for the same year. IIRC the statement was none were ever wasted and all were used for a good cause. Waugh!

You are kind of close on the story, not exactly correct but the message is the same.

The old guy in question, if I remember correctly, was Roy Esera (not sure of the correct spelling) from up in McKean County. Land Management Supervisor John Dzemyan knew Roy when he was old, but before he passed away he gave John a couple boxes full of his old deer antlers, a couple of which made the state record book, along with the years they were killed and the stories behind some of them.

Roy had always been after the largest bucks around while hunting. Back in the 1920's, 30's and 40's he was shooting big 8 and 10 point bucks. Who knows if they shot legally or even under a spotlight, but they were trophy class bucks by even today's standards. As I said at least one of made the state record book pretty well toward the top. By the 1960's Roy was still shooting the biggest bucks he could find but even the largest 8 points from that time period would easily fit inside the racks of the bucks he had killed in the late 1920's, 30's and early 40's.

Also inside the boxes of antlers was a large spike with nice, curved antlers that Roy said he shot in the 1920's or 30's, I don't remember what year. John said, "but Roy spikes weren't even legal back then." Roy's answer was, "well it didn't go to waste."

There is no question that venison was considered and staple of life for many during those earlier times, especially during the depression years.

Dick Bodenhorn