[kyle31490]

Just a thought, with all the Doe harvest talk.

If the PGC closed its doors today, and anyone could harvest as many deer as they wanted, anywhere, anytime, and by any weapon, would we as hunters govern ourselves or would we extinct the deer population? Here is the criteria:

No license, fees, or tags.
Can hunt 24/7/365 even at night.
Can shoot from a vehicle.
Can use atv's and drive anywhere.
Can shoot as many as you want, either sex
No age restrictions
No weapon constrictions, you can use a rifle anytime, even a semi-auto.
What i'm saying is complete anarchy, with no rules or regulations or consequences.




I know I would shoot less. I would still make sure I had enough for the year, but I would not donate to Hunters for the Hungry any longer. I would shoot less because I know others would shoot more. So, are we able to govern ourselves, or does this have to be treated as a democratic "big-brother" watching over us?

Just hypothetical and seeing if you think we could pull together and govern ourselves as sportsman, or if we would be like ants on an ant-hill and destroy ourselves.

 

[Clearfield12]

they wouldn't be extinct but would be over hunted to very very low numbers as they were before

 

[eyefromthesky]

seeing if you think we could pull together and govern ourselves as sportsman

I doubt it and I think a free-for-all with hunting would severely impact deer populations. In fact, I believe that is why the PGC came to be in the first place with over-hunting of all wildlife.

The funny thing about deer, when trying to eradicate them with regulation, it has been proven that it can't be done. Yet we are nowhere near trying to do that with the management plan in place here in PA and some say it has been done.

 

[CBB]

Personally my opinion (and i am entitled to it) the hung rs feeding the hungry program is for people who want to kill but not eat..if a hunter has enough venison for himself/family then filling a tag to donate is a feel good cause to justify pulling the trigger.. sorry but thats my opinion..

Now onto the question at hand. Public lands would be void of deer. But with all the posted property there would still be a few left. Big buck would all get shot off by jacklighters..
And no the hunting community would not band together for the greater good.. that should be proven by all the infighting already.

 

[novahunter]

In a free for all with no regulation the deer and other wildlife would be doomed. Just think if there were no regulation and we went back to the market killing days how that would impact the herd. People would be out trying to kill as many deer and other wildlife as possible to sell to the "meat market", butcher shops,restaurants,etc would create a market for the wild game meat. This wild meat market would become very profitable for people to go out and shoot everything in sight and as the numbers of wildlife fall the market would adjust by increasing the price per pound until there was no more left to shoot.

Even without market hunting profit there would just be too many out there that would shoot as many as they could till deer would become extinct.

 

[JasonN]

Any of you guys ever drive through an Indian reservation? That's pretty much what the OP is describing....and game is very scarce from my observations.

 

[LONZO]

The mentality would be there but the laziness of the average hunter would prevent it.

 

[harleynit]

Mankind has never been able to self regulate. Populations would be hunted to near extinction. There are plenty of people who would just shoot them and let hem lay.

 

[Nathan585]

It is the attitude among some at pgc that we can't kill to many and too few deer does not matter that has us in the mess we are today.

Would we kill them off? Probably. They killed them off with muskets. In some areas, the predators and very little hunting are keeping the herd from growing.

No doubt. Lots of people with questionable morals would be legally shooting all they could, and extinction would be automatic if legal.

Heck, I'd be half tempted to shoot the last one myself, just so all the foolishness surrounding the deer wars could end once and for all.

 

[Danesdad]

It wouldn't be possible to extirpate them. But their numbers would be so low that they would take on the status of bigfoot as far as sightings went.

 

[DDX]

Passanger Pigeon, Great Awk, eastern elk, eastern Mt Lion, woods bison all hunted to extintion.

 

[.204]

It could happen, just read through some of the posts on here, guys bragging about filling 3, 4 ,5 and more tags. As long as there are game hogs around it could very well happen.

 

[Woods walker]

There is no doubt that left up to their own devices without laws and regulation the wildlife in this state would be in deep trouble from people who would go wild with killing. I had a friend who used to ay if Delaware Bay was in PA it would be a biological desert based on the way the PA navy behaved.

 

[LONZO]

It already happened once, Not extinction but so low we had to import deer from other areas to restock.

 

[Buck Whisperer]

There is no doubt in my mind that we would hunt them to near extinction.

 

[pigstyconrad]

Gone...adios...goodbye...no more deer...I have some yahoo acquaintances down here in Bucks County that brag about shooting 15 deer a year in Bucks County because "I can buy as many tags as I want". A few of them are constantly asking me if I want deer meat because they don't have any more room in the freezer for it. I also notice that I've heard quite a few stories from them in recent years about deer they shot but never found. Why bother looking when you can just stop at the court house and buy another tag the next day. Silly me, I shoot one deer a year with one tag and I'm content. I live in Bucks County and could buy 25 doe tags too. I just think it is stupid. They've told me they would do the same thing in the counties where their hunting camps are located if they could. These are the same guys that complain that they don't see as many deer around their hunting camps as they did in the past. Just my opinion...bring on the criticism...

 

[big cat]

yes

 

[ICAREDOYOU]

Given these ops:
Can hunt 24/7/365 even at night.
Can shoot from a vehicle. Can use atv's and drive anywhere.
Can shoot as many as you want, either sex
No age restrictions
No weapon constrictions, you can use a rifle anytime, even a semi-auto.

I can't see how we wouldn't. Heck now guys say they see 1 doe and that they would kill it. 24/7/365..YEP!!

 

[sq32]

YES...there is no shortage of deer hogs in my area of the state and most of them are legally license by pgc.

 

[OldDublin]

Under the right or actually wrong circumstances, hunter additivity exists.
Whether that additivity delivers extirpation or extinction or no harm is based upon where any critter exists upon a population curve.
Ignoring hunter additivity and the conditions where it can exist as a regional or local problem is selfish...and all too common.