you're 27... that explains a lot
roughly 13 years experince in the woods compared to over 50
I guess one of our probelms is you talk your area... and I talk mine....
example...
look around in deer season people everywhere on public ground
Once again I have to refer to SGL#54/#44... part of which is my back yard and its where I do 80% of my hunting and have since 1960..... my home is locate where our deer hunting camp use to be...
A major road the PGC opens for rifle season on SGL#54/SGL#44 is about 12 miles long....
in the 60s, 70s, 80s, you could count a hundred vehicles parked along it....
90s it fell to maybe 50.... 2000 to now... MAYBE 25......
The parking lot nearest to my home (1 mile away) would be packed full and vehicles on both sides of the road by 6:00am for years and years and years... then in the 1990s it too started to fall...
As mentioned I could not hunt last year but was driven around for awhile... there were 9 vehicles in that lot and we counted 17 on the 12 mile road....
The woods behind my house were packed with guys in the "good old days".. now... we do not see any hunters except the ones from camps located here....
no strangers...so that means about 12-18 guys in a 2 square mile area....
so deer are not getting pushed because of alot of hunters like "the good old days" here either..... and I hear the same from others who hunt other parts of #54 and #44 not many hunters like before...
some of our group see over 20 while others (while even in the same 2 sq miles) see ZERO ...average about 10..
The guys down in the hollow see the most.. always have... always will..
guys on the flats "on top" see the fewest... always have... always will...
but they don't want to go up and down the steep sides of the hollw... DUhhh.....
me... I'm in my hemlock grove... the #1 hiding spot once the shooting starts
and usually home by noon...
this year ??????
I have 7 in my pasture every night.. maybe I'll be home before 9
I have harvested a deer on Clear Creek State Forest for about 6 straight years too (DMAP) .... and believe it or not.... HAVE NEVER RAN INTO ANOTHER HUNTER.... !!
But I do not hunt from parking areas over there either... I park along the roads I travel... between parking areas where I see deer crossing all the time during the year
So all I can say is --- I wish you all lived in an area like this to, OR ..you can visit my site in rifle season and see similar statements from folks all over Pa... even in 2G
Successful hunters will continue to be successful and HAPPY ..
those that are not successful--
WILL NOT.. it's that simple....