Oct 16-17-18

Went up for some fishing /hunting fun and got SKUNKED.  Still better than not being there.
  Sat very windy and overcast with showers. Just the right thing for spending all day in a tree stand with black powder- no deer.
   Sun. was much nicer, still no deer in the AM so I went fishing way above the Tressel. Most guys were standing way out in about 1800 of water casting and slashing. One regular said the steel were hitting blue sacs on Sat up there pretty eagerly.
   Retired dont play that stand way out and snag stuff so I fished a nice pocket behind them roll casting with dry feet. You know roll because of brush behind me- a quick tend so as not to drag the fly , then point the rod at the line till its hanging in the back of the run for a while-repeat, repeat. I only repeated a couple of times cause some nut walked UNDER my rod and then stood in the tail of the little run I  was working and started fishing , it got better when his buddies showed up and did likewise.
  I gave serious thought to continuing  til I hooked his legs cause he was within my short drift- then running over-remove the hook and holding him under  in the current-- till he gets revived- just normal catch and release. I decided that one of us should act civilized so I just went back to the house and raked leaves.
  Way too much pressure  up river this year. Probably because of the flood shortening the run for a lot of weekend trippers. Did my usual walking and looking and a few caught fish but most looked skunked. Those I saw catching were also all keeping.
  Mon Am, no deer. The river still looked about 1800 with continued heavy pressure- came home.

Like everything it depends on where you are. My place had very extensive logging behind it the Spring Summer and fall before the big snow a couple of years ago. The deer sign was unbelievable when I bought the place in early winter before that and during the logging most of the local herd left. After that horrible winter ( about 3 miles from Pineville Bridge) it completly fell apart and has yet to rebound.. I put a corn feeder and salt block in the back yard ( about 2 miles to the next road behind me) and the corn gets hit about once every 10 days to two weeks. Finding deer poop on my property is like hitting the lottery. When I bought it it was like walking in a zoo.
 This County is low on the NY totem pole for Deer per square mile to begin with. They will rebound in time but its lousy for now. Now the neighbor on the other side is logging.

I'd have to look it up--but I'm not quite sure on the legality of the salt and corn---BTW---TONS of steel in the river Sun ;)

Logging will usually bring in deer not run them off..

The salt and corn are in my yard not the woods. We like to see stuff when we go there. My deer stands are on the complete other end of the property.
No-It was not a clearcut. Without much farming in my immediate area I believe most of the mast crop may have been removed. Remember you have to combine this with a big winter kill at the end of the same year. It took a year or two for the deer behind me in Ct. to come back after a logging operation and hopefully thats what is happening here too.
If feeding to see deer is illegal the major sports supply shops had best stop selling feeders-I could never understand what a hunter gets out of "hunting" over a feeder-or at least limit them to out West  where its legal to actually hunt over them.
  Not complaining about the logging at all- I took a walk and they did a nice job. Thought the deer herd would be actually improved from it too. That winter ( according to reports) was very hard on the deer and there has only been one complete breeding cycle since then. The logging does however often change the travel patterns and habits of the Deer within the area cut. It takes a year or two for all the new growth to take hold after which the patterns get re-established.

I love Teds stuff- you should try his cook book-I keep it in camp-. One more point that definatly had impact, the logging was done through an acess road right next to my place. That was where all the equipment went in and out daily and where all the logs were brought out, stacked and then put on trucks and removed. There was tremendous noise and commotion there for months. No deer in his right mind would stay for all that. It was like being next to a heavy equipment factory for that first year.

depending on how much acreage you have and the mast crop , logging is a big plus to seeing (attracting) deer. an area that has been logged leaving the tops will be a magnet for 2 solid years. if you have had it logged leaving enough mature forage trees it will be forever..
My place has 800 acres and sections are logged about every 3 years.. Those sections are the hot spots during that time.
If too much is cut away on small lands the deer will just move to another food source usually another property with natural food source.. In that case just plant corn and leave it stand.. Way easier then any other types of food plots..

yeah RT - foodplots could be considered as habitat improvement...
 
But, I know a couple of guys that could just slide the window of their cabins open and shoot a deer without even putting their pants on.
 
I don't know - I'd rather actually take a walk in the woods and try to get one the old fashioned way.
 
On the other hand, that clover/corn fed vennsion sure is tender.....

When I used to hunt deer my favorite HUNT was up behind Francis E Walter dam in the Poconos,get back in about a mile before dawn and still hunt the ridges and swamps all day.
I laugh at those so called hunters that crawl into a hut on stilts and wait for a deer to come in to the food plot that was planted to lure the deer there,that's not hunting it's shooting deer.

ORIGINAL: draketrutta

Small world pafisher, I occaisionaly hunt yotes across the road from the FEW entrance.

Those big fields with woodlines are great. I love that big island of pine trees in the middle - makes for a great sniping spot with the 223.

The Pa State Record Black Bear was taken from those swamps a few years ago. Can't recall the particulars - but the est live weight was over 800 lbs

Pretty sure it was 827.  I know the guy who shot it, but he is not a close friend.  He had a pretty interesting morning that day.  Nice area, but the Poconos (in general) are fast changing into a NJ, NYC suburb.

ORIGINAL: JOE PA

ORIGINAL: draketrutta

Small world pafisher, I occaisionaly hunt yotes across the road from the FEW entrance.

Those big fields with woodlines are great. I love that big island of pine trees in the middle - makes for a great sniping spot with the 223.

The Pa State Record Black Bear was taken from those swamps a few years ago. Can't recall the particulars - but the est live weight was over 800 lbs

Pretty sure it was 827.  I know the guy who shot it, but he is not a close friend.  He had a pretty interesting morning that day.  Nice area, but the Poconos (in general) are fast changing into a NJ, NYC suburb.

 
Thanks for the details about the bear JOE PA.
 
Many parts of the Poconos have succumbed to the city transplants - Stroudsburg, Mt Pocono, Tobyhanna. Fortunately, west of the Rte 115 and the turnpike is still pretty well pristine due to the abundance of state game lands, state parks and the Army Corp land surrounding FEW dam which serves as a buffer against further development.  

In the Virgin Isles one winter killing time in an airport and and talked to a NYC guy who had moved to Maine. He told me allll about the nasty bear hunters up there ruining the state for guys like him who loved wildlife. Also said he had never actually seen a Maine bear (or a moose) but was glad to pass judgment for anyone around to hear.
 He almost slipped in what bears actually do in the woods when I told him I had recently taken one with bow in Maine.--thats not all I told him either.

Have a lot of family who are and were game wardens here in ct. My favorite story was when my cousin got sent to a city slickers new country home on an animal complaint. They wanted him to stop the peepers at night so they could sleep.
That professional hunter or sniper stuff comes up a lot. They never want to give permission to real hunters to get the job done. I truly believe they are opposed to us because we may enjoy it. You know- us wild eyed drooling idiots that kill talking animals  that Disney taught all the little kids about.

 Going back tomorrow-cant get enough of it-Good luck to all- hope you can get up , remember its the fishing , not the fish