Welcome to archery

ORIGINAL: psu_fish

PGC might as allow semi-auto rifles for 2010

ORIGINAL: DanesDad

I hunt in 2B and I'm alone as much now as I was before the X-bow.  In other words, they aren't having an effect.

ORIGINAL: jlh42581

I will no longer waste my time going to work early, taking my vacation and hunting my****off here in central pa. Crossbows are the icing on the cake.

ORIGINAL: jlh42581

DPMS... you and i both know there are exceptions to everything. You wait till everyone can get their hands on one.

ORIGINAL: DanesDad

Jeremy,
I have had a rough season also.  I get on here all through archery season and read posts from guys seeing bucks all over the place and (my personal favorite) "I'll whack a doe during the first week, so I can concentrate on a big buck", like shooting a doe is as easy for them as ordering a pizza.  What I have concluded from this is, hunting is 10% skill and 90% location.  You can practice shooting every day, douse yourself in estrous scent, buy all the greatest scentlock clothing, and stay on stand for 16 straight hours, and it will all be for nothing unless you have access to primo ground that is loaded with deer.  I, myself do not.  Alas there are fewer places like this today than there used to be, but they still exist.  Just read the posts on here.

So, you have to ask yourself why you hunt.  There are some people who believe that if they dont get a deer, the PGC has ripped them off for the cost of their license.  Hunting success begins and ends with killing for guys like these.  If you are this type, but you dont have that primo ground, you might as well give it up.  Some people just enjoy being out in the woods and are entertained by the sight of any wildlife, or the success of others.  If this is you, things may not be as bad for you.  Non hunters judge hunters basically by whether they get a deer or not, so for the most part, the people around me (including my wife) think I suck at hunting.  So, if you are forced to hunt marginal land with low deer densities, it kind of beats on your ego.  You need to decide if it's worth it or not.

So far, in spite of the lack of deer where I hunt, the time and money I invest in it and the abuse I take about "not getting a deer" from everyone from my coworkers to my wife, I'm not giving it up.  Call me crazy.

ORIGINAL: gobyking

Ironic this is here today, I had one of the most laughable hunts in my life today with 2 crossbow users. I'm not complaining about crossbows, just the couple who had them I saw today.


Get in my climber up 20 ft at 1pm. 2pm a guy in full camo is stalkng down the hill from a field. Takes him about 4-5 minutes to get to 50 yards from me. He s holding a crossbow, no blaze orange hat while moving. I don't have to wear blaze orange because I'm stationary but don't want him sitting below my stand since he doesn't have a treestand. Waving my orange hat I pull out of my bag so he can see me, he raises his fist and gives an Al Bundy type "aw-shucks" move with his arm and shoulders. I was laughing at that one but he proceeded to do the right thing and move off down the ridge out of sight(more than 200 yards and out of my view).

At 4pm, I see an orange hat walking towards me from the same direction, different guy. I again get out my orange hat to signal I'm in a tree. Now we only have an hour or so of daylight left. The guy get to 60 yards, sees my hat waving, then waves back. He is wearing an plain olive green army jacket, orange hat, no camo, blue jeans, white tennis shoes, a light blue shirt with a big white circular emblem on it and carrying a crossbow. He turns around and walks 20 yards, sits his orange hat on the side of the tree facing me, then sits on the other side only 80 yards away from me. At 4:45, his hat is no longer there and he must have left. No less than 10 minutes later, a buck walks out of some brush with its head down to the ground and walks right past where he was sitting. I grunted to the buck and he turned and circled down wind from me. I never got a shot nor could tell if he was legal, only saw a speck of tines at first. It got too dark to see anymore.


Hope you guys in the rest of the state are ready for the not so sportsman types that will be in your neck of the woods next year.

ORIGINAL: jlh42581

ORIGINAL: dpms

ORIGINAL: jlh42581

I will no longer waste my time going to work early, taking my vacation and hunting my****off here in central pa. Crossbows are the icing on the cake.

Jeremy,

Why do you want to quit hunting as much as before because someone 3 hills over is using a crossbow? 

It seems the real reason is less deer to hunt, namely HR.  To me it seems that you are using the crossbow factor as an excuse.

I think you misunderstood me.

1) I have no intentions to hunt less, i intend to change locations.
2) I could care less if you use a rocket launcher, as long as your disabled.
3) Yes, the game commission needs to re-evaluate HR on a STATE LEVEL. In the SRA its apparent you need herd reduction because there isnt anywhere for deer to live, hence the reason you have 70,000 tags.Spend a season in these woods and tell me then that its ok to add more fuel to the fire with allowing everyone to use a crossbow. Do you like to hunt nocturnal deer? Oh wait, you prob have your own land or private access of some sort, i dont.