ORIGINAL: deerfly

Personally, I could not enjoy hunting in an urban area and the only reason I would hunt in such an environment would be simply to kill a deer, not to enjoy the hunt.

Nice to see you back track and clarify.  Broad statements only show ignorance to the challenges that successful urban hunters overcome.  For many of us, the quality of the hunt in these areas is exceptional.   And for the record, I have killed few deer in these locals.

ORIGINAL: wayne c

Seems that there should be more deer in rural areas, yet the product of the Pa deer plan is few deer in most rural areas of the state, and lots in many urban areas. That is the exact opposite of what should be the case.

 
I do strongly believe that a better DMP specifically for the most highly populated areas needs developed.  Saturating large areas with tags will not fully address the problem.  These areas more than the rest need micromanaged much more than they currently are.
 
I also understand though that making changes takes money and a further spreading of personel resources that are thin already. 

ORIGINAL: dpms

ORIGINAL: wayne c

Seems that there should be more deer in rural areas, yet the product of the Pa deer plan is few deer in most rural areas of the state, and lots in many urban areas. That is the exact opposite of what should be the case.

I do strongly believe that a better DMP specifically for the most highly populated areas needs developed.  Saturating large areas with tags will not fully address the problem.  These areas more than the rest need micromanaged much more than they currently are.
 

This is EXACTLY what has happened in the area of 2B that I've hunted for about the past 8 years, and I suspect it has happened in many other pockets of 2B as well.

I hunt in the Butler County portion of 2B. Good to excellent mast crops around most years, abundant agriculture - beans & corn, and a nice mix of thick brush, overgrown fields and mature hardwood stands. Very, very good deer habitat, that when I began hunting it, sustained a pretty good density of deer.

I know that some on here have access to better areas of 2B, and I'm not complaining. It's my own fault I haven't moved on yet. But I hunt in an area where hunter densities on 2 neighboring farms are VERY high, and the does have been hammered for the last several years.

The law of unintended consequences has played a significant role in severely diminishing the quality of deer hunting on the property I've hunted in recent years.

If you drive just a couple of miles south into some areas of Allegheny County, which would be very difficult to hunt with anything other than a bow, you see deer walking around at all hours of the day. While deer numbers in these small pockets between subdivisions skyrocket, deer numbers in areas of this WMU with adequate space for gun hunters have been decimated.

I couldn't agree more. Managing deer in urban or suburban environs is quite different than managing deer in rural areas.

Like others, I have hunted in subdivisions. There's no denying, there are plenty of deer in these areas, but for various reasons its not my cup of tea.

ORIGINAL: DarDys

Can those urban areas be effectively hunted with a rifle? 

If not, 70% of the hunting population has just been eliminated from reducing the heard in those areas. 

If they are going to basically be archery only areas, then the archers need to help out in reducing the herd.  Perhaps that could be done through an "earn a buck" type program in which they must harvest a set number of does (2, 3, 4 depending on the area) before they can harvest a buck.  This will reduce the population using the only hunting tool available in those types of areas.

Many can be legally, but banging shotguns 200 yards from 4 houses draws attention.  That is why securing permission is so key.  If they know you are there, no problems.  If they don't, big problems.  
 
Many guys want to pull off the road and go hunting.  That is just about impossible in many areas.  It takes work to secure permission, park in someones driveway and effectively harvest urban deer legally.   If you don't spend the time doing it right, you will find yourslef hunting the outskirts with everyone else and low deer numbers.

Which stakeholders are they caving to in the SRA?

Which stakeholders in the SRA?  AR may actually encourage a larger harvest of antlerless deer in the SRA.  Good thing, right.

ORIGINAL: deerfly


How many areas can you find in 2B that will accommodate 6 additional hunters.

I will guarantee that with a day or two of asking you could most certainly find access for 6 in 2B. Most people are too lazy to ask. If you would be willing to do your homework to determine ownership for some "desirable" properties and go out and talk to the owners, you would have access to somewhere "good" to hunt in 2B in a short amount of time. These would be areas in the more "rural" parts of the WMU where the properties can be several hundred acres at a clip.

I have been there and done that. It is not that hard. I understand it easy to make excuses though.

ORIGINAL: dpms


It is a real problem.  Starting today, firearms is open through the 27 of January with unlimited tags.  Much of this pressure will be on areas with easy access and modest to low deer numbers.  Those with access to harder to get areas will kill alot of deer if they hunt it smart.  Restricted access is so critical. 

There has been discussions in the past about creating urban deer zones that are much smaller in size than our existing SRA.  As far as I know it never went anywhere. 

And what many fail to realize as well, is that last year (and I think the year before) general firearms (slug guns in Allegheny Co) could be used for does for almost 2 months straight in 2B.  From the first day of the general firearms season through the end of January. 

In my own experience where I hunt in 2B, I have seen the deer numbers take a very pronounced dive about 2 or 3 years after the implementation of HR. 

Essox is correct though - there are still some decent semi-rural pockets of woods in 2B that can be hunted with firearms.  However, I'd say that your best bet for tagging a deer in 2B comes in bow season when the deer are relatively unpressured. 

Problem is, in many of (not all) the areas where you can get in with a firearm in 2B, the woodlots might be a few hundred acres at best, and even then bordered by neighborhoods, schools & industry where deer can go and find a safe haven for a few weeks.  It's not difficult for a few guys doing a drive on the first day to drive the deer out of a piece of woods that size for the remainder of the season.   

What's so wrong about tags hanging on 4 points???

ORIGINAL: World Famous

What's so wrong about tags hanging on 4 points???

Nothing.  I say congrats to the lucky hunter.  I would add that I would hope that the lucky hunter keeps hunting to try to harvest a few does in the area we speak of.

Sounds like a emotional response deerfly.    Had a lengthy discussion with a PGC official some time ago about AR in the SRA.  It is there to encourage the harvest of does which is what is needed to reduce the population.   I believe it from what I witness and through personal experience. 

ARs were implemented statewide ,except in SRAs , to encourage hunters to harvest more doe. ARs were implemented later in SRA's because lazy hunters wanted a better chance to harvest a big buck

BTW, still waiting on which stakeholders in the SRA?

Do you really need to be spoon fed such elementary information? It is obviously the suburban land owners, the commuters and the few farmers that still exist in the SRAs.

ORIGINAL: Esox_Hunter
 It seems as if you would rather just make excuses than hunt. I mean if one of these LO's said yes and let you in on a "good" property, what would you have to compain about on here anymore?

 
He said he wouldn't hunt it if he could because it wasn't a "quality" hunt.  I think he said it was killing and not hunting.

ORIGINAL: deerfly

I have access to at least 30 different properties in 5C and none of them are any better than the property I own.

 
30 properties and none are better than the land you claim to hunt that has no deer.  Where are all those deer being killed in 5C? 

Deleted post.  Misunderstood previous post.