Just a reminder

Hope you get a good turnout as usual.  The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend.  One of these days I am going to have to make the trip up north to check this out.
 
Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Hope you get a good turnout as usual.

I have little doubt that the usual handful will be in attendance.

You know you could always volunteer your time to make things better instead of whining on the internet about it

ORIGINAL: wayne c

Should have done a tour down here. Rode by gamelands 223 the other day. No fields cut for 'hog hunters. Not one path cut to any of the several ponds for fishermen, that will eventually be cut at some point.. Yet there was ONE thing cut and maintained... a nice wide spotless trail cut to the birdwatching pavillion eyesore.

I generally dont have a problem with work done by the habitat crews etc. I just thought it was kinda funny how closely the situation mirrored upper pgcs real priorities.

 
Since the Game Commission manages for the benefit of wildlife instead of JUST hunter desires the food plots don’t generally get mowed, by policy, until after July 15 and the majority of the wildlife nesting season has ended.
 
There are some exceptions for small plots in wooded habitat and where just one small strip from a larger area is to be mowed to benefit rabbits, or where it is maintained in walkways or lawn around visitor centers and buildings.
 
One of the primary reasons for declining pheasant populations is early mowing that destroys not only the nest but also kills the hens. Guys mowing now, mostly farmers, are also killing a pretty high number of fawn deer. Over the next couple weeks a lot of young turkey, fawns, rabbits and groundhogs will be killed with mowing machines. Some of the most modern farm equipment is also some of the most deadly on young wildlife and occasionally even on adult hens.
 
R.S. Bodenhorn

ORIGINAL: SilverKype

ORIGINAL: wayne c

Should have done a tour down here. Rode by gamelands 223 the other day. No fields cut for 'hog hunters. Not one path cut to any of the several ponds for fishermen, that will eventually be cut at some point.. Yet there was ONE thing cut and maintained... a nice wide spotless trail cut to the birdwatching pavillion eyesore.

I generally dont have a problem with work done by the habitat crews etc. I just thought it was kinda funny how closely the situation mirrored upper pgcs real priorities.

I'm not sticking up for whoever is supposed to cut whatever this year there but I can tell you a major farm operation in my area is behind more than I've ever seen.   The grass mixed with alfalfa is well over 2 feet high and it rarely gets above 1 foot.  Many places where corn is typically planted, the grass isn't even cut yet to begin planting.  They typically spread cow poop in all areas but two fields and this year, the spreading was minimal to non-existent.

Could it be the rain has slowed my area's farmer's progress ?   Does rain speed up the growing, be it grass, plants, or whatever ?  Or perhaps, it is it just one of those darned conspiracies.

Jon,
Common sense has no place in the hunting forums, stop trying to use it here. It's definitley a conspiracy, just like everything the PGC does. Duh.

The Game Commission is obviously being controlled by the Audubon Society. Why else would they have a trail cut to bird watching pavillion? There's obviously no other explanation.

On another note, I saw a mountain lion today. I think the PGC stocked it to eliminate the deer herd. I bet it had a tag in it's ear that said PGC/Audubon on it.

ORIGINAL: thedrake

ORIGINAL: SilverKype

ORIGINAL: wayne c

Should have done a tour down here. Rode by gamelands 223 the other day. No fields cut for 'hog hunters. Not one path cut to any of the several ponds for fishermen, that will eventually be cut at some point.. Yet there was ONE thing cut and maintained... a nice wide spotless trail cut to the birdwatching pavillion eyesore.

I generally dont have a problem with work done by the habitat crews etc. I just thought it was kinda funny how closely the situation mirrored upper pgcs real priorities.

I'm not sticking up for whoever is supposed to cut whatever this year there but I can tell you a major farm operation in my area is behind more than I've ever seen.   The grass mixed with alfalfa is well over 2 feet high and it rarely gets above 1 foot.  Many places where corn is typically planted, the grass isn't even cut yet to begin planting.  They typically spread cow poop in all areas but two fields and this year, the spreading was minimal to non-existent.

Could it be the rain has slowed my area's farmer's progress ?   Does rain speed up the growing, be it grass, plants, or whatever ?  Or perhaps, it is it just one of those darned conspiracies.

Jon,
Common sense has no place in the hunting forums, stop trying to use it here. It's definitley a conspiracy, just like everything the PGC does. Duh.

The Game Commission is obviously being controlled by the Audubon Society. Why else would they have a trail cut to bird watching pavillion? There's obviously no other explanation.

On another note, I saw a mountain lion today. I think the PGC stocked it to eliminate the deer herd. I bet it had a tag in it's ear that said PGC/Audubon on it.

 
My neighbor planted rye in an area.  He was getting junk grass in his Timothy last fall, so he killed the field, disced it under a couple of times and planted the rye followed by grade A Timothy.  The idea was to have the rye emerge first this spring, cut it in the milk stage and letit cover the sprouting Timothy as both a cover from birds and rotting matter for fertilizer.  With the amount of rain this spring, the rye is now higher than my head and walking through it is like walking through a rice paddy, water squishes at every step.  There is no way he is going to get that cut before July at the earliest.
 
His other fields, which are typically very nice clover, have been over run with other grass species, that are perhaps more water tolerant, and those have gone to seed this week.
 
So, the answer is everything is behind or can't be cut due to the softness of the ground, at least in our area.  The number of small bunnies is just crazy.
 
And that was no mountain lion you saw, it was the Nittany Lion heading to the "Going Out of Business" sale at Tressel's Tattoo and Pawn Shop.  Gheez, no wonder you think suckers are brown trout.

Question : Are the work crews actual employees of the PGC or are they contracted by the PGC ?

First the answer to your question. The Food and Cover Crews are Game Commission employees. There are some land management and habitat work that are sub-contract jobs when it is something where the Game Commission doesn’t have the equipment, manpower or other resources to get the job done as well or in as timely a manner as a contractor could. There are also contract cases where some plantings are done as part of a cost sharing grant, such as large warn season grass applications where the Game Commission doesn’t have the spraying and planting permits or equipment required.
 
Sometimes habitat partners simply pick up the cost, equipment and labor ball when the Game Commission resources simply aren’t there to get all of the habitat work done when it should be. A good example of that is with all of the wet weather this spring the Elk County Food and Cover Crew fell behind in preparing the ground for planting so the local Pheasants Forever Chapter stepped up with a tractor, fertilizer, grain drill and a couple volunteers to get about 25 acres planted in row crops over the past week and into this week. Pheasants Forever might also put a tractor and volunteer in operation when it comes time to get all the cool season grass mowing done on that tract this summer since the local Food and Cover Crew is going to be down yet another member this summer with one of the crew retiring.
 
As for the recent tour it was pretty much a bust. For the first time we didn’t get a reasonable turn out and only had one man show up. That might have been at least partly due to a series of severe thunder storms rolling through the area during the early afternoon when the tour was scheduled to get started, and it sure did pour rain for the start of the tour schedule. It might be that we have just got the message to all that have any interest in learning about the habitat relationships or it could be that it just wasn’t a good day for people to work it into their schedules. I also suspect the price of gas has a bearing on it since one man told me he wanted to come but couldn’t find the gas money following several trips to the mountains during gobbler season. In any event, what ever the reason for the pure turn out we did an abbreviated tour, answered questions and simply made a short tour of it for the one guy that did show up.
 R.S. Bodenhorn

ORIGINAL: RSB

First the answer to your question. The Food and Cover Crews are Game Commission employees. There are some land management and habitat work that are sub-contract jobs when it is something where the Game Commission doesn’t have the equipment, manpower or other resources to get the job done as well or in as timely a manner as a contractor could. There are also contract cases where some plantings are done as part of a cost sharing grant, such as large warn season grass applications where the Game Commission doesn’t have the spraying and planting permits or equipment required.
 
Sometimes habitat partners simply pick up the cost, equipment and labor ball when the Game Commission resources simply aren’t there to get all of the habitat work done when it should be. A good example of that is with all of the wet weather this spring the Elk County Food and Cover Crew fell behind in preparing the ground for planting so the local Pheasants Forever Chapter stepped up with a tractor, fertilizer, grain drill and a couple volunteers to get about 25 acres planted in row crops over the past week and into this week. Pheasants Forever might also put a tractor and volunteer in operation when it comes time to get all the cool season grass mowing done on that tract this summer since the local Food and Cover Crew is going to be down yet another member this summer with one of the crew retiring.
 
As for the recent tour it was pretty much a bust. For the first time we didn’t get a reasonable turn out and only had one man show up. That might have been at least partly due to a series of severe thunder storms rolling through the area during the early afternoon when the tour was scheduled to get started, and it sure did pour rain for the start of the tour schedule. It might be that we have just got the message to all that have any interest in learning about the habitat relationships or it could be that it just wasn’t a good day for people to work it into their schedules. I also suspect the price of gas has a bearing on it since one man told me he wanted to come but couldn’t find the gas money following several trips to the mountains during gobbler season. In any event, what ever the reason for the pure turn out we did an abbreviated tour, answered questions and simply made a short tour of it for the one guy that did show up.
 R.S. Bodenhorn

Thanks for answering my question. Always eager to learn.

ORIGINAL: RSB

First the answer to your question. The Food and Cover Crews are Game Commission employees. There are some land management and habitat work that are sub-contract jobs when it is something where the Game Commission doesn’t have the equipment, manpower or other resources to get the job done as well or in as timely a manner as a contractor could. There are also contract cases where some plantings are done as part of a cost sharing grant, such as large warn season grass applications where the Game Commission doesn’t have the spraying and planting permits or equipment required.
 
Sometimes habitat partners simply pick up the cost, equipment and labor ball when the Game Commission resources simply aren’t there to get all of the habitat work done when it should be. A good example of that is with all of the wet weather this spring the Elk County Food and Cover Crew fell behind in preparing the ground for planting so the local Pheasants Forever Chapter stepped up with a tractor, fertilizer, grain drill and a couple volunteers to get about 25 acres planted in row crops over the past week and into this week. Pheasants Forever might also put a tractor and volunteer in operation when it comes time to get all the cool season grass mowing done on that tract this summer since the local Food and Cover Crew is going to be down yet another member this summer with one of the crew retiring.
 
As for the recent tour it was pretty much a bust. For the first time we didn’t get a reasonable turn out and only had one man show up. That might have been at least partly due to a series of severe thunder storms rolling through the area during the early afternoon when the tour was scheduled to get started, and it sure did pour rain for the start of the tour schedule. It might be that we have just got the message to all that have any interest in learning about the habitat relationships or it could be that it just wasn’t a good day for people to work it into their schedules. I also suspect the price of gas has a bearing on it since one man told me he wanted to come but couldn’t find the gas money following several trips to the mountains during gobbler season. In any event, what ever the reason for the pure turn out we did an abbreviated tour, answered questions and simply made a short tour of it for the one guy that did show up.
 R.S. Bodenhorn

 
Sorry that the tour didn't work out.  You probably put a lot of time and preparation into it and it sucks that the weather didn't cooperate.  It would have been nice to have a huge turnout.  Hopefully the next time.
 
My wife and I did a tour of Middle Creek a few years ago and it was educational and fun.

ORIGINAL: deerfly

While I have no doubt that the tour would be quite interesting and informative, I'd be willing to bet that it didn't explain why reducing the herd by 50% in 2G didn't result in a significant improvement in regeneration. I would also be willing to bet that the tour did not explain why the regeneration rates in the AWRs were lower than the regeneration rates for 2G in the PGC 2011 Antlerless Allocation Worksheets.

Deerfly,
Don't start. 

Ironhed

Most guided tours I have been on they were trying to sell me something.

And these are no different.