The Amish, do they really over hunt and fish?

do the Amish really over hunt and fish areas and if so, were? i have never been anywere when droves of Amish roll up but then again most of my hunting and fishing (lately) is within an 1:30 minutes of monroeville.

the jealousy thing could be valid, i personally have never even seen any Amish hunting or fishing. people feel a need to blame something or someone when there isnt any fish or game. I keep hearing tionesta is hunted out, talking to a guy yesterday i ask is tionesta really as bad as i hear? he wips out his phone and shows me a pic of his buddies monster buck, in one of the areas i was considering buying a camp. short of spending countless hours of scouting and a million dollars in gas how the hell do you know. haha

just_wanna_fish

do the Amish really over hunt and fish areas and if so, were? i have never been anywere when droves of Amish roll up but then again most of my hunting and fishing (lately) is within an 1:30 minutes of monroeville.

I've heard the stories too, but somebody always has to put the blame on somebody else. I'm around the Amish, I know they follow the rules just like the rest of us. They only take what they are allowed to have. I'm not saying that some don't, but many of us English are just as guilty. 

If not the Amish it must be the Russians then?

Well there is an estimated Amish population of 63,000 for the entire state. Since hunting& fishing would not be "womanly" activities, you can eliminate at least 40 percent from that. Then probly another 5-10% at least that are too young or too old ( fishing ), and 10-15% ( hunting ).  That leaves the Amish holding 3-4% of the total licenses in Penna at MOST. As there are also no doubt some that are too busy farming or working other jobs to fish.
 
You decide how much of an impact ( overall ) that they have on fish/game populations compared to the rest of us. Granted in areas where their population is denser, the impact will be higher. But is it really as high as percieved?

Statewide their impact may be marginal but in the areas where they have settled ( such as where Bings and where I live ) Their impact is significant. When you see 10-15 buggies surrounding a block of woods setting up for a deer drive knowing a fawn is in as much trouble as a buck or adult doe they can and do have a huge local inpact just as EHD has in areas where it is found. They hunt and fish as a way of life, they keep everything they catch and kill everything they can. Local landowners post to try to keep them out but they apparently confuse POSTED with WELCOME in this area. I no longer hunt areas where they are active because scouting and spotting has shown it is not worthwhile.

spoonchucker 

Since hunting& fishing would not be "womanly" activities, you can eliminate at least 40 percent from that.

They may be "womanly" activities spoonie, but that doesn't stop them from getting tags.
 
Like Bings, I hunt around the Amish quite a bit.  Like he and S-10 said they put on drives and are often quite effective.  I used to get pizzed off when they'd tromp through my property at first light on the first day of the rifle season as I don't like seeing anyone for the first two or three hours of daylight.  But that went away after the property behind us was posted.  However, I never really had a problem with them harvesting critters out of season or with using illegal methods.
 
My patience threshold is much greater with sustenance harvesting than with trophy hunters...although, as noted, sustenance hunters can put on much more of a hurt on a game population.  Around here...that's not much of a problem yet.
 
Fishing, on the other hand, is a different story.

My experience says that in areas where they are concentrated they do have an impact, both fishing and hunting. If it's legal and can be eaten they kill/keep it. How many here would keep a stringer full of 4" crappie??? 
 
But let's not hate them, who would Harry watch peeing while eating his ice cream without them?

spoonchucker

Well there is an estimated Amish population of 63,000 for the entire state. Since hunting& fishing would not be "womanly" activities, you can eliminate at least 40 percent from that. Then probly another 5-10% at least that are too young or too old ( fishing ), and 10-15% ( hunting ).  That leaves the Amish holding 3-4% of the total licenses in Penna at MOST. As there are also no doubt some that are too busy farming or working other jobs to fish.

You decide how much of an impact ( overall ) that they have on fish/game populations compared to the rest of us. Granted in areas where their population is denser, the impact will be higher. But is it really as high as percieved?

By that logic, no one should be concerned with gang violence in urban areas because they comprise such a small segment of the population of a city, a state and the country. 
 
Ask the folks in Chicago if having a concentrated population of a certain subset is an issue and see what their answers is.
 
BTW, I see where they are striking the bullet tax from the proposal, but keeping the gun tax.  I guess that is because the thugs go to the sporting goods stores to buy a gun, but they get their bullets on the street.  The gun tax is supposed to bring in $600,000 (for both it was $1 million) to be used to help defray the healthcare costs of shooting victims -- isn't that what Obamacare was for -- to pay for health insurance for the uninsured.  Of course the person proposing the legislation wants $2 million dollars to go for that purpose.  Somehow that math doesn't work.  Neither does the plan.

For all you guys that burn your doe tags, the Amish make up the loss.

I can honestly say i have never burnt a doe tag. i have however passed on small deer for several years only to come up skunked. i have had the conversation with my buddy, why is it that we have not taken any deer here and they never get bigger and there is never any more than last year.
i will be the first to admitt ohh say 7 years ago when we first started hunting the area ( a small local spot ) we over hunted i got my buck and 2 doe he got his buck and 2 doe and another guy got his buck and 2 doe. but still we would see a lot of deer, suddenly it seems like overnight poof gone, all we would see are the "pets" always 3 always the same size every year coming in the back yard. at one point i saw more coyote tracks than deer. are coyote killing deer ? i have to say yes. the irony is late season is the only time we see "differant" deer. in years past it was hard to get a doe tag now you can look at the allocation map and see the game comish is condoning the erradication of deer in higher populated areas. and i have told them as much im sure they took it to heart. the PGC uses us as tools last year 1 bear was taken in allegheny county plus many sightings now this year quite the expanded bear season. so is allowing us to hunt bears to the point of extinction in allegheny county again a good thing? now you have the "cripplers" out there with bows winging arrows at bears. suddenly the bear your neighbor has been feeding is wounded hiding under his deck, might be a recipie for disaster. and i still have no idea were the hords of Amish are haha

Amish are pretty good people and sportsman as well. Im sure some do it illegally but there is people around like that everywhere, amish or not. Like Docto said, I have never once been denied permission to hunt an amish farm. They always open their land up to hunters. As far as over hunting, I bet there is not an amish person around who hunts or fishes more hours in a week than I do, so do I consider myself over hunting and fishing?  No. Although I give a lot of meat away, Im sure they use every bit they harvest. I say let them do what they want if there in the legal boundries of it.

Holy smokes. This old thread brought back some names from the past. I know Dr Trout passed away from a heart attack. I think Spoonchucker is not with us any longer as well? Maybe someone can confirm that? S-10 used to be a regular contributor but have not seen him around at all over quite a few years. 

dpms
Holy smokes. This old thread brought back some names from the past. I know Dr Trout passed away from a heart attack. I think Spoonchucker is not with us any longer as well? Maybe someone can confirm that? S-10 used to be a regular contributor but have not seen him around at all over quite a few years. 

Yes, spoonchucker passed several years ago and as you said Dr. Trout passed as well.