Wasn't that the plan? Remember it was a anti hunting organization that started it all. It's a anti hunting/anti gun organization the PGC has been working with through it all.

Not surprising at all Dards. 
 
I was reading some things about ohio the other day that I found astounding when I compared it to Pa...
 
I read an article from "bowhunting" magazine, online, which said in Pa we had 61 bucks entered into our record books that was harvested in 2010.   
 
Supporting link:  http://www.bowhunting.com/publisher/hunting-news/2012/1/5/pennsylvanias-golden-age-for-record-book-bucks
 
The number of total bucks listed in Ohios record book that was harvested in the same year was...    567!!!
 
Supporting link: http://apps.ohiodnr.gov/wildlife/bigbuck/
 
To get the total, take the total given on the link I provided.   Then change the search criteria by checking the box "nontypical" to get the total of them and add to the typical harvest on the page I provided.  
 
And if Im not mistaken, Ohio even has a HIGHER criteria to make the book for archery kills than Pa! 
 
I was in disbelief, thinking I somehow missed something..   I knew Ohio was a much better trophy state, but THAT MUCH better?  WOW! 

lI would suggest we are still a ways from Alts claim of QUOTE- World class deer hunting or his claim of QUOTE- The best deer hunting in the nation. 
 
Must be why Mr. Alt retired early; so he could hunt the great 'Pennsylvania Wilds'. 
 
I wonder how the whitetail hunting is doing in Michigan, anybody heard?

You sure used to hear Pa hunters griping about the masses of Ohio flatlanders invading the state every fall. That is one of the very few good things to come out of this whole HR mess although the businesses in hunting areas would probably disagree with me on that one.

Michigan hunting after Alt.
 

I've followed this site for a couple of years for fishing, and just this year started following the hunting posts.  Really enjoyable reads, until the last couple.
Being one of those 'flatlanders' from Ohio kind of rankles me.
I have hunted Pa for over forty years.  Never broke a law, never groused about license fees.  I pretty much preferred Pa because of good a friend having a camp that I've always been welcome at.  Forty years of TREMENDOUS stories and great times.   I've watched older hunters pass away and youngsters grow up in those woods.  It's always been great to hunt in Pa, but it hasn't always been about getting that trophy deer.  Pretty much happy with any deer I got.  Always supported local businesses around where we hunt, bought firehall raffle tickets and subscribed to the Pa Game News for the past forty years.  Hell, even subscribed to the local newspaper and had it delivered every week, albeit a week late!  lol
Believe me, I could hunt within a half hour of my home and probably have a decent chance at some of those "wallhangers", but something about coming home after the day's hunt has never appealed to me like the experience of coming back to camp the first night, sharing the stories, a little Euchre, and old memories.
Don't shortchange yourself with just the idea of what you might bag in Pa.  At least to this "flatlander" there's a lot more to the hunt than the game.

Sorry dpms, I kinda read over or past this part:
 
"I agree. Around the population centers, there is enough rifle pressure I think.  I don't hunt the big woods but have many friends that still do. Adding a week at the end, not including the following Saturday, I can't see hurting anything where hunter densities are very low."
 
Just for clarification purposes and to avoid further confusion on anyones part, exactly what units were you voicing support for additional rifle season time?   Or if you'd rather not say to avoid others having the opportunity to provide effective and precise rebuttal, no problem, I'll understand.

 
 
 
 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re72di5phM0  
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Opsman--don't take us too seriously, The point I was making is our hunting has gone down hill so much as yours has gotten better that there are far more Pa hunters going to Ohio than there are Ohio hunters coming here. When I bought my house in 72 there were 25-30 Ohio hunters that hunted a 5 mile stretch of road circling my property every year. Now there are none. On the flipside I now hunt Ohio and as Wayne said, it's not for the companionship. I visit my relatives in Ravana  in the summer.

I used to do the arsenal archery shoot every year. Never got drawn but my boy did once. It's less deer so fewer hunters for us according to the nationwide stats. Most states have seen a slight increase in hunter numbers but Pa has crashed.
 
I used to hunt the Grand River area but go South to the AEP now.
 
Those spikes would have been eight's without HR if they just had AR. No doubt some older ones get by in the ANF but I like to see a few deer.I don't hunt Maine for the same reason.

HR went to far. Yes. The deer populations should not have been taken as low as they are now. With that said, it is done. Time to look forward. Keeping allocations from rising is more important to me than cutting them, at this point.

 
But that wasnt the point.  youre proposing adding another week and keeping allocations same.   That doesn't equate to herd stabilization or slow herd increase in my boot at all.  Basically the same thing as increasing allocations.

Btw, you still are for some reason not answering the question.   Third time now, what wmus did you ask that a week be added that you spoke of.

Because to me, it sounds as if you are trying to avoid admitting you included 'our' unit in your little proposal to commissioners, and if that were indeed the case, you've been talking out both sides of your mouth to put it politely.

 

If I may chime in as your resident flatlander, lol.   Many of the locals I talked to, including two guys that travel all of the wells and pipelines, did comment on the big increase in coyotes.
As far as adding a week to the season?  Coming from Ohio I would always joke that if the PGC ever decided they wanted to eliminate the second week of the season there would be an outcry that would shake the walls of the capitol!   But, in forty years, I've never seen more that a handful of hunters during the second week.  What would an extra week accomplish?
In fact, in WMU 2F I think the only saving grace is the fact they put the anterless season in the second week, when pressure is way low, and not nearly the number of doe are harvested as would be the case if it ran concurrent with the first week!

S-10
 
Michigan hunting before Alt
 
 

S-10
Michigan hunting after Alt.
 




OMG that is funny!!    Sure hope the Michigan hunters are paying attention.
 
On a lighter note, I can remember the local hunters b1tchen about the hunters from Pittsburgh coming into Venango County (mup-ere's) to hunt deer.  The great city of Franklin was bumper to bumper with cars the day after Thanksgiving.  This was definitely black Friday for all the local mom & pop outdoor sporting stores.  Gosh, those were the days when a hunter enjoyed stopping into a sporting store, got a free cup of coffee, smelled the gun oil and chewed the fat about the days hunt.  Just a kid then, too young to hunt (had to be twelve yrs. old), going downtown to Re-Arm Sport Center just to hear the stories and look for cars with deer tied to the fender on opening day. 
 
Stories are the same, complaints about 'mup-eres' seem about the same, doesn't appear to be much change over the years except I don't see (many) deer tied to the car fenders anymore.
 
 

Waaaaaaay back in the day I learned, from a PGC biologist whom was conducting a whitetail seminar at a outdoor show, a female deer generally produces a set of twins. One being a doe and the other being a buck.   

 
I think you will find that today's deer biologists no longer hold to that belief.... and don't forget half of all the fawns born will not make it to hunting season regardless....
 
as for seeing deer in archery season and having more opportunities...  HELL YES .. that is true in my area.. For many years now I have seen more deer in archery season than in rifle season... trial camera photos also show that as fall progresses (leaves start to fall) and many in this area go nocturnal, even without hunter pressure... thus fewer sightings mid-November and into rifle season during the day.
 
then you have Thanksgiving week-end and the hunters show up at camps in this area and Saturday and Sunday sounds like WWIII has started... with all the "sighting my rifle in" guys ........... I have always felt the deer notice that.. I may be wrong but I still think there is some truth in that belief...
 
 
now for one last comment... remember when the PGC wanted to stop doe hunting in 2F for the first week, and I and many said it would INCREASE the buck harvest for week 2 with all the doe hunters  stirring the deer up and thus guys would harvest that buck they did not see on opening day...
 
well that is exactly what is happening around here this week, everyday I hear of 2-3 bucks getting shot that the hunters "could not find last week".....
 
 
 
we often talk about the Amish... well the local one and his family got 4 bucks and 1 doe this week about 2 miles from here....Just the father hunted last week ... this week 5 in the party ... and everyone got a deer...
 
this morning I heard as many shots in the first hour as I did the entire 1st day of "buck" season last Monday. and from 4 to 5pm this evening 14 more shots were heard....
 
looks like this week will get the harvest numbers for this area of 2F back to almost normal
 

dpms, ive read your posts for years now, and its not like I don't know what your about at this point in the game. lmao.     You talk constantly of taking different things to the board of commissioners.    And you have on many different items.  Youre politically active, as are many of us to varying degrees.
 
Now forgive me if I took this out of context from another board, but I don't think I did. 
 
" Since we have lost rifle hunters, and the rifle season is relatively short, why not ask for additional rifle opportunities instead of asking to take opportunities from others? With the weather we have had this year in rifle, there is no doubt that some time could be added. I have called for a longer rifle season in some wmu for a few years now."
 
And it isn't like you haven't championed every single agenda item the very little vocal band of pfsc types have championed for years now to the board in years past.   So how could I ever jump to such a conclusion?    Sorry.   Decoder ring deactivated.  
 
Frankly, I don't care if you ask for another month.    If the board were clueless enough to adopt such a thing, they probably would've done so soon enough anyway in the name of reductions without any help from random input.    We'll see soon enough I guess.   Im sure the dcnr forest study isn't being done to support requests for shorter seasons or lower allocations. lol
 

Anyways. Signing off. Off to camp tomorrow to hit it once again for the boys. At least the weather is supposed to be better than it has been. No rain for a change.

 
Good luck.
 

 I will be looking for coyotes primarily. 

 
Kill 'em all.
 
 

Wait until tomorrow.  With snow on the ground in many areas up north/out east and no rain forecast, it will sound like a "real" first Monday...
Good luck to those heading out. 
I will be filming in my little 2B hole in the AM to see what is still around.