Gun hunting the "ELUSIVE PA. WHITE-TAILED DEER"-2015

Took the trusty 30/30 bolt action to the range today just to make sure it was gonna hit what I was aiming at.  I am very excited and happy, as I now have, four targets in the freezer.
 
Started the session with a laser boresighter out to 25 yd.s followed by a live round on the paper at 50 yd.s.  A few clicks down, a few clicks to the left and, 1" high at 12:00, 100 yds out.  One more round out to 180 yd.s  perforated the paper at 6:30 2" low.
 
Federal 30-30 Winchester 150 grain soft nose was the ammo of the day, shooting from a bench rest with the rifle resting on a shooting block.  
 
The rifle is a model 64 Foremost equipped with a 4X Foremost scope mounted on Weaver side mount base and rings.
 
 
Yardage is actual, having been measured with a 300' tape however, the elevation of the closer targets is lower than the target at 180 yards.

Thanks BT and 10-4 on the don't get rattled, I've BTDT a few.....  ummmmm..  "quite" a few times over the years.  I try and not get overly excited about such events. Makes it difficult falling asleep the night before first day aaaand sometimes......... second day too!
 
Go get some of them crappie and perch, Shenango producing from the shorelines I hear, nothing like "redneck surf & turf" for dinner, heck even breakfast!
 
A safe and successful hunt to all.
 
 

Have ya read bout the 10 year old kid who dropped two with one shot- not kidding.
His first hunt and had missed a first shot-made up for it with the double on #2.
Good luck.

Only hunted until 10 today with my 7 yr old son for his first time doing mentored. Did decent for his first time out ever even though we didn't see a deer. Had to get back since we were up north and my daughter broke her wrist and elbow yesterday roller skating. They wouldn't cast it at warren general so the wife was calling around for ortho apps today while I had the boy out. Couldn't get one until 8 am tomorrow. Boy was she upset last night when she couldn't go out for her first time for mentored with my cousin due to her arm. She barely cried after breaking it but bawled for a good while after she found out she wasn't going out hunting with only a splint and sling on. Broke my heart...always Saturday....and she was shooting really well with the 243 too.

Give it a go in cambria county on Saturday, maybe.

Sorry to hear that also eyes just glad she'll be ok.... BTDT yeah antler restrictions kinda sucks but it does slow down the shoot and hope somewhat.
10 1/2 hrs in my shanty / tree house saw 5 doe & 1 Hunter and this was by 10:30 after that nothing rest of the day....I did see one old big deer took for a doe but it was hot on a young doe going though the thicket about 40 yds from me scoped it no horns for sure .... Just wondering if it was old buck that has lost it's horns already, just a thought.... not sure. Figured with the rain today said screw it try again tomorrow.

Partial good news for the daughter, only the wrist is broken so only a short forearm cast for her.  Looking to get out on Saturday with her up on the in laws place in Cambria county.  They had a really nice 8 point hanging out in their yard most of the archery season.  Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll mosey on through their chunk of woods.  Should be a lot of shooting on Saturday with doe being fair game.
 
Couldn't believe the lack of hunters up north where I was at in Warren yesterday.  It was dead, dead, dead and those woods are definitely polluted with deer...

No rain here until just before 4:00 pm although fog started settling in around 2:30.  Tried a bit of still hunting this afternoon with no luck A-tall.  Saw one hunter (Dutchman) and heard two shots all day.
 
Yesterday, same ole, same ole, with not seeing a thing but heard lots-O-shots.  No question in my mind, the blue army was lining the crop fields while others, pushed the woods and/or standing corn putting the deer on the run.  In one volley I counted ten shots; I'll bet that buck was running 'belly to the ground'!
 
Worse yet, I'm not getting any pictures of deer on the field cams. Not to worry, I just need to move the cameras to the 'not normally used' trails.  Now if the deer would use those trails in the day time while I'm sneaking around in the trees.
 
Lots-O-time, good luck to all and, me too!

I hunted a northern Mercer county gamelands all day on monday saw 1 doe @3pm and 1 other hunter. I usually don't count shots after the 1st hour but I needed something to do to pass the day.  I counted 261 but probably missed a few. The closest were probably a half mile or so from me.  
 Mike

rsquared
  
 
BTDT, sounds from various posts on here like you have a nice piece of property.  Never been a fan of AR myself - don't hate it, but not a trophy hunter either so I'd be happy without it too.  Anyway, before all of this started with AR and herd reduction however-many-years ago, did you have some good deer hunting on your place, or has it always been tough?  

 
Sorry rsquared just saw your question and yes, I am very fortunate in that I have beautiful piece of ground nestled between farm fields and bordered by a active beaver pond.
 
As for the the deer, it was nothing to see a dozen deer feeding 20 yards off of my favorite deer stand(a/k/a; back deck)  every evening.  200 yd.s to the east would be another group of 6 to 12 deer feeding.  Was absolutely nothing to see a half dozen buck feeding in the mornings as I went to or returned from work.
 
Not any more, difficult to get pictures even a night and if there is; we see just a few deer.  If it weren't for the cameras I'd probably give up deer hunting all together.
 
The pond, stretches 200 yd.s across my and a neighbors property and gives sanctuary to geese, duck(s), beaver, muskrat and, who knows what else.  Geese get so heavy at times that they become a PITA.  I have a video on here showing a flock coming in for the night and just tonight, I could of shot at a flock of 30+ from my favorite goose blind (a/k/a; back deck).  Try having a cookout with those things flying over your head all day.  Mallards are the duck of the day followed by Mergansers and I've been told Wood Ducks.
 
The problem, as I see it, herd reduction at it's best and the difference between when the deer were here only three years ago as compared to today; population explosion.  Something the PGC is not concerned with as it fits right into their agenda.  Add to this, many of the hunters living in the area are not under the antler restrictions, use tree stands and archery hunt, with crossbows.   
 
So the sub-legal buck(s) I have to pass on, will most likely be hanging with the other sub-legal bucks (passed up by other ole timers)  from a barn, belonging to the same family, some time during the season.  Couple that with, multiple family members having multiple antler-less tags plus the number of large families now living in the area.  But, at least, these hunters aren't killing for the sake of antlers.
 
No, sad to say, not as many deer as there was a while ago.
 
 
Silly me had to come back and say:  Good luck to those of you still hunting.........  and me too!
 
 

I hunt 2D in fact in my little tree shanty now , closed in with Windows & heater yes showing my age some ...lol got here today about 1:30 went from drizzle to foggy to downpours now the sun is out .... No deer either! I do agree 2D might be coming back a little but a long ways to go yet . Yes have seen a few nice bucks in bow season ... One should have been mind but no excuses all on me ... Have to also agree when they let us have 2 weeks doe and several tags it was not a good thing . Also have to say I was in on that madness thought it was great to get a buck & a couple doe. My dad said we will be paying for this he is gone now but ( RIP) by God he was right .... So hopefully it keeps getting better.....

I actually saw more legal bucks and fewer doe in archery season than at any time since Ar /Hr began. Just right time/ right place I guess because several friends who are good hunters had one of their worse seasons ever. I saw a nice eight on my way to  Warren  at noon today hanging out in a grove of trees watching the traffic go by. As eyes stated, it was dead in my part of Warren county also both in shots fired and hunters out. I drove around a lot and never saw a dead deer on the first day.

Anybody on this site kill a buck with a gun? Haven't heard anybody say they got one. Most people didn't even see a deer and one's that did saw low numbers. Except the gunless guy saw 41 deer on the first day and heard 252 shots.

I'm not so sure that is the case.  People left this board because it has been dead for some time now, not because they don't want you to know how their hunting is going.  I'm also not sure why you are attempting to draw any sort of conclusion as to the current status of the deer herd and/or the effectiveness of AR based on one day of hunting.  
 
For what it is worth, the reports from just about everyone I spoke to were pretty good and plenty of them either shot a decent buck or at least saw one.  
 
In my case, the deer are there and the bucks are there, but the best movement has occurred under the cover of darkness for most of the past month.  I decided to push in close to where I knew a good one had been hanging out on Monday and it failed miserably.  I have no one to blame but myself for making a poor decision.  
 

Esox_Hunter
.  I'm also not sure why you are attempting to draw any sort of conclusion as to the current status of the deer herd and/or the effectiveness of AR based on one day of hunting.

Not basing anything on one day of hunting, but rather on one decade of AR/HR in my area.

Glad it has not affected you -- yet.

DarDys

Esox_Hunter
.  I'm also not sure why you are attempting to draw any sort of conclusion as to the current status of the deer herd and/or the effectiveness of AR based on one day of hunting.

Not basing anything on one day of hunting, but rather on one decade of AR/HR in my area.

Glad it has not affected you -- yet.

 
AR has done nothing but IMPROVE the hunting in all my areas of 2B.  HR has taken its toll on my overall deer seen (last year and the year before that sightings were really down in archery but this year seemed similar to years prior to those that had many deer sightings). 
Where I was at up north, the only factor with not seeing deer was the lack of hunters...the area I hunted was 1000's of acres of private land (some posted, some not) that just had very few hunters on it and the ones that were hunting it were stand hunting only. 
Trail cameras and first hand accounts of relatives hunting it in archery confirm there are dozens AR legal bucks in these woods and gobs of doe. 
With a MY in tow, still hunting wasn't a viable option for me and also, limited time to get back to a doctor for my daughter's arm probably limited our sightings to "0."
 
I fully expected less deer here in 2B due to HR (even though we have had almost unlimited tags for the longest time).  That is the goal.  Even though the habitat can handle more deer, the "people" down here can't.  They don't want their shrubs and gardens being part of that habitat and they don't want $3k to $4k car collisions every other year. 
 
When the herds were reduced up north, the hunters pivoted down south to the SRA's and adjacent units. Now that those areas have taken a bigger hit with HR, I fully expect the pressure to pivot back to the traditional big woods areas in the coming years.  2B, due to its difficult access, will always have lots of deer because many areas just aren't huntable.  When accessible areas get cleaned out and pressure wanes, there are many deer in neighboring areas ready to be pushed out onto that land...