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Crossguns in the Pa bow season!!!!!!

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Ryano:
 ;)

Postman:
I grew up hunting in Pennsylvania, Ryano, and I know how crazy it gets on public land. saw and heard of some scary, insane close calls.   I think Pennsy., , like many states, is buckling to the reality of declining hunters by trying to get more people out with these obvious  shortcuts to more hunting days with little investment in practice time - and also probably getting greased by the crossbow/hi-tec muzzleloader manufacturers to open up "primitive"  seasons to these expensive weapons to boot. I do like pennsy's  idea of making smaller bucks off-limits, however, and hope VA follows suit. 
 Here in Virginia, Crossbows are now legal in any archery season, after years of them for people with disabilities only. I'd like too see them restricted to muzzleloader, but oh well.... I would feel fine hunting "against" people with flintlocks in a "primitive" season, but not crossbows - I think they are as, or even more efficient than in-lines in thick forest I hunt  based on the noise level, visibility and second shot probability.
The real rub here in VA  arises when check in's are no longer required - who knows WHAT the deer was killed with. I hunt National forest,and  I hear plenty of shots in bow season, and plenty of "repeating muzzleloaders" in blackpowder. I have no problem with people hunting with anything, but would like a safe, fair primitive archery/flintlock only hunt of 3 weeks at least! Now I feel a bit skeered walking into my stand  in the dark in my camo knowing people are out there with scoped X-bows, or firearms out of season not even having to look for antlers. Used to go in without a light on sometimes, but can't do it now. wearing orange in  / out also reduces my chances, but I feel I now have no choice.

Ryano:
Your right Postman. The problem with the horn restriction we have hear is it goes by points. A buck has to have 4 points on one side to be legal to shoot. Most of our 1 1/2 old bucks with good genes have 4 points on one side so they get killed off the first year anyways. Only the 4's and 6 pointers make it to be two and half year olds and some times never get more than 4 or 6 points. ...So now we have giant 6 pointers that you cant even shoot.....Not the best management program in my eyes. I wish they would go to a spread out side the ears type restriction instead of using points. This would save pretty much all the 1 1/2 old bucks and give them a chance to grow bigger and wiser so they might have a chance to make it through the next years gun season......jmo

The Burnt Hill Archer:
im with you on the width restriction, another thing that i would LOVE to see them do is cut the doe season back to only a day or 2. i m a firm believer that the population would come back if they could just do that. when you kill a doe you kill 3 deer...

having said that i am going to hunt doe this year. i know kindof a contradiction, but my cousin has abour 500 acres that i hunt on, and he does his own deer management. minimum of a 16" spread, and only the older single doe. the first couple of years we didnt take a buck off the place because of the restiction, but its been 5 years now, and he has got some WHOPPERS. they took a buck off the back hill last year, had a 26" inside spread, and his highest tines were about 12" high. there are 3 other bucks on there that we didnt get last year.

the proofs in the puddin, there is a herd of prolly 30 that come out in his upper field every night, and he has a trapline that he runs through the winter and he sees at least that many each trip around the hill.

the younger healthy doe are able to breed, and the older ones are culed so that there is more room for the others. im tellin ya, it works.

Phil

Ryano:
Phil, your right but the problem is the game commission doesn't want the deer population to come back. They got the way the wanted it right now. It will be up to us as sportsman now to use our own discretion in how many doe's we take out each year. They have no intention on cutting back doe permits or limiting the season. I think people around my area here have finally figured out that if you shoot every deer in woods you see, there won't be any left for next year. I am starting to see a few more deer this summer. More than I have seen in the past 4 or 5 years. Your lucky to have access to a big enough plot of private land that you can exercise your own management program and actually have it work. Most people don't.

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