Hunting Archery Duck Deer

An extra day of hunting could add up to more trouble - We all have been hearing about the opening of Sunday hunting. The legislators of the state have been trying to pass this idea for the seventh day of the week for a number of years.

But what good would it do to hunt seven days if there is no game to hunt?

Gone are the first-day limits on rabbits and pheasants. It makes no difference what happened or who was to blame for their decline. And what happen to the grouse? I can remember when you could walk any where in the southern part of Lebanon County and hear the whistle of the wings of grouse as they took to flight.

Now we are hearing from special interest groups about starting new licenses for pheasants and turkey. All this is to support the reintroduction and to support the numbers that are still around for these two game species.

Now we are in the first stages of the decline of the Pennsylvania deer herd. We have all seen the passing of the doe-only and bucks-only seasons. We have witnessed new seasons, like the start of fall rifle season for youth and seniors, early flintlock season and the start of the two-week doe season, which runs with the two-week buck season.

When it comes to the Pennsylvania whitetail deer herd and its number count, it seems that every one is an expert. The Pennsylvania Game Commission has been trying for years without success to please everyone with the number of deer in the state. They are the ones who added seasons, changed seasons and kept increasing the numbers of doe permits.

Then in steps another special interest group the Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resource.

Here is a group that back in the winter months was going to prove to the Pa. Game Commission and the Pennsylvania hunter that they had the answer to the number of deer in the state. If you remember they were very vocal about their flyover inferred heat deer counts.

They said the number of deer on state forest land was totally too high and out of control. This same group is blaming the Pennsylvania deer herd for the degeneration of the state forest because of their high numbers.

Well, here we are months later and what is the result of their flyovers when it comes to deer numbers? First, we hear that their flyovers could be as far off as 6 percent and that the numbers of deer were fewer than they thought. But no matter what the count was, they became real quiet very quickly.

What has all this meant to the state’s whitetail deer and its declining numbers in the state? It has not changed a thing. With all the meetings and input from everyone, the numbers look the same and are going to decline even lower. The only thing that all this has done was put the Pennsylvania Game Commission between a rock and a hard place.

Here sits the Pennsylvania Game Commission in the middle of it all. It said it needed a license cost increase to meet this year’s budget. The state legislators will not give them an increase for this year’s licenses until it straightens out the deer wars or the lack of deer in the state. The Game Commission can not cut the number of doe licenses too hard because that would cut its budget even more.

The commission has cut the antlerless allocation this year from 1,039,000 last year to 879,000 this year (for the 2005-06 hunting year). In the state’s 22 wildlife management units, there will be a 160,000 reduction of licenses. The largest part of these reductions will be seen in the western part of the state. Many hunters and hunting organizations feel this is but a drop in the bucket from what needs to happen.

But at this time the Pa. Game Commission is sitting on pins and needles. For you see this is the time to buy new hunting and trapping licenses, and in a short time after that the new antlerless licenses will go on sale.

With the lack of deer in the herd here in Pa., no one can tell how far license sales will drop this year. And when hunters are not seeing deer in the woods, who wants to pay for a hunting license or doe permit that is not worth the paper it’s printed on?
By JIM YUREJEFCIC