As I write this on my phone, I am sitting on a hillside overlooking a swamp bottom with pines on the opposite side....Browning .243 BLR in hand and a tag ready to be filled. It's cool with a light mist and conditions are perfect, I should be thrilled but then reality sets in....this is Pennsylvania and I am bound to have several "skilled outdoorsmen" in the woods with me today.This rifle season has really opened my eyes to what exactly it is I hate about rifle season here in PA and it isn't the weapon in my hands or the sheer number of guys in the woods....it is the extreme impatience of my fellow hunters. Nobody just goes out hunting to enjoy themselves during rifle season, it is entirely about killing deer as fast as possible.First day of season this year and with in the first two hours of daylight I saw 5 guys "spot and stalking" as well as having two separate deer drives go through the woods. Within hours of daylight the bedding areas had already had numerous people walk through them and the deer had all been driven off the property. This quest for instant success by most hunters ends up destroying everybody else's chances.I had one evening sit this season that was truly a good time, I set over a cleared out stream bottom full of deadfalls and I didn't see any other hunters, I also managed to see/pass 8 different bucks as well as seeing more than a dozen doe....none were spooked, none were running for their lives, it was hunting how I truly view it.It seems to me that if people would take a step back, be patient, and just wait on the deer instead of trying to sneek up on deer in their bedding areas....rifle season would be much more tolerable. Well I am gonna climb off my soap box and watch for hunters....I mean deer haha.
It's actually private land that is not posted, but even then, posted signs are a joke here. Saturday a group of over 30 guys pushed out me neighbors woods (where I hunt) as well as the neighboring farm which is all posted.
I hear ya. As I've gotten older (and hopefully a little wiser) and have been more places, I realize that the majority of hunters in this state just have a really screwed up mentality about hunting. Couple that with the sheer numbers & its a recipe for some chaos. I think it would be REALLY cool to take a few days or even a week and get to gun hunt an area where deer are predominantly moving on thier own, not because the yahoos are bumping them around. That said, this year more than any other I really had to depend on the yahoos pushing the deer around becuase my "spot" was not holding any deer at all on it, and I needed deer from the neighboring areas pushed past me.
And like clockwork, some idiot tried sneaking through the pines below me and busted out a group of deer before he ever saw them, I am packing up and going home.
And the secret is.... use the others and what they do to put yourself in the right place. People move deer.... where do they move to? Be there. 30 uninvited hunters pushing posted land???? That's a case for the law to handle.
I feel your pain. Orange army seems to have started giving it up around here last week. They are slowly coming out of their caves again. Got about a week and a half for the grand finally of somewhat normal woods. p.s. I really hate sitting in a tree with the strategy of "I hope someone pushes one my way".
Don't you hate that? Gun season ruins everything. Things start really heating up in early November, and gun season starts. Abrupt end to hunting. Then, they finally start coming out in daylight hours again around December 20th (give or take a few days), the action picks up and then the season closes. Abrupt end to hunting. I wish they would add another week or two onto the season here. Mid January would be good for mid/southern MI.
Looking at this from a devils advocates position, the question is why do you think your style of hunting is better than stalk and spot or driving? Just because you like to sit that doesn't mean the whole hunting population has to do the same just to make you happy.
No differentiation between private and public to the orange army for these two weeks. Welcome to PA. Last evening. 6, count them, 6 shots in succession at 5pm, coming from a group landowners long ranging up the road. Obviously having some trouble. Then I'm back at the house at 5:20, and a shot rings out. Really...5:20? Listening to some of the conversations more intently this past week at the cabin has also been enlightening to say the least. I'm careful not to bash my fellow hunters too much, but I just don't get the mentality of some.
JMO, but I think it's instant gratification vs. putting the time and effort into it. People don't have the patience to sit and setup on deer, would rather take the fastest, eastiest way to get their crack at a deer.
This is my first time Riflin in Pa since i started at wvu this year. I thought the ohio shotgun season was crazy, but Pa really impressed me. Deer drives with no blockers... classy. 22-250 attempt at 600 yards..... missed by a mile. Road hunting..... a first for me, WOW is all i have to say. Parking trucks in the field..... really, they think a deer is going to come out? Driving before the last day...... stupid.
