2011 PA Season

[mhouck06]

A 2010 PA thread was started last year.. It went pretty well, so i decided to start one up for 2011. I can't wait til october. Any of you guys been out much? Been doing some scouting here and there, have my cameras out, getting some decent pics. Just got a new string for my bow.. Archery season is on its way and I love it!

[tex3012]

i absolutly cannot wait for archery season.. been out scouting and i found that all the deer are beding just feet from the river or near by water sources. being so hot this summer thats what were going to get. by the season most of these deer will probably be up a ridge or two. i had to pull all my cameras due to one getting stolen. its sad but i guess other people just dont care..

[bmstaaf]

Plots are up cameras are out (even though my 1 got stolen 2 tex)...I don't have anything to jump up and down about yet on camera but like you said ten feet from the water...I will let them be for now...I have the xbow and regular compound ready to kill! Only a few more months..

[mhouck06]

sorry you guys got your cams taken! im constantly worrying about that. We had one stolen off the farm we hunt a couple years back. Major low blow.

ive still been getting some good pics. been running the cams on new pieces of ground. starting to nail down some possible stand locations on them. the farm we usually hunt has been quiet... hoping things pick up. been shooting on a pretty regular basis. Really getting that itch now!

[danesdad]

Cant get here quick enough for me.

[mhouck06]

a little over a month to go!! cant wait. workin on hangin some new stands now. some of these "cooler" days have been great to be out in the woods!

[bmstaaf]

I am becoming discouraged, no monsters on camera yet... its odd where i am usually have at least 3 or 4 brutes by now...food plots are loaded with doe at least 5-10 in the plots every night (which is a positive), but no bucks! Tried scouting public land have a few spots...pa game lands are they loaded with hunters?/quote][quote][/quote]

[mhouck06]

I am becoming discouraged, no monsters on camera yet... its odd where i am usually have at least 3 or 4 brutes by now...food plots are loaded with doe at least 5-10 in the plots every night (which is a positive), but no bucks! Tried scouting public land have a few spots...pa game lands are they loaded with hunters?/quote]

it depends on where you go... what part of the state you are in.. generally though in archery season, the woods are not loaded at all. i hunt some public lands in cambria, somerset and bedford counties.. usually dont run into anyone. depending on what part of the state you are in I may be able to point you in the right direction. Also look into properties owned by coal companies. there are lots of properties around here that are owned by coal companies and but the mining was done long ago. really great habitat. lots of apple trees usually. oaks can be hit or miss on these properties, but they are certainly worth looking at.

[bmstaaf]

I hunt north west pa, there are a lot of Apple trees and tons of corn on the game lands, thinking of going a little further south but will see... tons of deer I just worry about the crowd I guess will find out! I plan on shooting a doe early from one farm I hunt, (early as in first few days). If I am unsuccessful I let the farm rest until Nov. I just don't have a lot of back up other than game lands, gotta keep the private scent free until rut! I will let you know how it goes and if the land is worth a trip... we are lucky to be in a state with gamelands all over, I just need to learn the tricks! (entrance and exit routes, where people tend not to go, where the food sources are, where pressured bucks go, where bucks run during the rut) I have found good food sources, bedding, what I think will be rut travel corridors, I am only missing the variables such as people... with the scouting I put in I hope I can figure out what others have not...

[smedward59]

hey pa deer hunters.
we are missing out on a great tracking tool because the pa legislature will not allow us to use blood tracking dogs to find our deer. If you are interested let your state rep know or contact rep evans office 717-772-9940. we put a lot of effort into trying to bag those whitetails and I want to have the best chance of recovery if I don't see the deer go down.