Why not get suit and tie off his hyner and mark the trees?
Just jaggin ya.

My all time favorite stand (not mine)
changed ownership.
Holding my breath but guess what.
I can't do or say a dang thing.

I wont argue that forest management is a mess.

We cruised Collins. That looked good "to me".
It's not ALL wrecked.

Now go run over some deer lol.

Marlin what's up with these spruce trees?
Just the Norways or all spruce dyeing?

Collin Pine/Kane Hardwood is a big operation. They own and manage something like 120,000 acres of forest land.

A lot of it is open to public hunting.

I'd have to do some checking...I'm not up on that.

hope the norways die off, though...never liked them.

??????????????????? From Sunday hunting to tree farms?

We call that high grading here in NY. Most stands have been high graded to death, only the junk remains.

Sounds like some peoples hunting camp is just like a holiday weekend.

Here we go where you can hunt without worrying about property lines.
Used to hunt AEP lands, which are now THE WILDS and state public hunting areas.
We would get to the area to hunt, on Friday , scout a little after setting up camp, then scout a lot on Saturday.
Would stock up on food for the week at local shops.
Have a final sight in at a pit away from where we were hunting, and rest and eat a big meal of last years venison loin chops.
Everyone knew where and how to get to their chosen stand.
100% Everyone had a shot on opening day on Monday.

Used to be that way in PA until they changed the opener from Monday to Saturday.

Honest question Lugnut. With the opener going Saturday, is that stopping you from doing all that stuff on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and then starting on Monday?

In my opinion, because the half million-plus deer hunters we have in this state will have killed a large number of deer on the opener and on the second day. By the time Monday rolls around, the deer that aren’t dead, have gone completely nocturnal and are hiding in the thickest, nastiest or inaccessible areas, like peoples back yards.

Opening day is opening day, and that is when the majority of the deer are going to be killed.

I’m may miss the tradition of spending time in camp with good friends on the weekend before the rifle opener, but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to throw away my best chance to shoot a deer.

Yes,

Folks use to start arriving on Saturday, getting camp in order. Sunday was a day to pre-cook some food for quick meals through out the week, unpack and claim a bunk, Visit other local camps and stop in at some landowners, ect.

The other complicating factor is that bear season runs from the previous Saturday-Tuesday. So if you're a serious bear hunter and travel to camp, you'll be gone Friday-Tuesday/Wednesday. Come home for Thanksgiving on Thursday. Kick your traveling family out of the house and run back to camp on Friday night to be ready for Saturday opener.

Makes sense I suppose

We don’t have a bear season, so don’t need to worry about that.

Our opener has always been the second Friday before Thanksgiving

I also hunt about 1000 acres of private land that is divided between two locations so my properties aren’t really affected by opening day of firearms. I guess if you have a bunch of folks coming in and hunting it that would suck to show up two days later.


Of course, we also hunt it early for crop damage and archery and muzzleloader season. So it gets pressure. But we are pretty selective about when and how the stands are hunted.

Maybe they’ll change it back if everyone decides to just wait till Monday!

Ohio had a two day weekend hunt for does only in mid October a few years ago.
I loved it, as my health couldn't take the cold very well any more.
It lasted two years, because it interfered with bow hunters for two days, while they have a 4+ month season.
There's always a Karen that messes up everything.
The rut is the hardest/strongest the first 10 days of November here.
SMH.

I imagine the people in favor of the Saturday open are mostly hobby hunters that never have experienced a deer camp.

by far, most hunters in PA do NOT hunt out of a deer camp.

"hobby hunters"?

very few hunters here could make a living hunting deer.

That is probably accurate white marlin. The Pennsylvania Deer Camp tradition has been dwindling for decades.

Back in the 50's and through the 80's it was the opposite. A large majority of PA deer hunters hunted out of camps.

Many factors contributed to that decline; hunters aging out (I've lost two out of my camp in recent years), a lack of recruitment of younger hunters to replace their numbers, changing regulations and changes in the state deer herd structure are a few.

The change to a Saturday opener might have been the final nail in the coffin.

Short story about deer camp about 15 years ago. The deer camp next to our farm, opening Monday the grandfather's grandson got a buck first thing in the morning, and he told his grandfather he wanted to go home. Grandfather told him they were there for the whole week and there was plenty of work for him: help drag deer, gut deer, hang deer, get firewood etc. Grandson could not see the whole picture, get mine and go!

nothing personal, my Friend; but I don't believe the majority of PA deer hunters EVER hunted out of camps. I can understand why you'd think that, based on your home location. I'd agree that the majority of southeastern PA-based hunters did.

Agree with the dwindling numbers and the reasons you state. I'll add what I consider the two bigger reasons: single mom households and the extended archery/crossbow seasons that spread out the harvest over a LONG period of time.