Then came Alt shot the trad here.
How is the lumber mill at Endeavor?
Or Weyerhaeuser at Knox?

Use the hunters and their money to exterminate deer.
Hunters are dumb and can't hunt.
We got baby trees but less mills, stupid deer.

Hi Marlin

Or it could be guys with regular 9 to 5 jobs that would like to not have to use all their vacation or don't get PTO.

Or high school and college kids.

Why would people let a regulation effect their deer camp? We always had Saturday openers and were in a deer camp too. It was a lot of fun.

they COULD show up at camp like they USED to do; and do all the same things they USED to do, on the same EXACT timetable, but they won't do that because other folks will hunt "their" deer on the Saturday opener.

it's the same argument that trappers use to complain about a late October opener, because furs aren't prime yet. I say if you don't want to trap until November or December, no one is forcing you to set earlier than that...it's a choice that YOU are making.

You may have a point there. I know back in the day there was always a mass migration of hunters from southeast PA to the northeastern and especially the north central counties of the state right before the rifle deer opener.

I can't find any stats on the percentage that hunt from home vs. those that hunt from a camp and I doubt they exist. So I guess we'll never know for sure.

Even today, the majority of the camp owners I meet are from southeast PA.

Heck, we COULD wait until the second weekend and just pretend that's opening day couldn't we? There'd be no First Day excitement or anticipation, there'd be far fewer deer since the majority were harvested in the first hours of the first day, the hunting would be very slow and uneventful because there'd be no hunters out there moving the deer that were left, there'd be no catching up with neighboring camp owners and visiting to see their harvests because they'd all have left for home, It would suck, but we COULD do it.

We COULD do it, but why on earth would we?

I'm guessing you've never experienced a traditional Pennsylvania Deer Camp.

Hope youns two are in PTA politics.
Look forward to hearing the after 28th
meeting.

It's kinda hard to explain it to those that haven't, Lug. It was the same in western NY where I grew up. Anticipation was a huge part of it. Especially when young. You'd wait for months for opening Monday. School wasn't an issue because every school in the area closed that day.. they didn't say it was for hunting, they listed it as being conferences or something, but it was for hunting. I remember being at camp the day before the opener... we usually ate a steak dinner that night that we cooked. The day before the opener was usually spent cutting and stacking firewood and doing other chores around the camp. I remember standing outside the cabin at night, in the cold, looking up at the stars, breath puffing out in white clouds and just being so excited for the next morning. All the men in my family had blue collar jobs, but all of them could at least take off the opener, and usually a couple days beyond that.

I suppose though, that instead of taking off the opener, people could start taking off the Thursday and Friday before the Saturday opener, instead.... to try to make it like it used to be. It seems strange to take off work to NOT hunt, but I guess it would work. The kids would just have to miss school though, as the schools wouldn't be closed then....

because you were complaining about the timeline changes (voluntary, it seems); changes in "tradition"...etc.

what you WEREN'T complaining about (but what I suspect is the crux of the matter) is that holding yourself to your own traditions would decrease your chances of filling a tag. fwiw, I agree that it WOULD. fewer deer available by Monday.

but you were complaining about the TRADITIONS that are lost. the only thing that would necessarily be different if you chose to honor your traditions is your chances of filling tags.

that's the REAL reason you aren't happy about it.

You couldn't be more wrong.

All you have to do is drive by all the empty camps to see the tradition of "going to hunting camp" has been killed.

Now granted, they started to die when all the doe were killed with the promise of big bucks, this was just the last nail in the coffin, so to speak.

I've been wrong before.

but I still don't see the problem...everyone is free to continue their traditions, if they choose to.

more than Saturday Openings that killed the Camp Culture.

Folks that have experienced a traditional Pennsylvania Hunting Camp, or in Yotetrappers case, a New York Camp, understand that hippie.

Businesses use to close two days, schools closed and stores , especially outdoor mom and pop shops, made their year the weekend before the opener.

There must be alot of negative feedback since they considered changing it back to Monday.

Anyhow, I digress, it is what it is.

I heard something about the PGC considering moving the opener back to Monday. I’m not holding my breath though.

It was considered but shot down for now I read somewhere.

With bow hunting being anywhere from 3 to 4 months or longer, many just bow hunt any more.
Opening day is just another day it seems, as there's no pressure to move the deer.
Everyone wants those big racks , and bait, and lease up land and land lock it.
Hard to hunt like we used to years ago.
I love it when I hear stories about bow hunters land locking up hundreds of acres, baiting and spending thousands of dollars on leases.
And a farmer butting up to their lease getting deer damage permits, and killing the big bucks during the summer.
I was and am a meat hunter, big racks are nice, but you can't eat them.