[GooseBob CamoPants]

Don't know about you guys, but I'm going through withdrawal already with goose season being over for a total of 9 days here in eastern PA. So this morning I put on the "not so waterfowl-like" blaze orange and headed out for pheasant and/or small game (whichever was open and legal in the WMUs that I would be scouting out).

Anyway, one of the places that I stopped at is called Jacobsburg State Park, and I got really excited to see several yellow "Caution - Hunting Open in this Area" signs posted. According to the state there is supposed to be about 1,000 acres of "game land" there.

So, I parked my jeep next to the sign that cautioned hunting open and proceeded 10 paces inside to a row of many more white signs that stated "no hunting" beyond this point.

It seems that 999 acres are open to butt-nuts on mountain bikes and a few lucky enough to own horses, or "nature hikers," but those that PAY big $$$ to hunt and fish in the great state of PA, we get 1 square acre of land!!!!

It's enough to make a monk say "[email protected]#K!!!" :twisted:

 

[gilmore1011]

The Adirondaks in NY are getting almost as bad. The state is buying all the old hunting clubs and then not allowing any hunting, 4 wheelers, Boats or Snomobiles. Pretty sad we have hundreds of thousands of acres for all the liberals to not use. Your story made me think of something I found pretty funny. A couple years ago my dad and I went to the dump with a trash can full of goose carcasses. When we dumped them in the compactor there was some city dweller up visiting her camp dumping her trash there and she went nuts. She ran over to the dump supervisor and told him to get the game wardens right away. She told him we had a trash can full of dead loons!!! To this day when I visit home the dump supervisor laughs his butt off when he sees me.

 

[#1Waterfowler]

This is what is going to happen everywhere eventually!!!! It's already happening in WI, crazy to think,huh???!!

 

[GooseBob CamoPants]

Yep, we pay and the liberals get to play...I won't even get started on the lack of good state run waterfowl hunting land in this part of PA either--that's worth a whole other thread! :shock:

 

[fisherhunter460]

I'm with you on this one. There is very little good waterfowling games lands here in southern Pa. The private lands are even going away. Before long there will be nothing left to the average hunters.

 

[DE-Bowhunter]

we have about the same thing in Delaware,, sunday hunting was turned down because the horseback riders and the hikers were afraid they would get shot...duh!!!! and the state bought it...

 

[archeryrob]

The problem is liberals vote, and a large majority of hunters and blue collar Americans do not vote.

If more hunters care about their future this would not be a problem. Go to your favorite hunting store and ask how many of them are registered and how many even vote. You would be surprised. The local regulars that everyone knows will but your average majority that just show up to buy their license and shells will not.

 

[ropeagoose]

I was watching the OLN today. They had a show on the problem with Antelope in YO. They were hunting on a Golf Course. The problem was, that there were so many animals, that the town was being over run. The public was in favor of this. Like it or not, the libs don't have a choice any longer. without us(hunters)the same issue will be spreading out to almost every little town in America. Nature adapts a lot quicker than the libs can out manuver us. Here in SW PA, the people (MONEY BUCKS) in one community(Fox Chaple) were outraged not but 8 years ago about hunters taking their furry little creatures and killing them. Now they are begging hunters to come in and kill these same little loveable landscape destroyers. Last I heard, the deer were responcible for over 1.5 million in landscape damage. I VOTE. I Don't always agree with my chosen officials that I voted for, but I let my voice be heard.

 

[goosehunter2118]

It is sad that we as hunters are the only people that see it happening and think it is bad. The private land around my house is going quick. Everybody wants to build more houses. :roll: It does not look good for the future.

 

[fisherhunter460]

We've allowed it with out word being said. Americans are lazy and don't take action. Before it's too late have to move forward and do something before the rest America's wild is gone for hunters and the animals.
Hunters aren't exactly innocent. Many have decided to build homes in the country they want to hunt. We've got to be held just as responsible as the rest.

 

[GooseBob CamoPants]

I always vote based on a candidate's gun record and leanings, but I've never seen any voting opportunity that allowed me the chance to stop/change/opine my views on sporting issues in this state.

I used to think that PA was a sportsman's paradise, but as more libs from NY, NJ and other keep pouring in, I'm starting to think otherwise.

Just how many $300K homes can we cram on top of each other in what used to be our woods & farmlands?

 

[goosehunter2118]

Just how many $300K homes can we cram on top of each other in what used to be our woods & farmlands?

Toooooooo many. :roll: I see signs all the time that say "Town houses starting in the low 500s." That is if you just want a house, a door would cost extra. :lol: And don't confuse the "low 500s" with the high 500s because then, you might not want it. :roll: Every time I see those signs, it is when they have just started to put up the houses and they are in a middle of a field. I just think there goes another place for hunting.

 

[macduck]

I just saw this today, 2/2/05. Gentlemen; this is disturbing. GooseBob, I'm concerned because too often, what starts in the east of Pa tends to head west where I am. @ our club we've been talking about this problem, but always as a potential problem, not a real one. Well, the worm has finally turned. I'm sorry to hear that your hunt was spoiled; hopefully, it will be the last spoiled hunt. We have to scream to the heights. We pay for this land!!! We pay - not the bunny huggers.
This area in W. Pa. has three state parks: Pymatuning, Goddard, & Moraine. Hunting is well established @ Pymatuning, but @ Goddard & Moraine, well... . Problem a few years ago @ Moraine - the "alternative lifestyle" crowd was using Moraine for "frollicks". They came up from Shadyside in Pittsburgh. Suppose that that starts again? Imagine the talk of "rights". Then they'll talk of the presence of "right - wingers w/ guns"! Wherever some folks see underused or undeveloped land, their eyes grow wide. May God help us; but, we must first help ourselves. Rendell is up next year. Let's see how many are willing to step up & vote to remove him. This is angering - it must stop.

 

[GooseBob CamoPants]

Mark that's troubling to hear about your area, I've always envied that part of PA as a real hunter's playground since there is much more of Penn's Woods still standing.

While Rendell isn't my favorite, and I sure would like to see him go, Ridge didn't do much better for us. For a fight like this, we need a group with some visibility and political pull.

This is where our NRA memberships should hopefully help us make some progress. I think I'll drop a letter to our friends in Fairfax, VA about our hunting issues in PA.