The link to this article was no the Outdoors Unlimited Homepage. Thought I should share it with all you Pennsylvania hunters. It would be nice to mentor a few young handgun hunters as part of the program.

"Pennsylvania wants more hunters -- A Pennsylvania bill has become the first Families Afield legislation in the country to reach a governor's desk.
HB 1690 has been sent to Gov. Ed Rendell. The state's House of Representatives voted 195-1 to accept a Senate amendment that authorizes the Pennsylvania Game Commission to create a mentored youth hunting program. The Pennsylvania Senate unanimously passed HB 1690 on Dec. 13.
The bill is part of the Families Afield campaign established by a partnership of sportsmen's organizations to aid in the recruitment of new hunters. The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, along with the National Wild Turkey Federation and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, introduced Families Afield in an effort to increase hunter recruitment throughout the country."

hell thats all nice an all
but up here in pa ther are no more deer to hunt so all thats going to do is get more people po'd lol

I thought PA had a huge deer heard, at least that's what people tell me. Unless huge numbers of deer live in the suburbs and can't be hunted. I see more "pet deer" around the suburbs in the Carolinas than I do in the woods. I believe the hunters have done too good a job thinning the heards outside of the burbs. I did not see a single doe in 2 years of hunting in SC, just small bucks which are off limits for the private land I hunted...moving to new land for next year.

Well that sounds like a great idea, but if they dont have anything left to hunt its going to be awfully hard to get anyone interested, especially kids! I know if I was just starting out I would lose interest very quickly, I'm not sure what the rest of PA is like but what they have done to the deer herd up here in McKean Co. is a crime, and they still claim we have too many deer

Mark

Talk to the hunters and there's not enough deer! Talk to the farmers there's to many deer, shoot more! Talk to the city folk who just bought all your old hunting spots and posted every tree NO HUNTING and say "OH I JUST LOVE TO WATCH THE DEERS AND THE BEARS!".(Ah excuse me, how do I stop the deers from eating my garden and the plants by my house? Why won't the bears leave my bird feeders alone?) Who knows the answer?

You're right on! I see more and more development reaching out into the country, turning once prime hunt spots into no hunting zones. Much of the remaining wildlife crams into the little woodlots that are left. The city folks who move out there complain about all the deer, but no one is allowed to hunt them, not even with archery gear. These city folks also think that all deer act like these semi-tame deer and will just pose, waiting to be shot.

I also think the bag limits in a bunch of states are too high. I know guys that will shoot 5 - 6 does a season (some weighing less than 60 pounds) because they like to shoot and aren't seeing any big bucks. Get a bunch of folks shooting that many in a hunt area and the population will drop off real quick.

I'm all for young hunter recruitment, but proper game management is in order.

you,are all on the money.i am glade to be in good company.how do we fix this across the u.s.???

Geems3 is correct! Money (short term annual revenues to be more exact) is apparently what is driving the PA Game Commission into it's latest antics of massave overharvesting in the past 4 seasons. In the face of declining license sales they are embracing the youth hunting program as a means of increasing revenue. The main reason that licenses have plummeted in the past 5 years is the drop in the deer population. Certain areas of PA, mainly the southern tier and the Phila and Pittsburgh surrounding areas are overpopulated. Primarily due to reduced habitat by urban growth and by the fact that most of the remaining ground is posted to hunting. Most of the huntable ground is forest or rural - Northern / central PA. The liberal "kill as many as you can" mentality that has been promoted by the game commission has caused overharvesting on most of the forested lands that are open to public hunting. The game commission has conditioned the hunters into believing that the doe population is excessive and it is OK to kill as many as you can get tags for. Gullable hunters have taken the bait and are greedly killing multiple does. 4 years later, Where are the bucks? Sadly, The urban areas are still overpopulated so the majority of the humans in PA (the city folks) still think there are too many deer. Unfortunately our game commission (Technically a special interest group for the hunters that is funded by the hunter's license fees) has been infiltrated by the animal rights folks (Audubon society, etc.) These people want to reintroduce predators into our state so that human intervention (the hunter) can be eliminated. There position is that game spieces (espically deer) have overrun the ecosystem and damaged the forests. They want to greatly reduce the deer population to the point that hunting is eliminated. This concept is known as "rewilding". It is the ultimate goal of the tree hugger, anti-hunter crowd and it is being embraced by the PA DCNR and the PA game commission! Do a Google search of rewilding and you will find a strong, organized, plan for eliminating hunting.
The sad thing is that the PA hunters are delivering this herd reduction to these folks by happily overharvesting the does.

...now that's how to properly rant!

Back to the original subject...mentoring youth. Mentoring young hunters is a great idea. I strongly encourage everyone to consider it. Just like the deer management program, it can only work if the hunter's embrace it. I was mentored by my father and grandfather in the art and science of hunting and fishing. I was taught to respect the game and the land while I was being taught the mechanics of the outdoor sports. Remember that teaching the next generation involves a lot more than how to make a successful kill.

Glad I could stir the pot a little. This is the kind of debate we hunters should be having with our representatives in congress. I don't hunt anywhere close to PA, and can't speak for the deer population, but we all know that if we can't get the youth involved then hunting will literaly end in our lifetime. I have been blessed with three beautiful daughters and I'm doing my best to teach them the ways of the woods and of hunting and of conservation, albeit without loosing the girl in them at the same time. Taking children along on a hunting or camping trip is far more rewarding than doing it alone or with only adults. The children see so many things that we wouldn't see and in different ways than our eyes imagine. I guess my whole purpose in positng this article in the first place was to encourage debate and stories on taking our youth to the woods and teaching them the things our fathers and grandfathers taught us. I am a high school teacher in an urban school. I see so many kids that want to talk to me about hunting and fishing and camping and shooting, etc., but have never had the opportunity to try it themselves. I rarely take one of my students to the woods hunting or shooting, and only after I've had a talk with the childs father about the rules of the trip. I know there is a tremendous amount of responsibility and, of course, liability involved in taking another persons child into the woods hunting. Somehow we must, as a community, overcome the liability placed on us and continue to mentor these less fortunate kids in the ways of our fathers and grandfathers.

Just my two cents. The subject hit me when a student of mine recently asked me to take him hunting. He was a responsible young man in the classroom and I talked with his father. I made the difficult descision not to take the kid hunting because I couldn't get the full support from his family and I didn't want any "trouble". I feel terrible that this kid may never have the opportunity to experience the wonders of nature and of hunting and ethically taking fair chase game. And when I thought about it, I realized, that in the end we all loose. The kid, me, and certainly all hunters.