2019 Saturday deer opener PA.

[birddog 68]

We are going to head up soon and I will put the cameras out to hopefully get an idea of how the deer are moving with the food by the time archery rolls around.

I just love trail cameras. They can tell you way more than just putting boots on the ground.
Good luck to you and I don't think you will be disappointed with the attention that food plot is receiving.

 

[jimbires]

We also put down a bunch of lime and it gets pricey even on our smaller scale.
We've had good luck with deer creek seed. It's slightly cheaper than the big name brands but has been very productive if Mother Nature cooperates.
I'm guessing that you get some bears and possibly elk eating in the plots?

I have a couple good bears on cameras . no elk this far south , yet . we buy a lot of seed from a feed store . I don't think we didn't plant any of the designer seed blend this year .

 

[jimbires]

I had 8 cameras out from Sept - end of Dec . I pulled them , and put 3 on trails that I wanted to watch to see what was using them . I've got 6 out now , in deer areas . I bought a couple more , I have 11 now . I have a lot of fun running the cameras . I go once a week and swap chips . it's always nice to get a few good ones on camera .

 

[birddog 68]

it's always nice to get a few good ones on camera

Sure makes it easier to pass on smaller bucks knowing what's out there!

 

[yobuck]

I have a couple good bears on cameras . no elk this far south , yet . we buy a lot of seed from a feed store . I don't think we didn't plant any of the designer seed blend this year .

As you no doubt know Jim, the many old strip mines in the Frenchville area have become prime Elk areas.
The PGC has also created numerous food plots thruout the Quehanna area and other areas as well.
Including one at the exact location of the old nuclear facility on Lost Run Rd. ( formally Reactor Rd. )
Im not sure why they dont utilize the many miles of natural gas pipelines as well, and also the large power lines thruout the region.
Back in the 70s there was a large meeting held in January at the now defunct Mountain Country Sportsman Club.
Which was located on leased land near the dam at the Sinnemahoning State Park.
There were lots of PGC personnel there as well as a very large and angry group of hunters, myself included.
The outcry from the hunters was over the intentional reduction of the deer herd.
They claimed that due to the growth of the trees, the area could not support more than two deer per square mile.
When questioned as to why food plots couldnt be planted, as well as the power and pipelines utilized, they claimed that it was economically unfeasable.
I actually feel that it had much to do with the Elk, and so do others feel the same.
Their plan was and still is to increase the size and range of the Elk herd.
For example, untill the late 80s i never saw an Elk in the area of our camp near Driftwood. Today they are numerous in that area and other areas as well.
Frenchville for example as i have already mentioned.
Some will claim that Elk are grazers, wheras deer are browsers.
But thats only partially true, as anyone who has watched both animals feed will attest to.
No doubt the large expenditure of funds by the PGC for creating food plots in recent years is for a two fold reason.
Both with regard to the Elk
One is for expanding their range, and the other and possibly most important reason is so that less of them are killed in peoples yards, eating the grass and bushes.
And thats not intended as a joke, as it is very true.
Fifty years ago, you could take a ride from Driftwood to Benezette, which is about 20 miles, and probably count 50 deer along the way.
Today that same ride will probably show no deer, but a real possibility of seeing 50 Elk.
And that should tell you something about the intentions of the PGC as it pertains to the deer herd.
Can $500 tag fees be all that far down the road?
And i suppose much of that will be determined by the (sportsmen) lol

 

[hesse]

Not sure what we can do with minerals as we are in a CWD zone so any kind of concentrated mineral source is not allowed. Can you spread it over the food plots and let them eat it that way?



When we got the property they had stands set up with food plots already established but they had clear cut the property which changed the hunting dynamic. We gave it a couple years to see how things were going and decided this year to revitalize everything and put in a new two acre plot since the deer generally leave after the leaves fall.

We are going to head up soon and I will put the cameras out to hopefully get an idea of how the deer are moving with the food by the time archery rolls around.

Well that is pretty easy a lot of your legumes which are clovers Alfalfa's beans use a higher in phosphorus and potassium fertilizers so there helps raise your phosphorus levels in your plants and then a few line with a organic powder style lime will also be absorbed by the plants which has calcium in it that's how you can boost them minerals in the plants themselves that the deer are eating it

 

[hesse]

This is why I have gone to the cellular cameras 3 and 1/2 hours away from our hunting property I went and got the big solar batteries for them and they run year round and do anything

 

[jimbires]

@yobuck , I have a good friend that lives on buck run road in Frenchville . he has had elk in his yard . the elk are in around the apple farm , I can't think of it's name . I think a lot of the PGC decisions were based on the elk . a few years ago , I would see nice deer in the elk food plots , I haven't seen any deer in them recently .

the PGC said we needed to reduce the deer herd to save forest . the deer were over browsing , and the forest couldn't keep up . they called it carrying capacity . they also said if we didn't reduce the herd our deer would get diseases . now the herd is reduced , and we have CWD . the herd numbers were bad here locally to me , for a while . the herd is coming back thanks to private land , but not great on public land . years back they tried to say there were more deer than the hunters were seeing , I asked why there wasn't any tracks in the snow , did they learn to fly ? I'm still waiting on that answer .

 

[jimbires]

I had a couple recent pics of our foodplots on my phone .

this one is in our sanctuary . they ate it up quick last year . maybe 200 yards away we put in another one this year . it's also in the sanctuary . no hunting in the sanctuary . no one is allowed in there during hunting season , on days legal to hunt .




we named this one the rock food plot , due to so many rocks . since then we've put in a few more that are more deserving of that name .

 

[CMP70306]

Well that is pretty easy a lot of your legumes which are clovers Alfalfa's beans use a higher in phosphorus and potassium fertilizers so there helps raise your phosphorus levels in your plants and then a few line with a organic powder style lime will also be absorbed by the plants which has calcium in it that's how you can boost them minerals in the plants themselves that the deer are eating it

Thank you for the info, I don't know much about plants and farming so that is good the know. We always used to just hunt the ground as it stood, the food plots are new to us.

This is why I have gone to the cellular cameras 3 and 1/2 hours away from our hunting property I went and got the big solar batteries for them and they run year round and do anything

I considered cell cams but I run 10 of them and typically run Browning which means I would need two separate plans for a total of $140 a month or $840 for the season.