Road Hunting

The regular firearms deer season in Pennsylvania opened on Monday November 30th. As a Deputy Wildlife Conservation Officer I am sometimes torn between trying to take my oldest daughter hunting, who has yet to get her first deer, and trying to get out and patrol for violations. On of the most problematic violations is ROAD HUNTING. Some people get tired of setting on stand and just start riding around looking for deer from the road. This is illegal in Pennsylvania.

The deer in the picture below is just a dream come true for someone road hunting. Or is it really. This particular deer is a decoy used by conservation officers to attempt to deter road hunting. The deer is used only after we get written complaints from citizens about road hunting. Then it is placed in that area and officers wait for road hunters to shoot it. Shooting is done anywhere from stepping out of the vehicle and shooting from the road or over the top of the vehicle, to sticking the gun right out the window and shooting



Today we were able to apprehend 3 different individuals road hunting. Below is a shot of Conservation Officers making an apprehension. Each violator is issued a non traffic citation and sent on their way. Fines can range anywhere from $75.00 - $500.00 depending on the individual circumstances.




For thoes hunters who hunt in an ethical manner my hat is off to you. For the road hunter, beware of a deer that looks too good to be true, because it probably is.

Archery Deer Season ( The Wrong Way )

Today I decided to post a case I was involved wih earlier this fall during the archery season.

The tree stand in this picture is a typical stand found in the woods of rural Fulton County this time of year. Hunting from an elevated platform gives the hunter a much better view of the area. Nothing wrong with it by istself.


When you look at the next picture you can clearly see why I became involved. The individuals using this particular stand were placing bait under it to entice deer. In PA this is a violation of the Game and Wildlife Code. This is very common especially during the archery season as one must be able to get very close to a deer to get a good shot with a bow.



In this particular case the hunters were using shelled corn and pears as bait. They had dumped well over 100 pounds of shelled corn on the ground between the 2 stands. As you can see this is a large pile of corn. Upon further investigaton it was determined that one of the hunters did not have a valid hunting license because he had been cited the previous year for killing an illegal deer and his hunting privledges had been revoked. Needless to say this will add another year on to his revocation.

There is nothing sporting about killing a deer when it is comming in to your stand for supper.

I can only say I am glad we were able to apprehend these individuals before they were able to kill anything this time. Both individuals have since pled guilty to hunting over bait, and also one count of hunting while on revocation.