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| Mature Whitetail Buck |
As Thanksgiving week comes to an end, the human
population of Pennsylvania's rural areas reaches a yearly high with a
large influx of deer hunters anticipating the opening of rifle deer
season on Monday. The air resounds with rifle shots, as hunters sight
their rifles in and at night spotlights flicker in the air and across
the fields and woodlands as hunters scout for whitetails by use of
artificial light. Persons may spotlight for deer until 11:00 p.m., but
may not posses firearms while doing so, may not cast the rays of lights
on buildings or livestock, and may not attempt to kill a deer in such a
manner. They are not allowed to spotlight during rifle deer season.The
taking of wildlife by use of artificial light is commonly known as
"jacklighting"and is a common violation.
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| Deer Killed by "Jacklighters" |
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| PGC Officer With Rifle Seized From Jacklighters |
During my years as a Deputy Conservation Officer for
the PGC, this was the "busy" period of the year and Thanksgiving week
usually brought a lot of law enforcement work dealing with persons who
couldn't wait until deer season to kill a deer. There was seldom a year
went by that several violators were not apprehended killing deer while
spotlighting during Thanksgiving week. Once deer season came in, the
most common offenses were failure to tag a harvested animal as required
by law, hunting over bait, hunting by use of motorized vehicle, and
various safety related violations.
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| Violator Prepares To Shoot Deer From Vehicle With Modern Rifle In Blackpowder Season |
Things have really changed since I began hunting in
the mid-1960s. At that time there was two weeks of bucks only season,
followed by two or three days of artlessness deer season. By the time I
quit hunting in 1997 or 1998, the taking of antlerless deer had been
liberalized to a certain extent, with bonus tags being issued in many
years.
2000 saw the introduction of a three day
flintlock season for antlerless deer , which was increased to a full
week the following year. In addition a three day rifle antlerless season
was established for junior and senior hunters. disabled persons, and
active duty military.
Things really changed with the
implementation of concurrent buck and doe season in 2001 and antler
restrictions in 2002. The early flintlock season was expanded to include
the use of in-line muzzle loaders that year as well. Since then deer
numbers have plummeted in many parts of the state as has the number of
hunters, but even with that the yearly deer kill is quite large.
While
the "deer wars" had been going on to a certain extent for years, this
marked the period that they accelerated to the heights of the recent
past. The controversy continues to this day with some claiming the herd
is still out of control and damaging the environment, while others
firmly believe that deer numbers are too low and the lack of deer is
leading to the death of the sport of hunting.
Whatever
the truth of the matter, it seems The Pennsylvania Game Commission has
lost the hearts and minds of a significant portion of the hunting
public.
