Notes off a soiled cuff: Are Pennsylvania gun hunters getting the short end of the stick when it comes to bucks?

With the archery buck harvest surpassing the firearms buck harvest for the first time in Pennsylvania last year, a note I received recently made a point we hear often in a novel way. I’ll share a bit of it here:

“It’s time we take a serious look at the gross inequity of archery buck season with crossbows being included. For hunters who hunt with a rifle-only (remember us?), it’s grossly unfair that the first day of rifle buck season is actually the 49th day of buck season.

“Bowhunters get the rut, decent weather, longer daylight, safe roads and trails and lots of bucks with gorgeous racks – many of them ‘innocent.’ Gun hunters get shorter hours, bitter weather, sometime treacherous trails and slippery hillsides, fewer bucks, smaller racks, and elusive bucks. Everyone knows this is unfair.”

I can hear many of you saying: “Well, he should buy a crossbow and join the fun.” True, maybe, but consider his reply:

“Since gun hunters tend to be senior citizens, many are reluctant to climb trees. And while many seniors can walk three miles into a remote state forest in search of a remaining buck, dragging that buck for three miles back to the car just might be grandpa’s last hunt.”

What do you think?

MORE COVERAGE FROM PENNSYLVANIA OUTDOOR NEWS:

Hunters take 51 elk during Pennsylvania’s general season

Allegations of baiting, trespassing surface against Pennsylvania game warden

Access lost to sweet spot for steelhead at Pennsylvania’s Manchester Hole on Walnut Creek

* The first thing I did after getting approval from the managing editor of the Altoona Mirror to start a weekly Outdoors Page – way back in 1981 (and I realize how this dates me) – was to call Shirley Grenoble and ask her to write a column.

Back then, she was one of the best-known outdoors writers in Pennsylvania, and for good reason. Her turkey-hunting expertise – and her ability to convey it to readers – in my view was unparalleled. And I thought her writing about deer hunting was first-rate, too. Shirley’s work appeared regularly in most of the major outdoors magazines.

I remember going to her house not far from the newspaper building where I worked in Altoona to go over the details of the column arrangement in her living room. That began a friendship and working relationship that lasted for decades. She was, above all else, a very nice lady and a real pro.

So, I invited her to write for this publication when we started in 2003, and long-time readers will recall that we ran many of her stories about turkey and deer hunting over the years. Shirley left her mark on the outdoors scene in Pennsylvania, and her passing makes many of us really sad.

* Saw an interesting post online recently that is food for thought. It started with an image of an angry old guy in blaze orange saying, “Where I hunt, I used to see 100 deer a day. The herd has been decimated by too many tags! We need more deer.”

To which the poster replies, “Some want to gaslight us as we try to bring deer into equilibrium with the damaged forests. They want to yell that we are the greedy ones for shooting ‘too many’ deer or getting ‘too many’ tags. The solution to no food cannot be more deer … look at the damaged forests for proof. Raccoons don’t eat a 5-foot browse line through the woods.”

* Rep. Jim Haddock, D-Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, recently introduced a resolution designating Nov. 3, 2025, as “Pennsylvania Elk Hunt Day” to recognize the cultural significance of elk hunting in Pennsylvania, coinciding with the opening day of the 2025 general elk hunting season and the 25th anniversary of the reinstatement of elk hunting in the state.

The resolution was referred to the House Game & Fisheries Committee where it likely dies.