Gaining access
Pennsylvania
I found out last week that the land I hunted last year isn't available this season (no fault of mine), so I'm scrambling to find another place to hunt this season.
I've spent the last week stopping at co-op farms listed on the Game commission website. Lucky for me, a career in sales has gotten me used to rejection. I met some nice people but everyone I've spoken to either has family/friends or other people already hunting on their land.
Anybody have any tips on where to get leads on farms that want to get rid of some deer? I stopped by the game commission office after work this evening but they were closed. I have antlerless licenses for 5B and 5C.
Any government flood control dams in your area? They are usually open to the public, I hunt alot of these back water areas.. Only problem is if you get alot of rain it will shrink what is huntable.
All the land ya wanna hunt..
State game lands in 5b and 5c.
"All the land ya wanna hunt.. State game lands in 5b and 5c."
Thanks, I agree. I've spent a lot of time hunting game lands over the years, including yesterday.
"Any government flood control dams in your area? They are usually open to the public,"
Thanks, not that I'm aware of but I'll look into it.
I hunt one of them flood dams up here in the northeast part of the state. I got to say it pretty good. Up here there administrated by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Many of times lakes own by Pa fish Commission have some open land around the lake. Look into that. I have one that has a hundred acres of woods on its north end and areas as wide as 300yds along the shore line in other parts.
I know theres a big difference between the southeast part of the state and my part of the state. My part has (a guess) 60% less hunters and I have 25 different pieces of open land with in 30 mins of my house. I have one 3000 acre piece that I've only seen 5 other hunts on it in 5 years.
https://pagame.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=bf057e56bdf24fc7ae5f9e6ff5609b34
Use this link and look for the blue shaded areas. Open to hunting and you typically don't need to ask for permission. Need to be zoomed in to at least 2 mi scale to see them. Not sure where you are in that area but looked like there were a couple big ones near the border of the WMUs you mentioned.
Check smaller properties adjoining farms. I have a couple places I hunt that aren't farmland but they join up to ag fields. I'm sure the farmer and his relatives hunt the farm but the grandma that owns the woods up to some of the fields was happy to give me permission.
Thanks for the info guys. I'll check out the map when I get home.
