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Out of State Advice

Patriot

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2019
Messages
842
I’ve always wanted to go out of state and sleep out of my truck. Just never did it. Well as some of you know bc you have prayed for me, once my surgery complications in February scared me with the prospect of never bow hunting again I decided I’m doing it now. You only live once.

I still haven’t started shooting yet but I’m close, I’m still messed up and my doc wants to go back in and “fix” his mistake but I’ve got enough of my hand back to know I’m hunting this fall!

me and @TreeCreep are headed to PA, looks like Hickory State Park. Don’t be upset if that’s your stomping grounds, we’re not The Hunting Public or Dan Infalt, we literally just chose it with limited research.

looking for ANY advice. No, I’m not looking for your pins or coordinates. Anybody who knows me knows I dont want any help getting on deer.

I’m looking for generic input on first DIY out of state. Safety advice for that region that we should be aware of? Anyone stay over at Hickory? How intense is the terrain? Any weird regs I should be aware of? I know PA has random Sunday’s where hunting is or is not allowed but anything else?

thanks to those who sent me prayers. I’m grateful and I’m getting closer to holding a bow. And …. Im headed out of state!!!!
 
I’ll chime in with a few replies on a few different things here. In regards to staying near the park, are you thinking of sleeping in your trucks on site, tenting, sleeping in your vehicles at Walmart, etc.?

PA in my experience has an excellent parks system. (Yes I’m a native, but more than bias, I’m genuinely surprised when I travel out of state and realize not everywhere has as coordinated a park system as Pennsylvania.)

I’ve never hunted Hickory Run State Park, or any PA state park for that matter. Looking at Google Maps it appears you have lots of state game lands in every direction. That’s exclusively where I go. Nothing wrong with state parks, but your chances of encountering hikers and backpackers might be a little lower on SGLs. Are you doe hunting? I’d advise you pay close attention to the wildlife management unit boundaries if you apply for doe tags. It’s not difficult to figure out but if you have multiple spots in varying directions it might be doe hunting here and buck only elsewhere depending on your tags. That might help you hone in on where and how you plan.

If you want to tent/truck-bed it: For camping at a campground site at the park, that’s usually pretty easy to arrange online as long as you book early enough in advance. State parks tend to be nice with running water, bathhouses, etc. if not a little noisy. State forest camping is my preference. There’s no facilities and the roads are not kept up as well (it’s still good gravel), but getting a permit is cheaper and easier, you may not see any people during your stay, and you might be in closer proximity to your spots.
 
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Sunday hunting is a recently added novelty. We now have a few (I think three?) oddball Sundays which hunting is permitted. They are clearly noted in the regulations digest, which can be found online.

like I said, I’m aware of that rule. Not sure if there are other oddball regs…
 
Are you familiar with PA’s antler restrictions? For most of the state, a buck must have three antlers on one side to be legal. Again, I’d refer you to the regulations digest. The rule effectively makes any antlered deer less than a five point illegal.
Edit: three points
 
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If you are going after does, I might recommend that you travel to PA to buy a hunting license over the counter so you can pick up some of the required pink permit envelopes. Pennsylvania has a silly and antiquated doe permit application process which requires applications be snail mailed to county treasurers in special pink envelopes (it was only recently we were able to purchase hunting licenses online, but as far as I know the doe tag process hasn’t moved into the present yet).
 
If you are going after does, I might recommend that you travel to PA to buy a hunting license over the counter so you can pick up some of the required pink permit envelopes. Pennsylvania has a silly and antiquated doe permit application process which requires applications be snail mailed to county treasurers in special pink envelopes (it was only recently we were able to purchase hunting licenses online, but as far as I know the doe tag process hasn’t moved into the present yet).
Their DMP system is silly for skinheads.
 
I emailed the PGC a couple of years ago for some suggestions on places for public land hunting and I couldn't believe how helpful they were. The person responding sent me several game land numbers in and around the area I was planning on considering hunting and he even suggested a bit further travel distance for some other potential possibilities. I have only hunted on ones near where I live in WNY and saw a fair amount of pressure but it wasn't a terrible experience. I believe the areas I was considering are far west of where you are considering. My only issue is I can't bring a whole deer back to NY so I either have to butcher it myself or take it to a game processer. It isn't a big deal but another thing to be aware of if your state has game animal transport restrictions from other states. This is all to reduce the spread of CWD so I think its important to follow.
 
I emailed the PGC a couple of years ago for some suggestions on places for public land hunting and I couldn't believe how helpful they were. The person responding sent me several game land numbers in and around the area I was planning on considering hunting and he even suggested a bit further travel distance for some other potential possibilities. I have only hunted on ones near where I live in WNY and saw a fair amount of pressure but it wasn't a terrible experience. I believe the areas I was considering are far west of where you are considering. My only issue is I can't bring a whole deer back to NY so I either have to butcher it myself or take it to a game processer. It isn't a big deal but another thing to be aware of if your state has game animal transport restrictions from other states. This is all to reduce the spread of CWD so I think its important to follow.

wow that’s cool All the podcasts say to call the conservation officers but my experience talking to the COs in my state is that they really don’t care when I try to get them to help stop kids from blasting 1000 rounds in the middle of a suburban area piece
Of public, and leaving their ILLEGAL pots and pans shooting range and all their brass out there as trash. So if that’s how my guys react to a crime, why would an out of state officer care about giving me advice on hunting?

but it sounds like you had a good experience so I’ll give it a try.
 
[mention]Marmuzz [/mention] covered a lot. I grew up about an hour west and currently live about an hour southeast of hickory run state park.

Don’t limit yourself to just hickory run state park. There is a lot, as in a metric crap ton, of public access land within an hour of hickory run state park.

Sounds like it will be a fun adventure for you guys.
 
[mention]Marmuzz [/mention] covered a lot. I grew up about an hour west and currently live about an hour southeast of hickory run state park.

Don’t limit yourself to just hickory run state park. There is a lot, as in a metric crap ton, of public access land within an hour of hickory run state park.

Sounds like it will be a fun adventure for you guys.
Why does everybody always go canadian on a crap ton? Whats wrong with a standard crap ton?
 
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