Is This Legal in PA?

[eballat]

This quite possibly is the most absurd thread i have ever read on any forum..period. The guy asked a question and it turned into a two page rant by a few fishermen with some of the largest "holier than though" attitudes i have ever seen. With your "dont do this and dont do that" I mean come on now. I'm really starting to get sick of this page. Its getting to the point where if a guy mentions that he kept a fish to eat or something along the lines he gets berrated to the point where he has to look outside his window to see if the lynch mob got there yet. Whatever.

 

[TimMurphy]

MattBoyer wrote:
I would think the rationale behind that regulation has something to do with poaching. You think anybody wants to shell out the money for full time enforcement 24hrs a day? That land was bought and paid for by hunters, and nobody else. Not one cent of your tax dollars went into the purchase of that land, at least in theory. They are regulating it for hunters and scarcely have the funding to do this, much less double as park rangers. Just because one doesn't see nor understand the reason of a law doesn't mean there is no reason, and that it's stupid. It's easy to armchair this stuff because we aren't the ones who will have to be out trying to figure out who is poaching while hundreds of people are running around the woods at night. It's not fair to hunters who paid for this land for us to expect this from the game commission. I see the other side, too, because I like to camp outside away from campgrounds as well, and when I was younger I had the same point of view as some on this board, but I choose not to place this burden on my fellow hunters, who are persecuted enough and have earned a place that is regulated for hunting. Sorry, I just felt the need to stand up for the PGC and the hunters of PA on this one.

Boyer

Dear Matt,

I have no way of knowing if your explanation is correct, but it certainly makes sense to me. Giving people free reign to use the Gamelands as they see fit could cause more problems than it will ever solve.

Regards,
Tim Murphy :-D

 

[sdwlucas]

I know of a guy who lives on gamelands in Cambria Co. that we only know as the "squatter". I have always questioned this, is it legal? I have heard stories, rumors, etc. that he decided that he was going to live on this piece of State Game Lands and doesn't care what happens. I hadn't been there for a couple years until this year when I was turkey hunting. It is the same way I remeber it from my college years: junk cars, garbage, dogs, and an old run-down trailer (if you want to call it that). I again questuioned my friend as to how he can get away with it. I was going to go down and talk to the guy to find out what it's all about, better thought stay away!

 

[OhioOutdoorsman]

Matt,

I can totally buy that closing the lands makes it easier to enforce poaching laws. The lack of enforcement funds is probably the difference between national forests (which are used for multiple purposes throughout the year) and game lands. If game lands were made multi-use, they could pay for year round enforcement, but thats not their purpose, and its OK.

My point was that just because I think a law is stupid doesn't make it wise to break the law even if I'm morally OK to do so. Harvesting a stocked fish from a C ans R FFO section or camping an PGC lands are not immoral acts, they just are illegal.

Eballet,

I lurked on this board a long time because I was afraid to post beacuse of the high number of "rants". What I think makes this board special is the fact that it has a membership that is able to have a lively but respectful discussion. Other boards I have been on either are tightly censored or are disrespectful and mud-slinging. I think almost all here respect each other......we just hold each others feet to the fire and appreciate a lively discussion.

I, for one, know that I haven't made up my mind on a lot of these issues, and appreciate the debate. Most times, I'm a little more on the live and let live side of the debate, but I definitely can see the other sides point and well-motivated passion behind it.

 

[thedude1534]

Someone mentioned earlier about a stream report, and pics. Can't give pics since I dropped my camera in valley creek 2 months ago, but in terms of a report it probably wouldn't be too helpful considering I don't want to name the stream.

If you want to hear a story with no useful fishing information whatsoever, read on.....

Got to the stream at about 8 am, within the hour saw green caddis, tan caddis, cranefly's, tons of midges, and what looked like blue quill. Tons of hatches, but I dodn't see any risers. This stream was in the middle of a gorge, and held wild browns and brookies. It was very small, not spaning more than 8 ft in any area. No real calm areas, just waterfall into tiny pool, into waterfall again type fishing. After throwing a lot of green caddis with PT droppers and no luck, I switched to streight attractor patterns. Royal Wulff with green weenie midge dropper. Shortly after that I hooked up with a small brookie on the wulff which got off, then a real nice 10" brookie in one of the larger pools off the dropper. I think more impressive than the fish was the fight. This guy was small, but he faught like a beast. Once about 1 pm rolled around, I hiked back the 2+ miles for the drive back home. It was a very pretty stream, which was insanely small and technical, with gin clear water and extreemly spooky fish. The chance of me coming back here is rare, considering I'm moving to the Bellefonte area in a few months and will be surrounded by streams like this .

 

[ryanh]

The dude,

Sorry to hear that you are moving to Bellfont. You are going to hate it there. Your woman will leave you and you will get fired from your job within the year. Shortly there after you will be reduced to donating plasma in state college at $20 a pop to finance your fishing addiction. :-x

Let the downhill slide begin!

 

[thedude1534]

So your saying by this time next year I'll be eating a steady diet of government cheese and living in a van down by the river?

I might actually be in Pleasant Gap, I still need to find a place. No way I'm living in State College though, way too expensive to live w/o a roomate.

 

[sdwlucas]

Either eating the cheese or using it for bait. I lived in Bellefonte for 2 years and really the rent is not much cheaper than SC. I now live in Philipsburg about a half hour from B-Fonte. BTW the streams around B-Fonte are no good to fish