Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: There's been a number of accomplishments that the UBP has been part of, you know, making changes and, you know, being effective for the bow hunting community over the years.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: We need all our NGOs.
It's so important that we all partner together.
[00:00:13] Speaker C: We all had somebody that gave us that spark. It put us, you know, put, put it in our blood.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: I always believe only a hunter can make a hunter.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Great camaraderie here. I mean, people come together and when you're here, everybody's helping everybody else out.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: We had a 72 year old woman harvest their first deer. I gotta tell you, it was the most emotional thing that I've ever experienced.
[00:00:41] Speaker C: Hello and welcome to Call of the Outdoors, the podcast of the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Archery season's here. I mean, we're on a couple days away from statewide archery season, but today we're sitting in 5.5C, where archery season came in on the 20th of September, and we're at a very special event. We're down here in the middle of deer camp for the United Bow Hunters of Pennsylvania and your annual doe hunt and got two very special guests here today. One of them is no stranger to a lot of us, Commissioner Bob Schwalm and I don't know your title, Dan.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: But Dan Smoker from the United Bow Hunters Pennsylvania. Yeah, county rep for Berks County. Awesome.
[00:01:19] Speaker C: Awesome. Well, thanks for having us. First of all, it's kind of cool to come to deer camp.
Weather's not really cooperating. But look, we haven't had rain in so long. Yeah, we're kind of soaking this up. I mean, you know, and the animals are going to be soaking it up here and it looks like it's going to be a good weekend.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: Well, the farm, the farmers needed it, but, you know, almost, and almost every year though, we always wind up with some participation over this event. So fortunately this year it wasn't at least a hurricane. We've had a few hurricanes we've had to endure. So this year it's not too bad. So hopefully it won't affect the hunt too much.
[00:01:48] Speaker C: We got to be tough.
[00:01:49] Speaker A: We got to be tough.
[00:01:49] Speaker C: That's right. So Dan, just tell, tell us a little bit about yourself and your involvement here with UBP.
[00:01:54] Speaker A: Sure. So I've been UBP member for probably close to 30 years, I guess, and been a life member for probably about 25 of those years and jumped in as a county rep and tried to help event, you know, run a few events, been involved with this event for probably closest to its total inception. Since its inception. First few years that I wasn't involved, it was a smaller, smaller get together and. But when it evolved and got a little bit bigger, I got, I got pulled in and been working with the group ever since. Right. So it's been. Been great seeing it grow and it's been great growing it and seeing all the people that come out every year meeting a lot of new faces and getting a lot of new people involved in the sport. So.
[00:02:33] Speaker C: Awesome. Awesome. So, Bob, if we had a cricket catching contest in Pennsylvania, you would be there and you'd be volunteering.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:02:41] Speaker C: You are involved with so many organizations and obviously sit on our board of commissioners. But tell us, tell us a little bit about the United Bowhunters.
[00:02:50] Speaker B: I've been a member for a very long time. I'm a life member and I've always been, you know, involved in their different programs. They run a disabled hunter program, which is top notch, and you help me with that. We participate in a sporting clays to help them raise funds so they can send.
[00:03:09] Speaker C: You took us to school in the sporting clay shoot.
[00:03:11] Speaker B: Well, I got lucky, but UBP has always been one of my passions. I've always been very much involved and enjoy doing all the different events that they offer like this one. This is a great, great time. It's a great hunt and.
Excuse me. And it's a good opportunity, especially for families. You know, you'll see some, some parents are with their, with their children and we got some mentors here, mentees here from John Hines. So there's, there's so many great opportunities for, for hunters. Helping hunters.
[00:03:44] Speaker C: Right. At this event, I tell everybody we're, no matter where you're at, if you're a hunter, you know, and, or a volunteer at an organization, we're all in this together.
[00:03:52] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:03:52] Speaker C: You know, we have to make sure that we're going, that there's lots of stuff out there for the future generations. And that's our job at the agency. When you look at our mission statement, I mean, it's, you know, it's protecting what's here now for later on when we're all gone. And, you know, what y' all are doing is incredible. Talk a little bit about United Bowhunters and what the organization is so.
[00:04:12] Speaker A: Well, the United Bowhunters is a statewide archery organization and we've, you know, represented the voice of the bowhunting community for years. You know, with. Go out and participate in the Game Commission meetings. Let our voice be heard.
[00:04:25] Speaker C: You know, come yell at us.
[00:04:27] Speaker A: Come yell at you.
You Know, we come and, you know, we, we say, you know, hey, our, our membership is interested in this. You know, an extra couple days are here, or, you know, we mean with the Sunday hunting. Of course, we were a big proponent of the Sunday hunting.
You know, we've worked for extended seasons. We work to get the bow hunting safety, you know, distance reduced to 50 yards for your safety zone. So there's been a number of accomplishments that the UBP has, know, making changes and, you know, being effective for, for the bow hunting community over the years.
[00:04:58] Speaker C: Awesome. And talk about that too, as a, as a commissioner, Bob, how important it is to hear those voices out there from groups, from individuals. Like I said, we're all in this together. And I think it's important from your seat there of how, you know, how much that means to you.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: It's so valuable to have NGOs that, you know, not only give you feedback, the UBP don't yell at you, but they'll let you know if you're not following suit. But for the most part, we need all our NGOs.
It's so important that we all partner together. Because you said it best earlier. We're all on the same page and we've got to get this all together, where we're united. And, you know, doing programs like this is great. I wish that more NGOs would step up and offer these kind of programs where you can get people out and get people together and bring, you know, new hunters into the mix. So I always believe only a hunter can make a hunter. So if you have hunters involved with new hunters, you're going to have nothing but, but a positive response from that.
[00:06:00] Speaker C: Right? We all, we all had somebody that gave us that spark and put us, you know, put, put it in our blood. I mean, you know, we're born with it. And in today's world, even more, we need to all join together and do that. I mean, and we can talk about that, you know, on episodes to come and talk about that R3 and talk about recruiting and retaining. And we're just so lucky to live in a state that is just full of that passion and as we see here today, you know, and, you know, let's talk about the hunt here that's happening here in 5C. You know, you all are lucky to get a little bit of a couple weeks before the statewide season starts.
[00:06:34] Speaker A: Yeah, we get a little bit of a head start. And one of the things we always hear from our participants is that, you know, hey, it's great to come here If I don't live in the area, I'm coming from out of state where it's not even, you know, archery season yet, and I can come down here and work out the cobwebs. You know, you get into your standing. You're like, oh, I forgot my binoculars. You know, it's like, so all that kind of stuff you don't think. Really think about until, you know, the first time you really hit the woods. And they're, you know, so it's. It's kind of fun to see guys come out and, you know, just work through all those kinks and get. Get back in the flow again for this year, you know, for this season.
[00:07:03] Speaker C: Get all the cobwebs out.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: Yeah, get the cobwebs out. You know, get back to, you know, get back to your basics. Remember how to. How to use your climber. You know, all that good stuff.
[00:07:11] Speaker C: Stuff.
[00:07:11] Speaker A: So it's, you know, we hear that every year. It's like I say, hey, I like to come here just so that I can. This is like my preseason, right?
[00:07:18] Speaker C: So you get about how many hunters?
[00:07:20] Speaker A: As an average, we've averaged anywhere from. Usually we don't get much below 40, usually 44.
The year right after Covid, we had a record like 83 or something like that came out. So that year, you know, everybody was. Had cabin fever. Everybody wanted to get out. So, you know, we had people showing up in droves that year to come out. But the weather was also really good, unfortunately. You know, again with the weather today, you know, we had a couple people call and say, yeah, we're not going to come up and camp out, because it's just going to be miserable. But, you know, the Die Hards are here, and, you know, that's, you know, everybody's here to have a good time, and we have a good time, whether it's raining or sunny, either way.
[00:07:56] Speaker C: So let me ask you this question. This is pretty serious. Is there any BSing that happens at this camp? At this.
[00:08:01] Speaker A: Oh, no, not at all. Now, you know, I mean, we've got, you know, the great thing here is that we've got people that have come in here that didn't know anybody, became good friends, right? Everybody's exchanging text numbers, and then you're, you know, sending pictures back and forth, you know, and then every year you show up and somebody's razzing somebody for something that happened the year before, or, you know, we're bringing up pictures from last year's event, and it's just a great, you know, Great, great time. So, I mean, you know, it's deer camp. I mean, but it's deer camp like times, too. So it's a great, great opportunity. I mean, you're not going to, you know, find a standard deer camp that's going to have 40 or so out running around. And again, the big thing is that you've got people coming in from all different areas of the state, and people come together. And when you're here, everybody's helping everybody else out.
People come in and say, oh, I got a problem with my bow, or I got a problem with my rest. And somebody will say, here, let me take a look at that.
So it's great camaraderie here. I mean, you can't get any better than what we experience here.
[00:08:59] Speaker C: I would have a problem with my drag rope. I'd need some help with somebody with a good drag rope if I was successful.
[00:09:03] Speaker A: And I tell you what, that's one of the great benefits because we get somebody. We have a couple properties here that are in some really steep hills or got a steep ravine somewhere. And, you know, guys call up and say, hey, I got a deer. But, you know, it's gonna. I'm gonna need a couple guys to come help me get it out. And we'll get four guys in a car, you know, that have already come in for the night. We'll send them out, they'll go help somebody, you know, they'll go help drag a deer out for them.
So, you know, it's all about the teamwork.
[00:09:28] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:09:29] Speaker A: And the best part of the night is, is when you see the headlights come in and they pull over and they stop over at the. At the, you know, at the hanging rope, you know, that somebody's going to, you know, pulling up to get their deer weighed. So, you know, that's when everybody kind of congregates around and everybody's waiting to see what the. You know, what the weight is every. Every deer that comes in.
[00:09:46] Speaker C: So, you know, I've been fortunate to travel the country and talk to lots of people about hunting. And the coolest thing about being a hunter is no matter where you go in this country, if you get in the conversation about being a hunter, you have a friend for life. You really do. I mean, you can. There's been so many friendships, so many campfires shared, and. And the passion remains the same no matter where. But how long have you been coming to this hunt?
[00:10:11] Speaker B: I've been off and on, and I've been here. I. I got back into it.
[00:10:15] Speaker A: At last year.
[00:10:16] Speaker B: And when I came down here, I just fell in love with it.
[00:10:18] Speaker A: Right.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: And, you know, like Dan said, all the people you meet and you create friendships forever. I mean, the whole concept here is we're out helping farmers. Okay. With their problem. At the same time, you're harvesting an animal that you can donate to hunters, sharing the harvest, which you're helping needy families. And you're doing what you love.
[00:10:40] Speaker C: Right.
[00:10:40] Speaker B: What a great idea. I love it. And they've been doing this for so long. It's. It's. It's a wonderful program.
[00:10:46] Speaker C: Yeah. How long has this. This event been happening?
[00:10:48] Speaker A: So this is our 21st official year.
Started out with a couple guys that just decided to get together and go hunt. I think it was State Gamelands 205, if I'm not. Not incorrect. And they just said, hey, let's just get together for the weekend. Just go out and see if we can get a doe. You know, just go. Just go harvest the doe. We're not worried about trying to shoot a buck. And they had such a great time doing it. They said, let's do that again next year, you know, so they got. Did that again the following year, Got a few guys together. Next thing you know, there's, you know, dozen people, and they're camping out in somebody's backyard. And we started getting so big that we couldn't fit in the backyard anymore. So fortunately, we found this campground that wasn't too far away, and it was kind of centrally located on a lot of the properties we hunt and, you know, we basically take this over for the weekend now and come in here, and, you know, we basically just, you know, run the place for the weekend, and it's all ours to do as we want. You know, we've got showers, baths, everything here that you need to, you know, have some of the. Some of the creature comforts. But, you know, we've got guys that are, you know, camping out in. Camping out in tents all the way up to, you know, towable trailers. So, you know, you got hookups, guys coming in with generators, running their electric, watching tv, Roughing it. So roughing it. Roughing it in comfort.
[00:12:02] Speaker C: That's right.
Anyway, and when you talk about the camp life that's here, you know, you about, you know, deer camp. This is deer camp. I mean, y' all are having a celebration for hunting and conservation, you know, like you said, Bob, donating the venison to places for folks that need it. I mean, it's. But let's talk about the farmers and how you line that up and for, you know, folks to go out there and the way you work with farmers and just to give some encouragement that as hunters, relationships are what it's all about. You go out and talk to people and there's a lot of times you're helping that farmer out.
[00:12:35] Speaker A: Yeah, oh, absolutely. I mean, we've so, I mean, we go out, I, you know, we went out, we knock on doors, we just, you know, just keep getting a lot of no's. But you just, you know, stay persistent, get it, you know, get these farms and get them enrolled, you know, with our program. And then, you know, they get to know us, they get to know what we're all about.
And, you know, I mean, as far as helping the farmers, I mean, we had one of the farmers just called me up the other week and said, hey, you know, we just went to do a yield for a corn yield on the one, one of our farms, and we're only going to get 35 bushels per acre, where we should be getting 200 to 225. So I mean, that's, you know, only 15% of what the yield should be on that farm. And, you know, he's got soybean that's only 6 inches high because it's just getting mowed down.
So, you know, I mean, from that aspect, that's a financial impact on these farmers, right? I mean, so we go out there, we help them by, you know, knocking the deer numbers down. And again, you know, going after does specifically, that's, you know, the big conservative part of the, you know, hunt is to knock the doe numbers down because, you know, shooting a buck isn't going to do you as much as you, you know, reducing population is the shooting a doe. So, you know, so they, they love it when we come out and we say, hey, we're here to hunt dough. Because everybody always just says, hey, can I come hunt buck?
[00:13:48] Speaker C: Right?
[00:13:48] Speaker A: So that's, that's gotten us into a few farms where we might not have gotten in otherwise.
[00:13:53] Speaker C: When you look at our, our passion in Pennsylvania, and it's one of the, it's one of the issues that we face. When you talk about that, you know, even myself, we don't. Until I came to the Game Commission, I didn't realize how important harvesting antlerless or does was. And you just hit the nail on the head because we all want to go out there and have a trophy bucker, whatever our trophy is, come by us. And I mean, that's what we're after.
But as we go forward. You know, in today's day and age, when you look at especially places like this, when your population is more than the land should hold, hunters are the first line of defense. And we all need to take that mentality and, and applaud you for what you all are doing and you're making fun with it. You're having a good time doing it.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: We're having a good time. I mean, it's gotten to the point where the farmers are actually texting me now saying, hey, share my number with the hunters that you're going to send out to my farm because I can tell them exactly where to go.
[00:14:46] Speaker C: Right.
[00:14:46] Speaker A: So that, you know, when you get to that point where the farmers are literally meeting hunters. Actually we just had a couple guys come in and they said, yeah, the farmer told us to come meet him today at noon because he wants to show me a couple spots where, you know, where they're going to be at. So I mean, the farmers are, you know, doing what they can to help us out as well, you know, because they want the deer taken or they.
[00:15:04] Speaker C: Might need help with some bailing of the hay or milking the cows or something like that.
[00:15:08] Speaker A: Yeah, we've done that too.
[00:15:09] Speaker C: I bet you've bailed some hay.
[00:15:10] Speaker B: Oh yes, absolutely.
[00:15:11] Speaker A: Yeah, I always get.
[00:15:12] Speaker B: Welcome back.
[00:15:13] Speaker C: Yep, that's exactly right. And that's, that's something that a lot of folks, everybody's scared of rejection when you go to ask permission. And it happens, I mean, it happens. You might knock on 100 doors, but they're, you know, that's the only way that we can form those relationships with, with landowners and farmers. And you know, we're experiencing, you know, this year we have the pilot program of certified hunter in the southwest part of the state where we're, we're taking kind of your model. It's not really deer camp, but we're, you know, we're having a group of hunters that certify to go help these farmers, you know, in times of need. I mean, when you got 6 inch soybeans and you have $10,000, whatever you have in input and you lose all that money. I mean, farmers are the lifeblood of this country, right?
So you know, when you, when you, you know, you obviously we talked about camping, you can see the campers in the background and the camp life, I'm sure at night is you're having a good time and, and somebody said something about a pig roast at the end of the hunt that we definitely picked the wrong day to come here, right?
[00:16:11] Speaker A: Yeah, well, you could have picked Friday too, because Friday night's pizza night. So we do pizza night Friday, Saturday nights, the pig roast.
[00:16:16] Speaker C: I'm blaming that on Tyler.
[00:16:18] Speaker A: Yeah, Tyler's got to do a better job coordinating the meals. But. Yeah, so.
[00:16:22] Speaker C: But the bologna sandwich was awesome.
Sorry.
[00:16:25] Speaker A: Yeah, well, the, the best part is, is that we've got guys coming in, you know, bring venison chili, venison barbecue, and they're setting it all out, you know, and it's all, you know, it's there for whoever wants to come make a sandwich. You know, somebody's got a grill going, they're making fries in a deep fryer or whatever. It's like, you know, it's like, hey, just come and enjoy. And you know, everybody, somebody makes a dish and people go and, you know, partake of that one and then somebody else is making something else and it's like just like moseying around, just picking it, you know, picking shoes and what you want to do.
[00:16:52] Speaker C: It's like a Penn State tailgate.
[00:16:54] Speaker A: It's like deer camp tailgating.
[00:16:56] Speaker C: Right?
[00:16:56] Speaker A: I mean, that's really what it comes down to.
[00:16:58] Speaker C: So awesome. So if I was, if I, I wanted to come down next year, how do I go about doing that?
[00:17:03] Speaker A: Well, for starters, join the ubp.
[00:17:06] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: All right. And then you'll get all of our emails, all of our information about the hunt. We're always the very first week after the opening day, so we always break camp. We start camp on the Wednesday after. We set everything up, people come in, we get properties out to some of the people, they go out, scout that night, get stand set up, and then we're ready to hunt. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Saturday night, we have our final weigh ins. We, you know, figure out who got the biggest doe for bragging rates and you know, Sunday we break camp and everybody goes home. So it's just a quick three, it's a quick three days. It's like here and here and gone before you know it. But, you know, but yeah, if you get the emails about, you know, coming down, you can show up next year. Hopefully we'll have an online registration. You can register before you get here, but if you don't register before you get here, even if you're not a member, you can even just show up, right? You can do your membership right here online, get set up, come in, you know, pay the admin fees for the camp for the overhead costs and pay prepay for your meals and then you're, you're ready to go. Just pop a Tent up or bring a trailer in or, you know, camper in or whatever you want to bring in.
[00:18:08] Speaker C: And with that membership of ubp, you know, you're supporting the mission of the United States.
Yeah, that's awesome. And like, we keep saying, we all need to do a better job. You're kind of my hero in that one, Bob, because, like, I said it as a joke, but, like, I commend you for all of the volunteerism that you do to all the organizations. And there's nobody in this state that does more in the mentoring side as a volunteer, because I know how important kids are to you, and whether it's not only kids, but adults. And just trying to light that fire to make sure that the next generation of hunters are here. And like you said earlier, as we get older, too, that next generation, those folks that we help can help us.
[00:18:51] Speaker A: Out when we absolutely.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: See, everybody thinks I do this because I care about hunting. Well, I'm actually very selfish, and I'm looking at it with all the folks that I've mentored throughout the years.
When I do become an old fogey and I can't get out the door, hopefully they'll come and say, hey, Bob, you want to go hunting? You know, so there is an ulterior motive behind it. No, it's very enjoyable. I love sharing my passion with youngsters and adults. And we have some mentees in camp that we've been hunting with and to see their passion and how, you know, had them out this morning in that pouring rain, and they were there, they hunted, they gave it their best. You couldn't see two feet in front of you, but we were out there.
[00:19:29] Speaker C: And you were in a climber this morning?
[00:19:30] Speaker B: We were in a climber, yes.
[00:19:32] Speaker C: You got any advice for that?
[00:19:35] Speaker B: Bring your umbrella next time and make.
[00:19:37] Speaker C: Sure you're strapped in.
[00:19:38] Speaker B: Oh, we were strapped in. Yes. That's mandatory here. You have to wear a safety harness. If you're in an elevated.
[00:19:44] Speaker A: Want to get off the ground, you got to have your safety harness on.
[00:19:47] Speaker C: So talk about, like, that transition, like you said, there's some folks that came from John Heinz. Talk about that event a little bit, you know, as we've done it at the agency, I think four or five, six years now.
[00:19:57] Speaker B: It's about six years now, yeah.
[00:19:59] Speaker C: And how you're seeing those folks branch out from that initial, initial start down there in Philadelphia, that's a great program.
[00:20:06] Speaker B: And the agency has been doing it, like you said, for six years. And they begin with hunter Ed on steroids. I mean, they cover every aspect and then also with shooting. And down there we primarily hunt with crossbows. But the neat thing is you have so many hunter ed instructors from across the state that come down there and not just, you know, mentor, but they're with these folks throughout the whole day. So these people that get involved in hunting and it ranges from ages 12 to 72. We had a 72 year old woman harvest her first deer. I gotta tell you, it was the most emotional thing that I've ever experienced. And I can relate to that because when someone that you take out hunting harvests the deer, it's just like, you know, you remember back when you did that. But we've been doing a pretty good job, the agency down here. And what's nice about it, like this year we had over 100 folks sign up. The problem being is we don't have enough mentors, you know, to be able to accommodate everybody. It breaks my heart that we have somebody that's interested enough to come in and we can't accommodate that. So hopefully in the future we can get more people to step up to the plate. It's a great opportunity to get out and just like hunting camp, you get to meet so many neat people and you become good friends. Like here I have a couple folks that have come up from John Hines, a gentleman with me, Sean Kelly and I got to meet him in the blind and, and his passion for hunting, like just, you know, we, we, we hit it off right off the bat. Doing some turkey hunting together, doing this.
[00:21:45] Speaker C: You like the jerky hunt a little bit.
[00:21:47] Speaker B: You know, it kills the time, you know, you pass the time with that turkey hunting. But yeah, it's, it's a, it's something that's really taken off. And again, you know, we need more people to step up, we need more people to get involved as mentors. We need more NGOs to start taking that lead. Because like I said before, only a hunter can make a hunter. And if we want to save this for the future, we need to get more people involved. And not just kids, I mean adults. Sometimes it just takes a nudge. Just give them a nudge, you know.
[00:22:18] Speaker C: Get them out in the woods.
[00:22:19] Speaker A: 71 year old, 72 year old woman.
[00:22:21] Speaker B: You know, and to see her, and now that very same woman and her daughters, her daughters involved, they stand out in front of stores in Philadelphia and promote this, to invite people to come and try hunting.
[00:22:36] Speaker C: Right? That's awesome.
[00:22:37] Speaker B: And this is in the city of Philadelphia, which is so wonderful. And now this year the agency is Going to do a mentored hunt out in the western part of the state, which we're covering both ends. But again, if we could get more people to step up and do this, we could turn this thing around.
[00:22:52] Speaker C: It takes manpower.
[00:22:53] Speaker A: It takes manpower.
[00:22:54] Speaker C: It does. And that's kind of why we're here. The encouragement, you know, for folks to. You know, there's a lot of people in Pennsylvania, a lot of bow hunters that aren't familiar with uvp. I mean, it's just how it is. And. And, you know, when you. When you look at bow hunting, you look at some states that really have political battles when it comes to bow hunting. We're lucky to have the passion here in Pennsylvania, but we're lucky to have folks like you that are. That are out there keeping things straight and at least coming and having conversations with state agencies or other, you know, NGOs or just hunters in general. I mean, I know, you know, since I was a kid, it didn't matter if you went to Cabela's or wherever you went. UBP was out there in front of people. And it takes an army to do that, and it takes people that are willing to volunteer their time and get that done.
But let I know that you talked earlier, like, there are some opportunities if you come here that you can.
That. That you could shoot a buck, though, right? Correct.
[00:23:45] Speaker A: On some properties. Yeah. We actually have a couple farms that, you know, the farmers, of course, want as many deer removed as possible. So, you know, if you came and you have one 5C tag, people that live out of the 5C area, you know, sometimes they just buy one 5C tag just so they can come here.
[00:23:58] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:23:59] Speaker A: And they filled out on day one. You know, sometimes we say, you know, like, well, you can either go over to the game lands where you're across the street and hunt for buck if you want, or, you know, we do have the opportunity for some of the farms that. That if guys have shot a doe, then they've done their part in helping with the doe numbers. And the farmers say, go ahead now if you want to, you know, if you want to go after a buck, go ahead. So we call it our Earn a Buck farm.
[00:24:20] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:24:21] Speaker A: So, you know, similar to, like, you know, what you do, like, over in New Jersey, I think there's an earn a buck program over there, too, you know, so, you know, it works. Works the same way here. You shoot a doe first, and then you get the opportunity to go after a buck if you're on one of those farms.
[00:24:34] Speaker C: And the nice Thing about this, this WMU is 5C. There's tags left today. So I mean, the opportunity's there because, you know, there's our herds plentiful in this area, number one. And you know, farmers and landowners need the help so we can grow trees and crops and all that stuff. But, you know, we were talking earlier too about bear opportunities. You know, we have, we have population of bears around here and they're pretty much fair game, right?
[00:24:58] Speaker A: Yes, they are, absolutely. They're open. So if it's open season, the farmers, the bears do just as much, if not more damage sometimes than a single deer will do. So, you know, we had the opportunity a couple years ago.
We had a guy that went out and, you know, went to scout one of the farms and the farmer told him, hey, got a bear here. He ran out, you know, had a bear tags came back and asked us if it was okay to shoot a bear. We said sure. And that night he, you know, called one of our guys and said, hey, you need to come, I need some help. I imagine. And you know, turns out that he had a, I think it was almost like 390, 390 pound bear. So we've only had one, but, you know, it's like the opportunity is always there. We've had guys that came back and said, I had a bear sniff in the back of my blind. You know, they're sitting in a blind. They said, I can hear the bear breathing right behind my blind. And he just wouldn't come out in front.
[00:25:46] Speaker C: Did he want to go back to that blind the next day or was he?
[00:25:49] Speaker B: Yeah, no, he did.
[00:25:50] Speaker A: He wanted, yeah, he wanted to get his, he wanted to get his crack at the bear. So. But you know, there's opportunities. You just, and you just never know, you know, being located right where we're located. We're not that far off the Blue Mountain. And you know, bears can come into any one of these farms. They might not be there on day one. You know, you're there hunting on day three and all of a sudden you got a bear, right? So you just never know. You never know what's going to show up.
[00:26:10] Speaker C: This is just personal. How's the turkey population down in this country?
[00:26:14] Speaker A: Actually had a few guys come back in today saying, hey, I saw a bunch of turkeys today. One guy came in and said, you know, I climbed up a tree, I had one roosted in the tree that was above me. Scared the heck out of him when he, you know, got up into the tree and the turkey flew out he was like, whoa. But, you know, so, I mean, that's. That's great to see the turkey population, you know, bouncing back down because it, you know, it definitely ebbs and flows from year to year.
[00:26:35] Speaker C: And there was a time, and you can remember when there wasn't turkeys in this part of the country. I mean, you know, anytime you get out of the mountains.
So it's great to see that. I know I'm not allowed to. I was sworn not to talk about turkeys today too much, but that's usually the first question that comes up at camp. But, you know, I think for both of you. I'm going to start with you, Bob, and I just want to reiterate this. How important the word conservation is a big word, but how important hunting is to conservation. And this is what's happening right here today. So. So just give your insight on that and I'll come to you with the same question. Okay.
[00:27:05] Speaker B: Well, hunting and conservation are synonymous to each other as far as I'm concerned. And, you know, conservation, taking someone out, you know, doing a good deed to help the farmer, passing on the harvest to hunters, sharing the harvest, that all falls into play with conservation. You know, taking new hunters and showing them and teaching them and bringing them into the fraternity to do the same thing that we're doing right now. And that's what's great about the UBP and what they're doing with this 5C hunt.
[00:27:41] Speaker C: Right? Absolutely. How about you? You know, when you think about hunting and conservation, those words are synonymous a lot. I love to hear what people's opinions or thoughts or feelings are on it.
[00:27:50] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I mean, my feelings are almost the same as what, Bob, talking to these farmers every year. Because we do go out and visit every farm every year. We make sure everything still, you know, a go at these properties.
But, you know, going out and talking to these guys, and every year you go out and talk to them and they say your population is worse this year than it was last year, you know, and hence we almost, what, 30,000 tags, I think almost in 5C that we almost increased, was it 28 or 29,000? We increased 5C by this year. So, I mean, you know, just in that number itself is a staggering number that tells you, that sends a message. You know, there's definitely a deer problem down in this area, and that's, you know, the big impact is on the farmers.
[00:28:28] Speaker C: There is a time and place sometimes when you might have enough deer in your freezer for the year, but there is an opportunity that we can help people out there and just talk about how, you know, the event uses hunter sharing harvest.
[00:28:39] Speaker A: Yeah, so, I mean, one of the nice things about, you know, the early season hunt here is we've got people coming in from all over and some people might have a pretty long drive home. And, you know, we run a, we run a refrigerated cooler so that, you know, when we do harvest the deer this time of the year, we get them into the cooler right away so that they don't spoil. And then some people don't want to take a chance on trying to transport the deer home. So, you know, it turns into just like, you know, let's just donate it, you know, and just donate the deer. So, you know. Right. It's. It's voluntary to, you know, to donate your deer. You don't have to donate your deer. You can definitely take it home if you want to.
But, you know, fortunately, like two years ago, we actually harvested 15 deer. We had 15 deer go to the hunter share in the harvest program.
And when you count that it's, you know, 200 meals per deer, that equates to a lot of mouse fed.
[00:29:24] Speaker C: So, yeah, absolutely.
[00:29:25] Speaker A: Hats off for that. Good thing. So, yep.
[00:29:27] Speaker C: And. And it's free to any hunter that wants to donate their deer to hunter Sharon harvest.
[00:29:31] Speaker A: Yeah, but I mean, there used to be a fee that you used to pay when you dropped your deer off. You had to give that $15 supplemental fee. But, you know, from very generous contributors, you know, that have helped the hunter sharing the harvest program that's now free for a hunter. So you can basically just. You just fill out a. You just fill out a receipt and drop your deer off with the processing butcher and, you know, you're good to go. Yeah, just drop it off and go.
[00:29:53] Speaker C: And I know, Bob, you know, obviously Hunter Shannon harvest is dear to your heart. And just, you know, talk about how important that is for our entire state.
[00:29:59] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. I mean, the thing that we don't realize is there are a lot of needy folks out there. And like, I've talked to some of the processors and they've told me that they're constantly receiving calls from like, churches and homeless shelters. I mean, and this is the finest protein you're going to share with somebody. And again, as a hunter, you know, we're all about conservation. This is a great way to give back, you know, doing something that you love to do, and at the same time, you're sharing your harvest with people that are in need. It's. It's really a Neat feeling for me.
[00:30:33] Speaker C: What is your favorite part?
Favorite way to prepare venison. What's your absolute favorite?
[00:30:40] Speaker B: I like to take the back straps, cut them into cubes, heat up peanut oil, put them on a skew, dip them in the lee, turn brown, pull them out, put some Montreal on there and eat them.
You never put any away cholesterol free.
[00:30:54] Speaker C: Do you have a favorite?
[00:30:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I like, well, loins. I love to put Montreal seasoning to same thing and then do them on old fashioned barbecue charcoal briquettes. You know, I actually just bought a little Smokey Joe and do the, you know, do the charcoal better rather than, rather than on propane. It's always better on the, or better on good old charcoal. So that's our, that's our favorite.
[00:31:14] Speaker C: Yeah. Call it outdoors. Brought to you by Montreal steak season today. So, but I mean, Montreal is kind of like Old Bay on seafood. I mean, definitely a staple. Yeah. So, you know, earlier Bob was speaking about, you know, some of the, the mentor opportunities. And you know, I'm sure you have some great mentor stories here. That's happened at the, at the doe hunt.
[00:31:35] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I mean, we've, you know, we've had a lot of people come in, as we mentioned. There's a lot of guys come in here, bring mentees in here.
We've had a lot of firsts here. We've had a lot of people come in here and get their first deer ever sometimes or a first archery deer.
But one of the great things is that we've had, you know, a couple young men come in here. One of them is actually a county rep now. He got a, got a county rep for the ubp.
You know, we had, you know, shown him the ropes a little bit and you know, recently he's been mentoring another, another guy. So here you have a, you know, young man in his early 20s and he's already working on getting some more, more blood into the sport. So that, you know, it's great to see that, you know, giving back to the sport and, you know, you just hope that the guy he's mentoring hopefully will go pick somebody else up and take their, take them by the hand as well when it comes full circle.
[00:32:22] Speaker C: And just keep, keep going around.
[00:32:24] Speaker A: That's, that's an awesome, that's an awesome experience and it's a, it's a great story for the hunting community. I mean, that's what it's all about is giving it back. Giving it back and teaching somebody else the sport, teaching somebody else how to enjoy the outdoors.
[00:32:37] Speaker C: So UBP is a statewide organization? Well, it's a nationwide. Right. Or is it statewide?
[00:32:41] Speaker A: Yeah, UBP for Pennsylvania.
[00:32:43] Speaker C: Pennsylvania. Okay.
[00:32:44] Speaker A: Pennsylvania.
[00:32:45] Speaker C: I think you probably. We probably need to issue a challenge out there, don't you? Don't we? For, you know, when you look at our state and how it lays. I think that. I think now would be time to issue that challenge.
[00:32:55] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, we've. We've often joked about it for years because, you know, we have the 5C hunt on this end of the state. And we were saying, you know, well, 2B comes in at the same time. So out in the western part, out by Pittsburgh, you've got the 2B unit comes in at the same time. So, you know, it would be great to be able to have, you know, a similar event to this happen out there. And we could have a nice little friendly competition between east and west and see, you know, and I think our. Who can harvest more deer.
[00:33:17] Speaker C: Our commissioners could get involved in that as well with, you know, that your counterpart out in that part of the world. I think, I think between both of you and your organizations and our commission, I think maybe we should try to make that happen next year.
[00:33:28] Speaker B: I'd love to. To see that.
[00:33:29] Speaker C: That's awesome. Well, you know, we want to thank you from the Game Commission for doing what you're doing in all aspects, whether it's, you know, we talked about, number one, the hunt and what your organization has done for hunting, for bow hunting and continues to do. Keep up the good fight out there. You know, keep going this. Whatever we can do to help you down here, you know, let us know in the comments below. Is going to be ways that they. That are folks that are tuning in to have interest in looking at, you know, what's available for. For. For them and to get involved with United Bow Hunters of Pennsylvania. And again, keep. Keep kicking it because you guys are doing an amazing job. Thank you for having us out here today.
[00:34:06] Speaker A: Thank you for being here.
[00:34:07] Speaker C: Anything else that you want to tell the folks out there that may be tuning in?
[00:34:10] Speaker A: I mean, hey, sign up with ubp, come out here anywhere you live in the state. You know, I mean, we've had people come from Williamsport, wherever, down, you know, come down here, hang out with us for a couple days and have a good time. I mean, it's. It's a blast.
[00:34:22] Speaker C: And you do have a qualifying round where you have to put, what, three arrows?
[00:34:25] Speaker A: Yeah, we have to a. We do. We do a test, proficiency test to make sure that all of our, you know, hunters are at least practiced up and ready to go. So, yeah, three arrows at 20 yards and a nine inch pie plate and you're good to go.
[00:34:38] Speaker C: He did that?
[00:34:39] Speaker A: Yeah, amazingly. I mean, I don't know. I didn't see if there was any money exchanging hands, but, you know, but yeah, Bob passed.
[00:34:45] Speaker C: I mean, I got to clear the air because a couple months ago I made a joke about Bob and turkey season and he missed two turkeys. He only missed three.
No, he missed one turkey and I said two. And he's been. He's been mad at me ever since. But he's a good shot. I'm just kidding. How about you, Bob? Do you have anything else to say to folks out there?
[00:35:04] Speaker B: Yeah, man. Get involved in organizations like the ubp, and there's so many good things we can do. We need to make this contagious. We need to get more people involved in our hunting fraternity. So, UBP, do you have the website?
[00:35:19] Speaker A: It's UBFPA.org but I think they're going to put it in the comments.
[00:35:24] Speaker C: If that's wrong, they can. They can scroll down there and find it because they gave it to us earlier. And I think that's right, though. I think that's 100% right. And, you know, just thank you everybody for joining in to call the outdoors. It was a great day out here. It's an awesome time of year. Deer season's in here in 5C. And good luck to everybody that's heading out there this weekend. Like we said earlier, if you're getting off the ground, make sure you're strapped in from the ground up.
We want you to be safe. We want you to enjoy it. And thank you for being a Pennsylvania hunter.
