That's exactly what I mentioned before. A lot of folks process their own deer, and many don't report their kills either. Pa requires a deer to be at least reported. I'm not sure how all the other states handle it.
You’re not reading then……I told you I have been hunting the woods of WNY and PA for 38 years and honestly there is no incentive to even drive an hour into PA to hunt. I’d MUCH rather drive 3 hours to Ohio and hunt quality public land. It appears that the only anecdotal stories you cling to are the ones that reinforce the narrative you want to follow. Ahhhhhh………how convenient. If anyone expresses an opinion that differs from yours there MUST be a reason (most likely laziness) why they are wrong. I have mentioned it numerous times but you (or anyone else) have not answered me. The quantity/quality of deer I see now in NY compared to years ago is incredibly improved……..and in fact you can check the data that NY has pretty much mirrored PA in MEASURABLE results. BOTH states now report roughly 70% of their annual buck harvests as 2 1/2+ year olds. BOTH states were in similar situations twenty years ago with most bucks killed being 1 1/2. NY has no AR (couple tiny pockets) and PA has had AR for 22 years and you REALLY believe BOTH states ended up in the same place today but magically the reason PA got here is due to AR?? That’s about as logical as putting your faith in a “lucky” hat on your way out the door.
If we had a one buck rule here I'd have a very bare freezer ,thanks to the 6 possible doe tags they've allowed the last ten or so years. Here is my fact and I have old pics to prove it. We had huge herds of doe, with that, huge bachalor groups of really big buck. We would spot light the horse hay , at the time, next to us not being able to count the number of bedded deer and the cazy number of racks. Guys were driving around showing off their big buck and we all had doe in the freezer. This with way fewer broken or half racks. I've posted pics of big groups of big racked bucks. Now, with guys going doe wild fewer deer by far. Take into account the fawn killer for those remaining doe, coyotes, bear and fishers. Many small buck but fewer big buck as well. By the way years of this , you've seen my woods do you see a huge increase of understory? NO, we are in farm country. Alfalfa ,clover, and corn near us. A few miles away WW and soybeans. Wood health? Not so much, when logging doesn't happen and no small game taking out, the tree killers. Shade and bark chewing in our deep snows. Happy Farmers and insurance providers. Hunters? Mark my words we are just one really deep snow winter to a herd collapse. We have been lucky thus far. That said, they had a collapse in other areas in the past,thats a fact
We are required to report, they only ask the number of points. Not uncommon to see a multiple point short tined buck here.
Hahah ok man, your claims are anecdotal. There is no merit on what you said about the AR and are no more than reflex reactions based off YOUR observations. You’re really passionate about not liking Pa, I’m good with it. I wish I could take some “real” proof instead of my MEANINGLESS sightings and observations over 26 years. I don’t need to sell you on it, I’m glad people think Pa stinks for quality deer. Where did you find that map and how was information obtained on it? I never been contacted for any bucks score in the multiple states I’ve hunted over the years.
You sprung your trap, great job. How about just offer up the stats in your initial post instead of looking to be combative and rope people into your argument? We are all here as bowhunters.
I believe that is the average scores of bucks entered in to the Bow hunting league contest this year. So it’s essentially meaningless crap with zero scientific validity for entertainment purposes only. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Same in Pa. Any deer is supposed to be reported, and they ask the number of points on a buck. To be considered a legal point, it has to be an inch, or longer. Different WMU's have different requirements as to how many points a buck must have to be legal.
A buddy bow killed this subpar buck in Allegheny county a couple years ago, I think he said it scored 154". Yep, Pa is a real dud.
You stay outa Allegheny county I can photo dump kills and cam pics I have from myself and friends and could tell you they were killed in any “big buck” state.
No trap and not trying to be combative. I made SEVERAL statements in my original post. The only one a bunch of people got butt hurt about was the PA AR comment. I honestly don’t care one way or the other. PA antler restrictions are a documented failure that anyone can see if they just look at the data instead of relying on stories around deer camp about what things were like 30 years ago.
Wow…….thats amazing. Thank god for 22 years of AR’s or that guy would have never killed that buck!!!! LOL…..maybe it was his “lucky” hat.
In other words…….no you haven’t and you don’t intend to LOL I never said PA was lousy…….weird that you imagined that. It’s the same as WNY so there is no need for me to travel somewhere for equal hunting at best. The drive to Ohio is exponentially more logical.
LOL………you post something from 18 years ago to relate to today?? I already told you and everyone else all you have to do is look at the data from PA and NY from 2023 deer harvest reports and you will see they are almost identical………BOTH states report about 70% of bucks killed are now 2 1/2+ and BOTH states were in the same boat decades ago……..most bucks killed were 1 1/2. NY did not employ state wide AR’s and PA did and they ended up in the SAME place today. If you want to continue to believe that ARs are the reason for PA then I don’t know what to tell you because you aren’t being logical or rational………you’re just locked into your opinion and no matter how many facts you see you will fall back on your comfort zone of stories about 20 years ago or a buddy who killed a nice buck. Haven’t you ever wondered why barely more than half the hunters in PA support ARs if they are so great and have done so much good??
You have a very strange way of conveying that. Your "Posts" versus "Likes Received" ratio might have something to do with that?
What did I “convey”?? LOL I made about half a dozen comments about the map and a few guys got bent about PA ARs. I also said SD must be doing something wrong and no one cried about that. But when people start shedding tears defending Gary Alt it’s because I set a “trap” for them?? Hilarious.
