BarnesX.308

So, I think we have more than 16 B&C entries now and we certainly have less doe and less hunters now, too.

Oldtimr

Hey Midman, I see you are a Dutchman from Bowmansville. First of all I don't know who the every bodies are that trash talk PA's deer since we sell a whole lot of non resident deer licenses. I have handled deer well over 200 lbs since the early 70s. Some parts of the state produce big deer and some produce average deer. However, since antler restrictions we have a lot more large bodied deer then we have had in my lifetime statewide and I have been around for a while. I really don't hunt for horn I hunt to shoot the largest bodied deer I can, if it is a buck fine, if it is a doe, fine again. Let them criticize our deer herd, I would rather hear that than to have hoards of trophy hunters coming here and having to change our regulations to accommodate more hunting pressure.

super_hunt54

WOW, you 2 dug DEEP for this old thread!! But I'll play!! PA's whitetail are around middle rate when it comes to body size. Like OT stated, some areas have larger bodied deer such as the Poke region while others like South Central PA have some in the middle to smaller bodied deer range with a few large bodied exceptions. The bucks around the state are starting to sport some better bone as well since the inception of the 3-4 point to one side rule. I think the old "if it's brown it's down" mentality is starting to take a back seat to some smarter hunting and conservation tactics.

Scott, I'm not so sure about the "less hunters" statement. I'd have to check but I think PA is in the top 5 in over all hunter population and in the top 3 in archery tag sales. They have been for a LOT of years. Lotta bow hunters in PA.

BarnesX.308

Yes, I was doing a search of old posts for kicks. I think someone said we had a million hunters earlier in the post. I think we're well below that number now.

super_hunt54

Hunting numbers nation wide are well below what they were in 2002. I think 2011 PA big game tags were in the 750,000 range and still one of the top states in tag sales over all. Just not as many hunters out there anymore. Harder to get access to private land for most people and as far as rifle season, unless I am wearing full body armor I wouldn't be caught anywhere near State game lands on the first few opening days. Not in PA anyway. Very few Eastern states I would hunt public land on opening day, if any. I've been shot, didn't like it much at all. I'd rather not experience it again.

Oldtimr

In 2015 the PGC records show they sold 935 thousand general hunting licenses, that includes adult, Jr, Sr nonresident etc. It does not include the extras such as doe licenses, muzzleloader archery elk bobcat etc. That number is a litter higher than it had been several years before so they had a small bump.

flags

I don't look down on PA. This buck came from Potter County

BarnesX.308

I think things have been looking up for PA since this post was started in 2002. This was started prior to antler restrictions and before the herd reduction really took hold. We were still in the "brown it's down" mentality.

I think 2001 was the year you could shoot a doe in buck season and there weren't antler restrictions. So, if you had a doe tag, you could literally shoot any deer you saw.

Oldtimr

Things were looking up long before 2002, for the deer in PA, I retired in 2007 and antler restrictions and herd reduction were in effect for quite a while before that. In fact our problem was not, not enough deer, contrary to what hunters wanted, we had far too many deer and we needed to kill doe Prior to antler restrictions we killed 3/4 of our bucks when they were a year and a half old. Young deer do not make big deer. We had far more doe than we had buck. Once we concentrated on reducing the doe numbers and achieved a balance between buck and doe and allowed our buck to live longer, the health of our herd started improving greatly.

c-rad

Since 2002 PA does have a lot more big bucks but people are still killing the first legal buck they see. These deer are 2 to 4 years old. I have about 15 other eight to ten points that will be monsters in a few years but I doubt they will make it.