SJ..What County do you hunt? I have talked to alot of hunters and thus far I have only heard of one being left in the woods? Are you in western PA or eastern?

I asked Alt at one of his seminars about bucks loosing their horns early. According to him it has to do with the Buck to doe ratio being so out of whack. According to him in areas with high doe to buck ratios (such as the area we hunt in bradford county) Bucks tend to loose their horns earlier beacuse they are running around chasing so many does for so long that the level of nutrition (fat reserves)in their bodies declines so badly that this caused their testosterone level to drop which causes the horns to fall off early.....Made sense to me as my area the buck to doe ratio is way out of whack. We have been hunting the 2nd week for the last 8 years and have had trouble with killing a number of anterless bucks and bucks whose horns fell off after hitting the ground. We have even found some fresh sheds in the woods!! Hopefully this will get better with time.