1. Gun season out of the Rut and less than 10 days
2. OBR or AR for two
3. Low Hunter Numbers
4. Food source
In PA, I'd say we have #2 and in some areas #4.
#3 is definitely OUT and #1 is way too long with 2 weeks of both Buck and Doe.
I think another aspect to put in there is culture.
This is huge. In PA, for most guys if it's got the right number of Minimum antlers, it's down. The man who taught me to hunt (My Dad) is exactly that way. Because he's always shot a buck and that's how it should be. "I can't eat antlers". OK, then shoot a doe. We argue all the time about it, but it's fun.
But not everyone views a trophy in the same way. Let's say you get a 300 acre farm and that you plant food plots and try to strickly manage for 'mature' whitetails. What if the surrounding neighbors don't care and shoot the first legal buck. It really gets you nowhere.