I live in WV, but I hunt in an AR area in PA. I stopped hunting in PA for a long time because the bucks did not have a chance, now they do. I realize AR's are tough on the meat hunters. But for years you were only allowed ONE deer in PA for the entire year. Regardless of what weapon you used. Now you can get extra permits, and you can shoot does. So I really do not feel sorry for the meat hunter because he can easily score on a DOE!! The meat hunters have more options now than what they have had for a long time. So I am not buying the "we can not get a deer" theory. I have read where some people say the deer herds are down in their areas. I do not know if that is true or not. I do know that in the area I hunt the deer numbers are up, and the quality buck numbers are WAY WAY UP. Tom.
Well the AR rule also allowed shooting more does than ever before which couldn't possibly help deer numbers. I guess lots of hunters took this as killing as many does as you could without too much concern for future years. That was surely their own fault. You can't kill every doe you see and expect ample numbers in future years. But again the problem DID start with AR's when they started giving out doe permits like candy. The idea was to bring down the doe population so that you might have a more even buck/doe ratio. The facts are that you won't have ANY bucks OR does if there are NO does to produce them.