and compare two states that are HUGELY different in terms of habitat.
But are they really that different? Wouldn't quality agricultural land in Lancaster county PA be basically as good as the habitat in Pike county Illinois? I believe this thread was started to show that the PGC is not factoring in quality ag land as being able to suport much higher DD than contigious forest land.
Antler restrictions don't exist in the part of Illinois where I hunt simply because they arent needed. Illinois huntersjust don't shoot immature bucks. It's simply their culture. I'm not sure how it evolvedbecause the practice was in place when I first went there. The average hunter expects to shoot a few does for meat and lets young bucks walk.
Yes, that seems to be the case. There has been a pronounced shift in deer hunting everywhere towards harvesting mature bucks. I think this was slowly becoming more prevalent in PA, even before the institution of the AR's. Our knowledge of deer behavior and hunting strategies has increased dramatically in the last two decades. Not to mention the phenomenal growth of bowhunting. Know that I am not opposed to the concept of AR's. I disagree with the method. It would be hard to argue that APR's are not protecting a significant portion of yearling bucks, butI have concerns for the long term effects as witnessed in several other states. After reading as much as I could about them, I still believe a spread restriction would be more effective, and possibly avoid some of the potential negatives inherent of a point based system. I'm afraid as more and more hunters toss in the towel in PA, and everywhere, that we will reach a point where those of us that remain will be left with the task of harvesting a large amount of deer/ hunter, or risk being replaced by another method.I strongly disagree with the extent of HR accomplished at the state level. There were places it just wasn't needed to that extent. I feel that the PGC is not going to intentionally allow the herd to increase significantly, but that it eventually will on it's own, due to lack of hunter participation. We already are seeing growing numbers of hunters unwilling to shoot does. When enough hunters give it up, the rest of us will have a daunting task ahead of us, to try and manage a herd with much less manpower than we had a decade or two ago, and then we will have real problems. One more reason the PGC needs to factor hunter satisfaction back into the equation. Lose enough hunters, and all of their "progress" will be for nothing anyway.