MORE MATURE BUCKS NOW
According to Steve Trupe, a private wildlife management consultant in the Keystone State, "Mature bucks are making up a larger percentage of the overall deer herd than most imagine. The majority of my clients use trail-monitoring cameras to scout their herd, and numerous photos of true trophy-class bucks are showing up. Nearly all of these photos were taken under the cover of darkness.


"Typical of mature buck behavior, it would appear that the only time these bucks are up and moving about during the hunting seasons would be during the rut, ahead of storm fronts, or when pushed from cover by other hunters," Steve added. "My neighbor gave up deer hunting on the last Friday of the season because he had not seen a legal buck on his property during the days he hunted. He filled his feeder outside of his house on Saturday morning and within a few days no less than four different 8-pointers had been spotted at the feeder by the man and his wife."


Steve reasoned, "It just goes to show you that hunting mature bucks is far different from hunting 1 1/2-year-olds, and that is something that hunters in Pennsylvania are going to have to adjust to if they want to fill their tags."