If you look at a map, there's a line between the two states.... That's where I'd draw the line .


To answer your question. I spend my bow season hunting Ohio mainly because I prefer to save my PA tags for rifle season or flintlock in PA. Ohio's gun season matches with PAs first week, and I'd rather be hunting in PA with a rifle. I'll gun hunt Ohio's extended late season but If I use my PA tags up in archery I'd miss out on my favorite hunt of the year. So when I have days off I'll head to Ohio and archery hunt for a day or two. As for Ohio deer I think a few things go into making our deer, and bucks, bigger..... Some of those things are (IMO)...
-That until last year we were a shotgun only state.
-That we have flat land full of crops, no mountain deer.
-This might be one of the main reasons and That's I think the general expectation is better in Ohio, leading to more people passing smaller buck. As opposed to the wide spread "brown it's down" mentality in PA.... I do not hunt for antlers, but in Ohio I have passed on decent 8 pointers early in the season just because I wasn't ready to shoot a buck unless it was a huge one, and I knew there were a lot bigger bucks running around. Where as in PA I have rarely passed a legal buck. I don't go the brown it's down route, but I know.... and so does every PA hunter.... people that have historically hunted that way. I just don't see that mentality in Ohio very often
- Only speaking for my areas here (North East Ohio & Indiana County, PA) when I look back at my logs of what I've seen while hunting The bulk of the Ohio bucks I see are allot bigger than PA bucks.

EX. In PA on the first day of rifle I saw two small spikes, a 3 point, a smaller buck that was probably 4 points but may have been 6 points, an 8 point and a very nice 9 pointer (That I unfortunately missed)..... I saw 59 deer that day.

In Ohio for the entire season the smallest bucks I saw were a 5 point and a spike. The rest were 7 points or better and a quick glance over the log looks like I saw maybe 12 different buck that season..

What I really notice as a difference though is weight. I've helped people drag multiple bucks that weighed over 200 lbs in Ohio. I've seen doe that weighed over 170lbs... Our heaviest PA deer since I started weighing them about 10 years ago was a 169lbs 9 point... I just think they are bigger in general in Ohio than where I hunt in PA.

Now here's my disclaimer. I am the wrong guy to be asking about Deer size. I don't hunt for antlers and I don't manage my property for antlers. The farthest I get with QDMA is reading about it here and in the magazines. My two biggest buck were both PA deer. I'm typically shooting the first legal and good opportunity I get.
-Jake