RE: Mid West Large Bucks
thelastboyscout, I live in PA also. We do have the potential for big bucks in this state. We will never have them in the quantity of the midwest states for a couple of reasons.
One is that we have much higher hunter density...just a ton of hunters compared to the midwest.
Another reason is that we allow rifles in our gun season. On average, states that only use rifled slugs produce more top end deer. States that have the mississippi river running through it have historically produced more top end bucks.
I don`t know about southern states ever equaling midwest states for shear numbers of big bucks, but Kentucky has put more in B&C in the last 5 years than just about any other state. They may even be number 1 in the last 5 years.
Even with the rising popularity of midwest whitetail hunts, those states don`t begin to realize what true hunting pressure is. In PA, we just mow the herd every year.[:'(]