You can get all the pro-AR facts from just reading the articles and studies about AR on the PGC website.


Here are some points that show we did not need AR to improve the age structure and breeding ecology of our herd.

1. The adult breeeding B/D ratio prior to AR was 1:2.1, and a 1 : 2 B/D ratio is an acceptable ratio for a QDM herd.

2. Prior to AR 22% of the buck that were harvested were 2.5+ buck, so we had a class of older age buck that were dominant and there was no need to improve the breeding ecology of the herd.

3. The bucks saved by AR will ,on average, be inferior to the bucks that we will be harvesting and this may have a long term negative impact on the gene pool. The Miss. Study showed that rack sizes declined in the areas with the best soils.

4. AR reduces the number of legal buck available to be harvested. In Miss. buck harvests decline 20 % and in ARK. they declined 40% in 5 years. Our buck harvest declined 30% in just 2 years.

5. In order for AR to produce reasonable buck harvests in PA it is necessary to decrease the harvest of BB. However, since the goal is to reduce the herd by 50% it is impossible to protect BB and still reduce the herd ,since fawns comprise 44% of the anterless harvest.

6. Although the percentage of 2.5+ bucks in the harvest increases with AR , the actual number of 2.5+ buck harvested will continue to decrease as we reduce the herd even more. To date, there is no data available to show that the number of 2.5+ buck harvested increased from the 52.6K harvested in 2002. There also is no data available to support any claims that thr rack size of 2.5+ buck increased in the second year of AR.

7. It is more likely that the average rack size of 2.5 buck will decrease ,since we are harvesting the bucks that show the best potential for antler development as 1.5 buck.

8. The claim that we harvest 85-90% of our buck before they reach 2.5 years ,include the buck that are harvested as BB. If you exclude the BB harvest ,we harvest between 75-80% of our 1.5 buck.

9. Prior to AR ,18% of our 2.5+ buck won't be AR legal in the 3 pt. zone. Due to AR this percentage will increase since we are harvesting the best of our buck as 1.5's. The protected ,inferior 2.5 buck will become the dominant breeds and pass on their inerior genes for antler development.

10. Due to the high anterless harvests we will replace the entire adult doe population in just three years. That will allow for a much faster change in the gene pool and may result in even smaller racks in the future.

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