Fastfire said,
Alt's ars are going to catch up to yo guys in a few years when big dollar hunter start coming
to PA for antler hunts.
It is my opinion and mine only that PA don't give a rats A about you only the money it can generate by trophy hunting from out of staters!
You pro ALT people wait a few years and you will see outfitters come in and start buying up
all the land they can and there is alot of it for sale with farms going under at a fast rate.
Then where will you be I can tell you. PA will look like WY. CO. and some other states.
The fact that PA. Has 1 million hunters is the exact reason as of why you are wrong about outfitters buying or leasing all the land, see in IL etc. they have very few hunters, so the outfitters had very little competition and were able to buyor lease any property they wanted, but now they are losing property all the time to out of state hunters that are willing to pay just as much $ to buy or lease property as the outfitters and the fact that most land owners would rather only have a hand full of guys that they hand picked themselves than a guide that would bring dozens of hunters they never met before on to their land to hunt. Because we have so many hunters, the outfitters will stay in states were there is less competition and more older bucks. See even with the 4-pt AR in the western counties, states like OH. and even MD. still have a higher % of their 1.5 year old bucks making it to 2.5 years of age even though they do not have AR. and most of the bucks we save because of AR. will get smoked at the age of 2.5 years of age. But I do agree that alot of hunters are going to lose their hunting area's because it got bought or leased, but it wont be because of outfitters, it will because of Alt's herd reduction, You see once the hunters get tired of hunting area's with very little deer, the ones that can afford it will buy or lease land so Dr. Alt no longer has a say in their hunting
Fastfire said
PS: The mith that older deer have bigger racks is just that a mith.
Food sorces & minerial content play more than age.
Have you ever seen a 2 year old with a 6 or 8 point rack I have.
How do I know what age I watched them grow up
Fastfire wrong again!!! Age is the number 1 factor!!! Dont get me wrong, Nutrition & Mineral content in the soil is very important!! But only to help the bucks reach their genetic potential, Let me explain, In the wetstern part of PA. the average bucks antlers get larger than the rest of the state because the mineral content in the soil is better than the rest of the state, the reason for this because of the Wisconsin Glacier during the last ice age, But with that said, the average 3.5 year old buck in the rest of PA. will still be as large or even larger than the average 2.5 year old buck in the western counties even though the mineral content is inferior. Also I dont doubt that you see 2.5 year old bucks that have 6 or 8 points, Heck the average 2.5 year old buck in PA. will have 7-pts. Pike