BM,

Your PA rut happens usually before gun season anyways, so the best bucks most likely do most of the breeding already do to competition. I was amazed this year NW of Bradford the number of rubs and scrapes-good scrapes with broken branches, during rifle season. Most of the scrapes were not being used, indicating the rut was in full swing, or towards the tail end. This also seemed consistent with the other 8 years I've hunted out there, except I'm seeing a few more bucks, and a lot less does. According to the local biologist, the body weights have also been going up the last few years, parelleling the decline in doe population.

I'm am greatly looking forward to the upcoming seasons and the new proposals, they will only add to the improvement I've already been witnessing.

Also, our camp's success numbers have gone up greatly(we're right around our 150th buck), and we've done it with no spikes, and mostly 6 point+ bucks.

Looking forward to the future!

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan.