Actually, spikes are legal game in Pa. Junior hunters now harvest away freely on them. Maybe an adult doesn't take one but juniors do. Remember Vern Ross said juniors license sales are increasing and that would mean pressure on the sub AR bucks does too.

If the buck harvest had not dropped 3 straight seasons, and we were not looking at a 4th straight drop.... I would give you some credit for saying that some bucks were held over. But the numbers show that due to HR and our zest for taking does, there are not more bucks around today than before AR/HR. Our manadatory efforts today are producing little in the way of buck hunting. Heck we could have done as well with a little education and asking for voluntary support for AR. Then there would be less friction as each hunter could make up his mind what was right for himself.

But noooooooooooo.... wannabe's fell for the carrot. And after all the hype, our herd is supposedly bigger than ever, and we harvest less bucks than before AR/HR.

...and of those less bucks taken we see no bigger racks than before at the processors. Spikes are there, four points too as our Jr. hunters shoot them at will.

For all the hype, not much evidence to suggest its better hunting. As a matter of fact for those who see less and for the tens of thousands of hutners who don't take buck now...its fair to say its worse. [:'(]