All I have been hearing for the past several days is "the deer in PA are gone" and "there are no deer left in PA".

I have seen less deer, but I am still seeing plenty of deer! Everyone that I have personally talked to has seen plenty of deer, and it seems as though the size (body weight) of all deer is up this year, along with bigger antlers on bucks!

Now, lets discuss why Pennsylvania needed the deer herd reduced! It seems to me that most hunters think that PA put in antler restrictions and increased doe tags in order to grow bigger antlered bucks! This isn't true. I will admit that it was a tool used to get hunters to agree to the new program, but this isn't the focusing point! Several years ago, our deer population was way too high! This put pressure on deer and there was more competition for food! Deer weren't the only creatures that felt this pressure, every animal in PA felt the effects of the over-population. There was just less food for every animal! Now lets talk about plants! The deer herd was over-browseing and the wild plants were taking a pounding! The deer herd actually wiped out several plants in this state that will never be back!

Also, our deer herd was and still is entirely dependant on crops! Reducing the overall herd size will make the deer less dependant on crops! Think about this, what would happen if the large farms around your hunting property didn't plant any crops for one year, what would happen to the deer?

I think that hunting shows and hunting movies have put it into everyones heads that places like Canada, Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas have tons of deer with huge racks running around! These states have smaller deer density than PA. For instance, I read somewhere that Canada has deer densitys of 5-10 deer per square mile and I have read as low as 1-2 deer per square mile in certain spots.

We can't have the woods packed with deer and have healthier deer! This just can't happen in PA! I love going out in the woods and seeing tons of deer, I remember 5 years ago when I could go out on the first day of rifle season and I would see 70 deer that day, but then again, a big buck to me back then was a 100" 8 point!

Also, I wonder how many people have been seeing good buck to doe ratio's in their areas! I know that around here, the buck to doe ratio is probablly 1-2 or 1-3! There was actually a rut this year and I saw bucks fighting that looked like they were from South Texas.

Along with that, I know of 3 different bucks shot in PA this year that were over 20 scoreable points! There was a 23-1/4" wide 14 point shot right on the outskirts of my town. About 15 miles from my house, a 176" 15 point (7X7 frame with a 9" drop) was shot on the first day of rifle, and the average buck that hunters are harvesting is definetly much bigger.

I will agree that there are ways to improve this management program. I still think that we need smaller WMU's. Pennsylvania has such a diverse terrain and the deer population varies greatly from county to county! But, as I have seen, the program is working, and working well. Bigger/healthier deer that aren't going to be as dependant on crops and won't have as hard of a time finding food this winter!

To prove my point about bigger body deer, here is the doe I shot this year along with my best-friends buck!



Here is my best-friends buck! We have been watching this buck for a couple years and we decided this year that he needed to be taken. He is 3-1/2 years old and should have a bigger rack. This buck weighed in at 186# which is after capeing the deer out, removing the head, and being gutted! His live weight was estimated over the 250 pound mark!



Finally, the one major thing that I have noticed this year is that deer aren't bedding where they normally do. The places where I have been seeing the most deer this past week are spots that you wouldn't ever imagine! I kicked 3 bucks and 2 doe out of a patch of golden rods about 15 yards wide and 20 yards long that was literally right off the side of the road and it was surrounded by cut cornfields! Also, they have been bedding in shrubs beside peoples houses and other places where they are pretty much impossible to get to!