jersey jim

i totally agree with you 100% about all of that. and if a younger buck is what you want to harves then thats fine. i dont think ar's are the answer to anything. its not going to make any difference in deer numbers one bit. taking the pressure off the animals is the only way to establish bigger numbers. here in va i can let the smaller bucks go all day long and wait for the bigger more mature bucks and does because i have managed the farm the right way i believe and i have seen the rewards for that. i know that it is going to be alot harder to do so if i was hunting public property or land that alot of other people hunt but im not. i take out the right animals from the gene pool that need to be taken out so that the more mature bucks can breed thier does and so that i keep good stock on the land. the deer on the farm are comfortable there and have everything they need to eat and drink and thickets for bedding and hiding and the biggest factor which is lack of hunting pressure. the hunting pressure is what needs to be addressed in pa not the size bucks you can kill especially since there is no scientific fact anywhere that says all mature bucks have big racks. there are mature bucks that never get past tall spikes and there are immature bucks that have an awesome set of antlers at the age of 2. i dont agree with the restrictions and think its really sad that the people that are going to suffer are the younger generation because of that. we dont have that problem here in va because of the sheer numbers of deer we have but va did something this year that is going to cause problems and that is game checking over the phone. before you had to tag your animal in the field and check it in at a check station but now you dont have to. you can wait and call it in so alot of people arent checking the deer in and dont get in trouble if they get stopped without a tagged animal cause all they have to say is i was going to check it in when i get to a phone. but thats another topic. but like i said cutting down on the pressure will be the answer to the problem not ar's