Like I said on a previous post, you must not be hitting them in the right spot. Ive shot a ton of deer with mine and the vast majority of them went right down, and the only thing that ever moved was their ears. Any deer you can kill with an 06 I can kill with my 7-08, Ive shot deer out to 400 yards w/ both the 06 and 7-08. And as for the deer being puny in PA, my guess is you havent hunted PA, especially in recent years. Let me guess your deer go 500lbs and are mean too boot.