HuntingNet.com Forums - Show off your PA buck

Germ, all you had to do was PM me and i would sent you the link to my photo bucket account...i know thats why you posted this...you wanna see Mausers giant...:D

10-13-07 0930 Jefferson County, PA

how do i feel about ARs and HR??

personally, i have mixed feelings. since the program started, ive been seeing less deer(naturally) even helped and took a couple of does where they needed thinned..but oddly enough, i see MORE bucks. before id see 20+ deer a day(rifle hunting) and usually not see but a handful of bucks a year. this season ive identified 6 deer as being bucks. the one i killed was the 5th i seen. 2nd legal buck for sure. lost track of unidentified deer...know its over 5..but have a feeling most were bucks by their actions, size and body language..just never got a look at their heads..

in a PERFECT world, i think id see BETTER results. the illegal bucks i seen at home i might as well mark as DEAD already. 1 for sure..he had 3 on top and no brow on that side..other had 2 ontop and a brow on that side..if he dont get whacked, it'll be a miricale. with ~1 million hunters in the state, we have our fair share of slobs. its all too easy for guys to kill what they feel like killing and taking it back to the barn to butcher...i know it happens alllll too much at home. if it didnt, i would have TONS of good bucks. between the last 2 seasons i let atleast 15 different sub legal bucks walk...wheres my 10 2.5+yo bucks at that SHOULD be out there? sure a couple made it...but most did not. like the BIG 6pt i past last bow season...he was atleast 16" wide..i had 7x binocs on him at 20yds. i KNOW he got killed the opening morning of rifle. by the time i got the story it was too late and noone seemed to know who killed it:eek:

we need age structure in our herd now. we got the ratio pretty good...now we need the age.

take my buck for example. 10" wide 6pt with a 1" sticker off the base...legal anywhere in the state...id call him 1.5yo. some guys say he could be 2.5 because of the body and face and the location i killed him..theres hardly any acorns let alone corn or anything else to eat...alot of the 1.5yos are spikes and Yb bucks up there..i dont care how old he is...i know he aint gettin any older than he was though:D but thats just an example...legal across the state and far from "big"

also, kids and disabled hunters and i think active military persons can take sub legal bucks...i have no problem with that...but i DO have a problem with people killing sublegal bucks and using JRs tag...last opening day of rifle i had my radio on scan mode...just listening...i was on the highest ridge around with a 12mi range on my radio..couldnt hear the shots at all, but heard dad say "dang it! get JR down here...grandpa been blazing at a dang spike and finally got it down!" so between things like that, and guys that just dont care, the sublegal bucks take a pounding...

the state got things right by trying to fix the buck to do ratio...but now we need age structure...just too many guys out there that rather say "yep, i got my buck!" even if its tiny or illegal to ever see things changed in the RIGHT direction...

yes, i sound like im contradicting myself..i shot a young buck...but it was legal and my first with a bow..and in MY shoes, with my opprotunities, holding out for something bigger can be a REAL crap shoot...just never know..though i want to hold myself to "something bigger than last years" till i start killing better bucks...not disappointed in mine at all...and am willing to bet i COULD killed bigger this season, just saying i want to start getting into bigger bucks...not going to jump right into 120+" or nothing or anything like that..gotta start somewhere though...

glad the days of the BUCK season are GONE. for years you had a 1 deer limit(im pretty sure only 1 deer) and a 2 week buck season and 3 day doe season...you killed a buck, you couldnt shoot a doe...pretty sure thats how it went..that was before my time..when i was 12 i think it was the beginning of slowly easing into HR...i know my first year JRs could take does on the saturdays of rifle..killed my first deer by that law...then my 2nd i killed becasue they allowed does for jrs on opening day...then i think my 4th year ARs and HRs were implemented...killed a doe and a legal buck that year(i was still a jr could killed any buck..just so happens my first was legal and i was a jr)