id say im a maturing bow hunter...mature bucks aint exzactly growing in our fields yet...ive yet to see a buck older than 2.5 while bowhunting in 2 years...theres just hardly ANY in the areas i hunt..

but, im starting to put in the time to scouting hard, and this winter im going to be beating down doors trying to get permission on better properties...i want to start moving up...and want to hold myself to "nothing smaller than the one i killed this year" gotta start somewhere...id be happy to consistantly take 2.5+yo PA bucks...but pressure in my areas is pretty stiff...if the crew i hunt with doesnt drive it, someone else DOES...its not uncommon for piece to get pushed by more than 1 crew a day in rifle season...the bucks that survive pressure like that know more about me than i could dream of knowing about them....

i think i need to start hunting "where the bigger bucks are" but to do that, im going to have to rely alot on my spotlight to find them i think...then put my scouting into those areas...seems the bigger bucks in my area roam ALOT...and dont leave the typical big buck sign...sure, i find the tracks in the corn fields...but other than that, the only way i know to find them is spotting...but, thats a heavily used tactic in the area...i think im smarter than most hunters around here though..most guys spotlight, find them and hunt where they seen them till he walks by....i think if i scout, spot, and know the land, and get out of my truck to spot, and work in some observation stands, i will be a couple steps ahead of them and the bucks...i really think getting out of the truck with the coon hunting light and sneaking to places the spotters cant see, i can get looks at these better bucks...like the cornfields up against the road...you cant spot them...but i can walk the hay fields between the corn with the coon hunting light...strange tactic....but im putting in more work than a trail camera...which i cant afford 10 of them, and cant afford to have ONE stolen, which will happen quickly in the area...

hopefully i dont NEED to spotlight and can learn all i need to about the bigger bucks this winter...but i think that tactic may help me get on bigger deer...

With that kind of stealth you should be hunting with only a knife!![:-]

I'm newer at it but I've finally reached the mature buck stage. It's not very easy to pull off hunting in PA. ButI LOVE shooting does, so that carries me a long ways.

After reading these replies, something hit me. I started bowhunting in 1967 when I was 11. Six pointers were the biggest bucks that I saw. In 1983 I saw a buck so big that I ran home and told my dad "it was so big you could fit a basketball between it's antlers!!" I was 27 and the biggest buck I'd seen in the wild was a 2 1/2 8 pointer! That all changed in 1985 when I had my first encounter with a mature 10 pointer,a 144" bruiser. So it took me 18 years to see my first mature buck!!

In some of the areas I hunt, I may see from 0 to 3 mature bucks in a season. In those areas I average one in bow range per season unless I don't see any.

For those that are interested, don't give up. It takes time and practice. You'll make mistakes but if you don't, you're not trying hard enough. The best thing you can do is learn your areas like the back of your hand and learn as much about deer behavior as you can, it's never ending. Big bucks have different personalities. One thing they all like is privacy. Find their haunts, look for rubs and big tracks. Try to figure out what they're doing and why. You'll start seeing more big deer.

depends on where I am hunting,you can,t hunt big mature bucks if they are not in the area where you hunt,which is the case here,but I do try to shoot only 8pt or better with nice headgear,just this morning I let a little 3pt.walk and would let a small 8 walk also,but a 15 inch 8 0r better he wins the prize.

Mark and Terry Drury, I am not. I've got 3 good bucks with my bow and I'm always looking for more. However, at this point in my hunting career I'm still learning a lot and having a good time in the woods. With that said any good 2.5 year old that comes in front of me is getting an arrow shot at it. I'll also shoot just about any good size doe that gives me the opportunity as well.

Once I've put a few more bucks on the ground and am satisfied with where I'm at in my hunting life, I will move on to mature (3.5 year old) bucks and older.

IfI lived in an area that didn't produce mature monsterbucks, I'D MOVE!

I'm always seeking mature deer but I'm similiar to Matt / PA's answer. My area of PA, not unlike Matt's, your very lucky to see anything past a 2.5 year old however I've done well on my bucks the last 6 in 7 years. In 2001 I took my first 3.5 year old, in 02 a 2.5 year old. I didn't take a deer in 03 because I was exclusively hunting a 4.5 year old 10 point, 22" wide. I saw him twice in my honey hole. He was gone forever after that and I ate my tag. In 04 I took a 3.5 year old, 05 a 2.5 year old, another in 06 after I missed a 4.5 plus year old and this year I tagged a 3.5 year old.

There was no right answer for me. I won't take a 1.5 year old so the opportunist won't work because I won't take anything but I'm not quite the mature only one because I don't consider a 2.5 year old mature, nor will some consider a 3.5 year old that.

I've always been a "see deer shoot deer" guy, but to be completely honest, killing does was getting easy.

This year I decided I wasn't killing a doe until I had a buck down. I wasn't even looking for a mature, big racked buck, just a nice 8 point.

BUT, when I shot that buck this year, it lit a fire in my tail. I want a mature buck every year now, and will still shoot a couple does when given the opportunity.

Me.

Ryan.