What do you guys think, has the Pa antler restriction been an overall success. Personally i think it has, were i hunt hasnt been know for producing big bucks. But just last rifle season a Fourteen Point monster was taken not even a mile from my house. And the year before that i saw the hugest 12 point i have ever seen right behind my house. I hope the antler restriction stays, Pa could become a place to come for big whitetails in only a few more years.

Pa will never be a Kansas, Illinois or Iowa but I think it will continue to improve. Although the changes will be less dramaticin the coming years.

In the last couple years we've seen some monsters. Last year, there were a few deer that were easily in the mid-200lb range and a few bucks that would score around 130-145". However, the area we hunt is remote and thousands of acres are private.In the 21 years I've been hunting there, I may have seen another hunter on opening day 4 or 5 times. There's so much swamp, thick brush,thick laurel and overgrown clear cut that the deer can't even be driven well. We've been joking since the 1980s that most of the bucks die of old age up there. How could antler restrictions have an effect on bucks that would live 8 years anyway? The best we could come up with is that they've been pressured from surrounding land. We have a lot of does, so bucks who pass through during the rut might end up staying there because of the lack of hunting pressure. What ever the reason, there will be several 150" class deer who weigh 250lbs plus this year up there and I don't care why - I just want to get one.

In the past 3 seasons, I've taken 3 trophy-class buck. I've seen several more.

In the previous 7 seasons, I had only seen one trophy buck and tagged out every year with spikes, forks, scrubs, etc.

I'm still not seeing 150" monstrosities every time out, but I'm seeing better deer generally.

Now, it's not uncommon to see a decent buck periodically. I'm hunting the same place I always have, and I'm noticing the results. I'll qualify this by saying that I'm a little more picky than I have been in the past, and I would have tagged out earlier if I was shooting the first buck I saw. I'm sure that plays into the results as well.

Nonetheless, I feel that there's a correlation, but that's just me.

I'd say yes, without a doubt, the age structure and consequently the average rack size has improved. I say this due to personal observation of more buck sightings, more larger rack sightings, and nicer racks pictured in the various big buck contests. Taxidermist's say they've been getting in some dandy's too. The quanity has dropped some but we expected that with a concurrent reduction happening obviously.

But I'd also say Pa will never be a trophy hunting state. That's not what these restrictions are for. You'd need different restrictions if the intent was for growing trophy's. So while it's a great improvement over the old days of seeing 20 deer but only 2 of them were buck and most likely spikes; it'll never become a producer of monster buck. But the average age, antlers, and weight seem to be improving.

It has improved the quality of bucks in my area. And I think it has an effect on the buck to doe ratio from what I can observe myself. With my deer cameras I used to get all doe with one or 2 small bucks. Now I get all buck with 2 or 3 doe and so far I've seen 2 big bucks and atleast 3 other shooters.

I cant really say. In 5D where I am.. we have big deer anyway. Its just trying to get a place to hunt or sneak in with your bow and trample over 20 other guys with the same idea. I can say that what I hear from my cousins and uncles who hunt in sullivan county that the deer do have alot bigger racks.

IMHO, it depends on how you define "a success" and whether the herd has been reduced in the area where one hunts.

If one defines success based on the promises ALT made regrading doubling the number of 2.5+ buck and doubling the number of 8 pts, then statewide AR's have been a dismal failure since it only increased the number of 2.5+ buck harvested by 18%. But, if one defines success as increasing the percentage of 2.5+ buck in a stable herd, then in areas where the herd hasn't been reduced , then AR's will always be a success.

I hunt an area where the herd has been sugnificantly been reduced and in our area AR's have done absolutely nothing to increase the number of 2.5+ buck and we are seeing fewer 1.5 and 2.5+ buck. Also, many counties in 2 G are harvesting fewer 2.5+ buck than they did in the early 1990's and the total buck harvest have beem reduced by almost 2/3. For example the buck harvest in Elk dropped from 3,255 in 1994 to 1,200 in 2004. There will be similar reductions in the buck harvest in other WMU's as the herd is reduced to the OWDD goals.

Yep,you hit the nail on the head ddear.I recognize the need to reduce the herd in this part of 2G and accept the fact that the hunting will be alot tougher.There's alot less bucks around here now as we approach the dd goals and the harvest keeps plummeting.Far from what Alt claimed.I also hunt in 3b and 3c where AR appears to be a success.The dd goals aren't even close to the goal in those areas so you can hardly call it a true success story.

I would have to agree with the last couple of posts. In my area of hunting, we are seeing a couple more larger deer than we had in the past but simply because the the spikes are now getting to be small basket racks that are barely legal which are then being shot. A few deer will slip through and get to be decent but never huge. I own about 600 acres in PA that we are practicing QDM and it has made a difference but as for the overall area it is a coinflip depending on who you are asking.