RE: PA Antler restrictios--working?
 

That is very rare in Pa. I talk to a WCO a few weeks ago and he told me that Does live on average to be alot older than bucks. He said they rarely find bucks older than 4 1/2 and see alot of 6 to 7 year old does.

RE: PA Antler restrictios--working?
 

not a chance he killed a 140 class 7.5 yr old. my guess it was a 3.5yr old. and ive never seen a pic or anything. people get carried away on age of bucks. a 7.5 yr old buck would be a world class deer

RE: PA Antler restrictios--working?
 

Rare? Absolutely. impossible? no. As Trykon said, it would be rare but it's not fair to say no way. Illbback, how did you determine the age?

No matter how old, illbback thats an awesome PA buck! Congrats!! Got a picture for us?

RE: PA Antler restrictios--working?
 

BT- yeah you are right i shouldnt say NO WAY. but come on, how many 7 1/2yr old bucks you know of being shot in PA? even if you take the biggest buck shot in PA this year, i would bet its not a 7 1/2yr old.

but anyway still great buck!!!!! a 13pt is great. congrats

RE: PA Antler restrictios--working?
 

Wait a minute! This deer management program has been in effect for 6 years now. If a spike had been spared in the outset of this program it is quite possible to survive until that lucky hunter encountered him.

Considering that the forest is having a wonderful recovery, food should not be a problem and would contribute to better antler growth.

Remember, Dr Alt promised us trophy class deer. We may finally be seeing it come to pass. It's exciting to think what the future may hold for us.

RE: PA Antler restrictios--working?
 

on stateforestland here in pa.idont believe you will see a 7 and 1/2 year old buck..

on my privateland this year, i have buck i think is 4 years old..how he made it by the POACHERS is mistery to me.he has rack that is about 24 inchs wide, 8 point...i have not heard of anyone getting him,so far..

i raised a michigan deer 34 years ago, he was a big deer.. he died at 9 years old and had a nice rack, 10 point but i seen bigger racks on some of the 4 year old deer..

so, 7 and 1/2 year old deer on stateforestland is not going to happen..

most of the teeth i checked on some of the big bucks i saw this year were 2 and 1/2 to 3 and 1/2 years old..never saw one over 4 years old..

RE: PA Antler restrictios--working?
 

I can guarentee that a buck living over 6.5 years old in PA isn't impossible. The non-typical 12 point I shot with my bow several years was aged at atleast 6.5 years old or older. His teeth were pretty much gone, just a tiny sliver sticking above the gum line. The buck 20" wide 8 point I shot a couple years ago was aged at 5.5 years old, his hair on his head was blonde, teeth were very worn down, and the thick stumpy body.

It is amazing where some deer go to hide during hunting season and its no wonder that you don't hear of many 6.5 year old bucks being shot, its not because they aren't out there, its because they don't get that old by being dumb. One of the oldest deer I have ever seen in my area was a 5 point, this deer had an absolutely huge body, tiny rack, and his hair was blonde from age. Guess where I saw this deer during rifle season...... I saw him laying in the corner of a old abandoned open ended barn that use to have tractors parked in it.

RE: PA Antler restrictios--working?
 

I believe it's possible to have a 7.5 year old buck. Very rare but possible IMO.

RE: PA Antler restrictios--working?
 

A 7.5 year old deer is rare but still very possible. Whats difficult is aging those deer accurately. I'm no expert, I still need the pictures handy to age a deer by its' teethbut I know that even the best experts have a tough time aging a deer beyond 6.5 by tooth wear. Most game agencies class older deer as 6.5+ butdont get more specific than that.

RE: PA Antler restrictios--working?
 

wow...that's pretty ironic because some of the oldest deer we have taken have been on state forrest land (tiadaghton to be exact). The mountains are so vast and loaded with laurel that I can believe there would be deer on there that die of old age and are never seen by a hunter. Behind our camp alone is thousands of acres that are nearly impossible to get to by the average hunter and unless you have a group of people to get those things moving out of the laurel they're gonna be gone before you ever see them. I mean, from the ground you're lucky if you can see 20 feet in any direction. My uncle took a 6 point this year that I would bet was at least 7 years old. His teeth were almost worn flat and his rack was on a definite down swing. This is just what I have noticed from our camp though. Down here in Lancaster is a different story. The land is all pretty accessible and there are a lot more hunters down here thus younger bucks.

RE: PA Antler restrictios--working?
 

BEARKLR,no disrespect but vast mountains does not and will not save a deerfor 6 or 7 years..years ago it did..why??because hunters never had to go very far to get a deer..

wayback as pgc uses now or some that want to let you think deer are WAYBACK is all big lie..derr are NOT wayback as wayback can be accessed ..years ago, that was not easy..

we have biggest mountains around here in clinton/potter where i grew up..no old deer or bucks , are being taken here and have not,i would say for about 35 years..back then as i said, a buck would go WAYBACK and could survive another year..

it was not necessary to go back after him as deer hunting was easy and close to roads..NOW,there is no WAYBACK..roads and trails take you everywhere..people have GPS,dcnr tells you how to get there,carts for hauling your deer out,bear hunting has brought hunters in and if they see a nice buck, they come back and get it..

years ago, from 60 to 70s , i agree with you , you could find a old buck..i saw it and shot a few that were 6 years old..those days are gone..

i have many, many friends that hunt the VAST, RUGGED, ENDLESS mountains wayback..out of 16 of them, they got 2 buck for 2 weeks of hunting..they very seldom saw to many hunters but also did not see ANY DEER..

they saw MORE deer close to roads and homes than they did WAYBACK..why??

because WAYBACK the terrain and food is not as good as close to roads/homes etc..when you go wayback as you said, all you see is laural..deer dont survive on laural..

where did i get my big 8 point buck this year??it was not WAYBACK..if big buck were WAYBACK in vast ,rugged,endless mountains, ole sproul would be there..

i only hunt huge buck and not 1 in last 35 years has been harvested WAYBACK..

take care..sproul

RE: PA Antler restrictios--working?
 

7.5 - That's a Mouldy Oldey Deer anywhere.

The Million $$$ question - WHO - aged the deer?

A F&G biologist admit he errored by 1 yr a Doe he aged - after - I asked him to explain. I showed him a large laminated "jaw bone aging" diagram I keep in truck during deer season(secured thru QDMA).It has very detailed pics and instructions on aging from .5 thru 6.5 yrs. He changed it from 3.5 to 2.5 but said it still could be a 3.5 ???

I suspect it would take somebody with some real expertice in jaw bone/teeth aging to make a call on a 7.5 Deer :eek: ??

There are other give aways to older bucks(3.5 +). Would be nice to see pics.

RE: PA Antler restrictios--working?
 

Nice try sproul but I ain't buying it. You are trying to tell me that deer aren't "wayback" in any more and that vast mountains won't hold old deer...c'mon. I have hunted these mountains my entire life and can guarantee you that they sure as he!! aren't easily accessible. Sure, I can drive around the tops to the flats but nobody in their right mind is crazy enough to walk the .75 miles through the thickest laurel you ever saw just to reach the brow. Then they have to walk halfway down over just to be able to see enough to hunt it. And unless your a he!! of a swimmer whatever you're lucky enough to shoot has to go back up. Look at my pic as supporting evidence because I tend to back my accusations up with such. Notice that east of 414 there isn't a single road and to walk from 414 to as far right as you can see is at least a days walk. Now if you can honestly look at that pic and tell me a deer can't live to be 6 years old than there sure as heck ain't nothing gonna change your mind. By the way, the area in the blue box is probably a good 12 square miles and hasn't seen a boot in decades. Unless of course one hunter decided to make the 8 hour trek and camp out. Of course he probably shot every 4 year old buck around. I mean he would of had to right? Like you said there is no way deer live to be 6 years old in the state forrests.:eek: