whiff

I'm from NY and have been hunting PA for five years because I thought AR was a good idea. Not anymore! NY has some darn nice Bucks and no AR. I hope it stays that way. It's food and habitat that grows Big Bucks not AR. Cameron Co. PA, and Allegany Co. NY. But I do like the BIG TREES!

livbucks

Well, that is a bad comparison, becauseI have hunted Cameron, and there is some very bad habitat there. I would hunt somewheres else.
Cameron has probably the worst deer hunting in the state.

Mr. Slim

im one that does not like AR. though ive been hunting for over 40 years and still have to work for a living, i dont get a lot of time off to hunt. my suggestion is those that want to follow the AR, they can be choosy about taking bigger deer. those of us that do not hunt for horns, let us take a smaller buck. i hunt for the venison to eat not the horns. now the PGC has changed the buck and doe season in my WMU this year which makes it even harder to hunt and takes away hunting time from us. i wish they would quit fooling around and let things the way they were.

livbucks

Well, one study of 104 deer was used to refute another study of 150 deer over a 15 year period.
The two largest bucks from the15 year study were 3 points (spike and a fork obviously) at 1.5 years.
These are bucks you would shoot as fawns??

bluebird2

No, I prefer to shoot adult doe, but if 44% of the harvest aren't fawns ,our sustainable harvest will drop like a rock and we will all see fewer buck and fewer deer over the long term.

whiff

I'm with ya Mr. Slim. PA needs to get rid of AR and make smaller game units so they can manage the herd better. 40+ years in the woods of NY and I've seen woods that looked like a sheep pasture and see it now, It's a whole lot better hunting now than 40 years ago, in NY that is..might se 50 - 60 deer a day in the old days and 4 or 5 today but its better!!

BTBowhunter

QDMA studies are now showing approximately 80% of PA hunters surveyed favor AR's where close to 80% were against them or were at least skeptical before they were instituted.

There are still flaw and there are still regions where the deer numbers and forest health are terrible. Cameron County is right up among the worst if not THE worst. Perhaps you need to adapt and look for a new hunting area within PA. You say NY is so much better, why even spend the $$ for gas the nonresident license if it's so much better at home?

Buck Hunter 1

I like the AR's changed the way I hunted. I do beleive they should realign the WMU's , as these cover much diverse areas. This would bring in line yourideas of less doe permits in harder hit counties and more pressure on the counties that seem to be teeming w/ deer.

bluebird2

Prior to the implementation of ARs approx. 57% of PA hunters supported ARs. A more recent survey showed 57% of the PA hunters rated the deer management plan as fair to poor. the survey is no longer available on the pGC website so don't bother asking for a link.

Furthermore , I wouldn't give a plug nickels worth of credibility to a survey conducted by the QDMA since they have a history of manipulating data to support their agenda of bigger racked bucks.

White-tail-deer

What's that saying... The pot calling the kettle black....