RE: PA deer Quizz
 

I agree with BB for the most part.Our preseason adult b/d ratio was never any worse than 1/3.In fact,it was closer to 1/2.Once the first few hours of opening day starts,the vast majority of bucks die making the adult winterb/d ratio plummet until the next spring.Using anover winter b/d ratio is very misleading for two reason.First,it doesn't matter.All that matters is the preseason b/d ratio.Second,that ratio will be corrected by next fall because ofthe bb's that made it through the season.It's flat out impossible to have a b/d ratio and worse than 1/3 if you actually hunt doe like we've always done in pa.Since 1987,we've been killing more antlerless deer than antlered deer.If you continue to do that,you've never have a higly skewed b/d ratio.

RE: PA deer Quizz
 

Did anyone notice.....BB didn't answer anythingI asked him.

RE: PA deer Quizz
 

Personally I just think if you are trying to hold to, manipulate, and explain the numbers, it’s an effort in futility. To keep re-hashing them certainly does not bolster one’s argument. First off, we are never dealing with exacts, only estimates (regardless of how valid you think they are or aren’t). Therefore you CANNOT treat the numbers as exacts. Fluctuations of a few % are meaningless. Too many factors influence the numbers to make any reasonable assumptions or causal statements from them.

I also don’t understand the obsession with caring that the overall buck harvest dropped? Overall deer numbers dropped so that should be expected. What’s so hard to grasp?
If hunter numbers drop because guys can’t pull into the bar with their buck by 2 PM then I don’t want to share the woods with those types anyway.

And lastly I am SOOO tired of the whining about the archers having it so great, when we have a horribly short season compared to some states. And I think we are down to what, 1 week of that season that is un interrupted by gunfire and other hunting season pressures. Nothing prevents anyone from picking up a bow and diving right into this magical, “easy to kill something” season they call Archery.

RE: PA deer Quizz
 

You are paying for the opportunity to have six weeks to hunt for buck before anyone else gets a chance . If you don't think that is worth it ,use your bow during the concurrent season.

I did subtract the 30K archery kills from the total buck harvest . That is why rifle hunters only harvested 90K buck instead of 120K.

RE: PA deer Quizz
 

I use the same numbers the PGC uses to estimate the size of the herd , establish population trends and allocate antlerless tags. There is no need to have exact numbers for any of that.

RE: PA deer Quizz
 

You didn't subtract the hunters themselves from the available tags for rifle. You number should have been around 870,000 +/-.
As I said, once a bowhunter is successful, they are eliminated from the pool.

RE: PA deer Quizz
 

You just assumed I didn't subtract the successful archery buck hunters, but I did even better than that. In 2005 we had 964K licensed hunters , so I subtracted the 30K successful archers , plus another 34 K that might only hunt during archery.

RE: PA deer Quizz
 

That is an interesting assumption. Though the number could be much higher.

RE: PA deer Quizz
 

And it could be much lower.

RE: PA deer Quizz
 

Then why don't you explain to everyone the significance of the 13 % increase in the buck harvest on the last day of 2001, when the 2001 harvest was essentially the same as the 2001 harvest.

BTW, if the 2001 harvest was 13 % lower, the rifle hunter success rate would have been lower ,which would have provided more support for my position.