RE: Antler restrictions: another view
 

BM,

Your PA rut happens usually before gun season anyways, so the best bucks most likely do most of the breeding already do to competition. I was amazed this year NW of Bradford the number of rubs and scrapes-good scrapes with broken branches, during rifle season. Most of the scrapes were not being used, indicating the rut was in full swing, or towards the tail end. This also seemed consistent with the other 8 years I've hunted out there, except I'm seeing a few more bucks, and a lot less does. According to the local biologist, the body weights have also been going up the last few years, parelleling the decline in doe population.

I'm am greatly looking forward to the upcoming seasons and the new proposals, they will only add to the improvement I've already been witnessing.

Also, our camp's success numbers have gone up greatly(we're right around our 150th buck), and we've done it with no spikes, and mostly 6 point+ bucks.

Looking forward to the future!

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan.

RE: Antler restrictions: another view
 

Jeff, Alt is saying that right now there are too many immature bucks breeding does. That is why I stated that. I always figured the way you thought. Heck, I had proof of that right before my eyes this year. I saw a huge 10 point get run off by another bigger buck so the bigger buck could breed two big doe.

Good Luck This Season: Buck Magnet
"Hunting is not a sport, it is a passion, it is a WAY OF LIFE"

RE: Antler restrictions: another view
 

BM,
I think the reason Alt is saying a lot of immature bucks are breeding is becuase there are very few mature around. That's the same in my area.

Where I hunt in PA, it takes me over an hour to walk in, and there are no roads within a 3x10 mile area, so I feel I get into some pockets of decent age structures.

I general, I'm sure many areas are stocked full of 1.5 year olds, and very few older. It was not uncommon in the farm land I used to hunt downstate, to see 15 different bucks before gun season. One year I saw 17 different bucks, 15 yearlings, and 2, 2.5 years olds. That particular year I saw 1 buck-a yearling, after gun season, and he was one of 2 bucks I saw after gun season in the 11 years I hunted in that area. It wasn't as if the bucks moved, they were dead.

I'm starting to keep a pocket of bucks on my property, and you wouldn't believe the amount of scrapes and rubs this year-more than the other 3 years combined. It's because I had a few 2.5 year olds hanging around, and what a difference.

I'm looking forward to seeing the increased sign, and activity in the future, in PA. John Ozoga, a local deer biologist, told me a yearling will make a few rubs a year, a 2.5 year old might make over a 100, and a 3.5 year old or older could make 100's. Can't wait to see it!!

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan.

RE: Antler restrictions: another view
 

Jeff, I think, actually, I know my area isn't the typical Pennsylvania hunting area. This year I saw probablly a dozen bucks that would make Pope&Young, and one buck that would make Boone&Crockett standards for a non-typical. There is a pretty good age structure around here. Don't get me wrong, I see alot of young bucks, but they all have big antlers. Most of the 1.5 year olds around here are 8 points. I VERY RARELY see a spike. I have maybe seen 4 in my area in the past 6 years of hunting. Heck, I rarely see anything under 6 points, and even 6 points aren't very common. This past summer, in one day, I saw 1 forkhorn, a 6 point with a 14 inch spread, four 8pt's with 14-16 inch spreads, a 10pt with a 18 inch spread, a huge 8pt with a 20" spread that rougly would go mid 130" and another 10 point that probablly had a 22" spread and would go in the upper 140" range. All of these deer were in one alfalfa field feeding. Hopefully I will get pics of them this summer when I get my food plot planted. From what I understand, the biggest 10 point and 8 point are still around, and the spike is the only one that got harvested.

This area is all farm country, but, these bucks are in the pieces of woods that everyone passes up. Heck, the biggest buck I saw this year was a 17 point non-typical that would have easily been going 180" and he was hanging in a TINY patch of brush about 10 feet away from a road.

Good Luck This Season: Buck Magnet
"Hunting is not a sport, it is a passion, it is a WAY OF LIFE"