well I am from NE Pa as well, and in the 3 pt AR zone
and sadly here where I am , a lot of folks don't follow the rule much even now
and I agree AR will work, if people follow them, but
I think its a people deal, either folks want bigger bucks or they don't

as for it helping the herd be better balanced
I think any older buck doing breeding over younger one's is a plus, but not a fix all

as for buck to doe ratio's, well I know for a fact any place that has GOOD feed, still has major buck to doe ratio's as always, or maybe worse, due to there are still many groups of folks that still won't shoot doe in pA

deer numbers to me are much more focused on food than anything else
where there is food there is deer and lots of them
my farm has tons of deer, yet 1.5 miles down the road on public game lands, your hard pressed to find a der track in the snow after snow has been on the gorund for a week!

I have counted over a 100+ deer at once in my field, and I am talking just 1.5 miles down the road almost NO deer

there is nothing for them to live on 365 days a yr there, thus they left that area
they didn't get killed off, they simply moved to greener grounds

that to me is the biggest thing hunters in PA don't get

they all blame(well lots do) for allowing so many doe tags , and as such depleting deer numbers from lands that once held lots of deer
these same people still seem to shoot deer there where they claim there are none, making matters worse

in the 70's and into the 80's our forest were re growing and full of fed for wildlife, thus deer numbers grew, the state did nothing to see the forest stayed as healthy riding the crown to bragging rights of having the most deer, thus selling the most lic's

all the while the forest got eaten to where deer cannot reach QUALITY feed
and then as a fast ditch fix they wanted hunters to kill a ton of deer/ preferably doe, due to they are the ones that mulitply fastest giving birth to more!
a correct move but way too late to fix the damage done

as a result, more land for deer to roam, fewer hunters in the woods, well bigger racks are sure to follow, as just more bucks live longer, AR or not
they have more room to hind/grow old in now than ever!

I don't see ohio needing a AR, there forest, well all them where i have hunted the past 12+ yrs, all are pretty alive and growing , they have more crop lands than most of PA, helping take stress off a forest (lest not forget, PA lost over 50 % of its farms in the past 15 yrs, and that in itself should be alarming to people that live in PA., but sadly doesn't seem to be an issue to most)

the locals all seem to know bigger bucks are there, so self impose AR on what they will shot as for a buck

to me it ain't broke, so don't fix it in Ohio

PA should take some advice on deer management from them if you ask me


this is also a fact to ponder,m every state that borders PA, has an increase in wildlife, and PA< well, minus bears and turkeys, has has a major loss of wildlife the past 10+ yrs
Pa was a top 5 pheasant state, and now a wild pheasant is a very rare sight in 95% of PA, minus the wild ones they NOW released in a few spots(after litterly 100's of millions of dollars on pen raised birds, they finally figured out they don't live or wasn't fixing the problem, just wasting money that could have bneen spent in my eyes a lot better ways, and not on salary raise's or new trucks building or cars, but back into restoring Pa's habitat to what it was, and should be!)

so folks in PA need to maybe start asking WHY our wild life is dropping,and every other states about us in increasing, and not be so DEER only worried!, or AR worried
not bashing you , just speaking my mind
AND< sorry so long winded, but I just see what other states have done, and what sadly MY home state has done, piss's me off!

MY 2 cents