Tough Year. Still Managed Some Luck and Success

[89trackerpro17]

I agree with you mrbb. I've hunted PA for 25 years. The buck quality has increased since the antler restriction. I have tried to talk many people into passing on small bucks for at least 20 years. But most have the attitude of if I don't kill that small buck someone else will. We all need to get this mentality out of our heads. I keep pushing my philosophy to everyone I talk to. So hopefully some have a second thought or better yet just pass on that small buck. Don't know why people think they have to kill a small buck just to say they killed a buck. You can't eat antlers so why kill a small buck to me there is no personal achievement in killing small bucks. If you need meat kill a doe.

[nomad_archer]

So mrbb and 89tracker, I am one that has started to come around and believe in QDM and letting smaller bucks pass but that is only because I have seen some of the successes of a friend who does that and he consistently gets a great buck but he puts in alot of time.

On the other hand people buy licenses and are entitled to shoot whichever legal buck there heart desires. I shoot does for meat but I usually dont pass on many as long as they are not fawns I usually take the opportunity. The fact is the areas I hunt are large big woods public hunting areas in NW PA at my hunting camp. You typically have only one maybe two opportunities on a deer up there. Sometimes none at all. This year my old man hunted quite a bit in PA with a bow and rifle and never had a quality opportunity its just what it is. The antler restrictions are great and they have really helped but the herd reduction that when with those regulations when to far in the northern parts of the state. There just arnt very many deer. They are making a bit of a come back now that seasons have been adjusted but still they are few and far between. As for shooting smaller bucks if it is legal then I feel people are should not be looked down on for shooting whatever buck makes them happy. Yes passing on smaller bucks helps produce bigger bucks but some people just enjoy a successful hunt and that small basket rack six makes their year just as much as a 160" class buck would make yours. More and more people are passing on smaller bucks so you are going to see bigger bucks but every PA hunters goal is not the same. Any deer that a hunter takes and is proud of is a great personal achievement in my opinion.

If you want to trophy hunt then go about doing that but dont force everyone else to trophy hunt the same as you. Personally I have been passing on smaller bucks recently but if I have a nice say 80-100" deer walk by me up at my camp I may take that opportunity as it is a bigger buck by the standards up at my camp and I dont believe I have gotten one that big up there. I have only gotten a handful of bucks in my hunting career so any legal buck and deer for that matter is great and is celebrated as such. I have taken quite a few does over the years and we still celebrate those as well.

Maybe one day I will get to the point where I have the time and access to land where I will be passing on all of the smaller bucks that walk by but at this point I am not there. I believe in QDM and will let some of the smaller ones pass but at my camp if I like it I will shoot it. Thats just a counter opinion to what you guys are saying. I dont want to start a pissing match but I just feel like if it is legal and someone wants to take the animal then I have zero problem with that.

[mrbb]

Nomad I agree a the size of the kill shouldn't matter , as long as the hunter is happy
BUT since so many hunters use the . "IF I don't kill it someoen else will" excuse, and also hear so many hunters say, they wish they would get a big buck
well only way this happens is if foklks stop shooting smaller bucks
and to be honest, its not a great thing to be doing on the science side of things
there is plenty of proven data that having older deer breed, makes for a stronger better health herd
I too grew up hunting in the big woods, and still do from time to time, so I hear what your saying about quality
but at the same time, over killing deer in these places, was also, the hunters hunting there 's fault as much as the state's
hearing so many hunters in these area's cry about there being no deer left where there used to be tons, and then still killing every legal one they see
they are there own problem(granted teh state did allow the over kill)
but at same time, one main reason there is a lack of deer in ANY area, is lack of what a deer needs to live 24/7/365
and this fact seems to fall on deaf ears of far too many hunters
far too many hunters say well deer klived there yrs back, so should still be able to live there now
and that's is just wrong thinking
the forest have matured a ton, and the lack of new forest regeneration, left the mature forest , with poor if any good food for deer to live off yr round
I will blame the state here a LOT
as I am sure you heard me say this
and a asecond problem with these so called major BIG tracted state/federal forest(and not bashing at all)
is that these places come rifle season, turn into major hunting spots, with ten's of thousands or more hunters flocking to these areas, more so in the past, but still happens
so when you get a few hundred thousand hunters hunting in places that see little human traffic , and all these hunters feeling its a expected RIGHT to go home with a buck, they tend to kill first legal buck they see
most just do it cause they want to say they killed a buck, or just any deer for many
this thinking doesn't help an area where low deer numbers are, or poor habitat managment has been going on
thus hunters in these places can be as big or bigger parts of the problems
they can cry about the deer all they want, but if they keep killing deer, they are the problem
just cause you live own or?? doesn't mean you have to still hunt there
I know the feeling, I have a farm, I hunt loaded near deer, deer live off farm, and due to people about me, I cannot really hunt it no more, ot sucks
but moving would solve my hunting issue's
I can and have many other places to hunt, But I prefer to hunt at this farm, due to all I put into it, but its getting to the point, its a waste of my time
right thing for me to do would be hunt lese where

same answer it is for many others, yet most don't like this answer
few do anything to change the answer, by doing any real QDM to the lands they have access to, holding back on killing any more deer, , going to state meetings, writing state officials
they want the easy ride, with having the problem magically fixed by ???
again, I am not bashing on you Nomad
just pointing out problems and the facts, we the hunters are as much to blame as any state dept
granted the state has the power to change more, or does it??