ORIGINAL: DanesDad

Maybe the average scores are going down because there are simply fewer legal deer around. Remember spikes and Ys kept some of the pressure off the bigger deer by getting shot early and often. These same spikes and Ys become next years legal deer, while there are fewer sixes and eights that go on to become monsters.

ORIGINAL: CrossForkWookie

Here we go again.  There are three things, the third being age.  You conveniently left that one out.  How many one or two year old deer do you see in the recordbooks?  Not as many as 3+.

ORIGINAL: S-10

The Pa. record book is a acknowledged way to compare year to year how the herd is doing. Do your homework and you will find that many states have either dropped AR or changed from point restriction and many others are watching the results before committing to the concept.

ORIGINAL: MuskyMastr

First of all you automatically put yourself in that 50%. Don't be so quick to be offended.

I do judge other hunters. Life is a competitive ordeal. If it isn't then it should be. Those who believe competition isn't important are those who are ruining our country (but the rest of that discussion belongs in another forum). So how do I decide who is a bad hunter and who is not. It is very simple. Bad hunters are those who, year after year, fail to accomplish thier goals. They fail either due to a lack of desire, effort or a combination of the two. So if year after year they are falling short then they are poor hunters. How do I know this, because there are also those who accomplish and often exceed their goals on a consistent basis. Year to year has nothing to do with it, however a string of years begins to point to a trend. And this doesn't include only deer.

Since you asked, I think I lean more to the good side than the bad. Family obligations prevent me from being as good as I could be, and that bothers me.

I have never been a "brown its down" hunter. I was raised better than that. To me that statement indicates a slob hunter which is the lowest form of life on our planet. I shoot the first legal buck I see, because my goal is to get a pa buck in archery for myself and my daughter, so that we can enjoy the many other hunting opportunities available in the fall.

However if they were failing to accomplish their goals, before and now they occasionally shooting or seeing a big buck (simply due to numbers of deer in higher age classes), then they are instant converts.


Yes all the big bucks I have shot have been on public land or land open to large scale public hunting. So maybe check your answer to weather or not they were on public land.

I am the V. Pres of two large local sportsmans clubs, which are also part of the pfsc so I am at the monthly county meetings as well. I see the hand counts here in our county. there is an 85% opposition to HR and at least 70% opposition to AR. This question was raised at our last county council meeting "where is all the support for these regulations coming from?". when we see overwhelming opposition here in our county and neighboring counties, you begin to wonder where the support lies.

I don't come on this forum to offend people, and if that is the way my posts come across I apologize. I come here as a sportsman, a biologist and a parent of future sportsmen & women. To discuss our sports and thier management & direction. To educate and to be educated. And maybe to pick up a tip or two. I never called any of you bad hunters, or said that if you support AR/HR you are a bad hunter. I simply gave an opinion based on my observations regarding where the support for the program comes from and in what percent. If it hits close to home, sorry.