Screamin Steel

Alt predicted that by reducing the herd and balancing the b/d ratio would create as he put it in the video- "a more natural breeding ecology." A scenario where increased breeding competition lends toward larger deer (he presumed with better genetics) would win the majority of breeding rights, and contributing to an improving gene pool over the next few years. He was wrong, and recent studies don't even support his theory on older bucks doing all or even most of the breeding. They have found that nearly all age classes of bucks contribute evenly to breeding. Even in balanced b/d ratios. Read the newest issue of D&DH.

Buck Hunter 1

That makes sense, only so many big bucks on the mountain.

4evrhtn

I support AR because it is the only thing saving any deer left in Pa. But Ar by itself will not produce numerous big bucks when the rest of the program has been taken so far off the course of common sense that we now face the option of managing land ourselves or going to another state to have an enjoyable and productive deer hunt.

Buck Hunter 1

That is interesting. At camp we talk about bucks not responding to the ususal enticemnts as thehave the does in theor harem close, no need to cover ground or go out of their way on the seek. We have a ton of does where we are at, a ton. But then again we are feeding supplements, plots and keeping we hope helath to ur herd. We also do not let seniors shoot young bucks, only juniors and we had an unspoken rack count that was acceptable prior to AR's we stuck with over the years.We would cull runts and deer we saw that were not growing in an acceptable manner according to the rest of the herd. We work on ourland year round so we see a lot of those bucks growing, know areas of habitation and see them on the cameras. Danged if we can get em' all the time the big boys seem to know where to go to stay alive. But every once in awhile we get smarter than them.

ManySpurs

And with herd reduction, ESPECIALLY IN AREAS WHERE THE HERD HAS BEEN KNOCKED BACK TO SINGLE DIGITS PSFM AND 12-15DPSFM, my theory is that bucks spend TWICE the amount of time and energy finding receptive does, losing a good deal of weight, which brings them into the winter months with poor fat reserves. Part of the AR theory involved a better breeding ecology to bring bucks into the winter months in better shape thereby allowing more to survive.

Cornelius08

4evrhtn

I agree completely. I would like to see what ar could do if the excessive hr didnt muffle it so much.

sproulman

from what i am seeing ,you are right.only time i get good chance at buck lately is rut weeks or last 2 weeks of archery.heat and non rut these bigones just dont come out if they have pressure on them.so, i dont worry to much about hunting the buck until those last 2 weeks.i spend more time grouse/pheasant hunting until those weeks come then everyday i hit woods.

i like that way better than going out early in season, i can hunt grouse/pheasants,i dont get wore out as much hunting a buck all those weeks and more chance to see a bigone close then and not as difficult as early part of archery.i also am only one bass fishing early archery and i have ball catching some bass.

J Pike

The archery shop owner is a very, very un educated deer hunter.
But I do agree with 4ever that if it wasnt for AR. hunting in PA. would be even worse. Pike

Cornelius08

I agree pike. Having read this guys stuff several times in the past, including him supporting the program years ago, I think it is a combination of him not being intimately familiar with all the details of the deer program as many of us are, and also he isnt the best at getting his thoughts across in words during interviews.

Main reason I posted was to show the hunter dis-satisfaction with the program. Most are more than aware of this, but you always have that same "handful" of damage controllers who try to claim otherwise.

BTBowhunter

Used to shoot in a 3D league with that guy. To say uneducated is being very kind. Anyone citing this guy's words as a case against the deer plan aint gonna help his case.