Are AR's Working In Pennsylvania?

[QDMAworks4me]

This article was sent to me and I thought I would share it with you. In the past we have had many discussions on AR's and many different people have many different viewpoints on weather they are working in places they have been implemented and weather or not they might help places where they have not been implemented.. This article talks about Pennsylvania which as many of us know have AR's implemented.

Article about AR's

[Born2Hunt]

Very good article. Thanks for sharing.

[QDMAworks4me]

So do you hunters from Pennsylvania think that this information is true?

[007hunter]

I would agree that they are working. The biggest change that I noticed was the buck to doe ratio. Its gotta be close to 1 buck for every 2 does.

[shockwave]

Everytime a post like this gets started i answer the same way, Heck yeah it`s working!!!! With the exception of the 2 small bucks i saw yesterday, everything i saw this year was an 8 or better, and i saw at least 20 different bucks this year...

[QDMAworks4me]

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I would agree that they are working. The biggest change that I noticed was the buck to doe ratio. Its gotta be close to 1 buck for every 2 does.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have never been able to hunt land that is a 2 to 1 ratio, does it the rut a lot more agressive, do you see a lot more deer up and on the move during the chase phase?

[Doc]

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With the exception of the 2 small bucks i saw yesterday, everything i saw this year was an 8 or better, and i saw at least 20 different bucks this year

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Are you saying that out of 20 bucks, you saw only 2 small bucks? Personally, I wouldn't consider that real good news. Sounds like something is getting terribly out of wack there. I realize that that is an extremely unscientific sampling, but it may indicate some future problems.

Doc

[QDMAworks4me]

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With the exception of the 2 small bucks i saw yesterday, everything i saw this year was an 8 or better, and i saw at least 20 different bucks this year

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you saying that out of 20 bucks, you saw only 2 small bucks? Personally, I wouldn't consider that real good news. Sounds like something is getting terribly out of wack there. I realize that that is an extremely unscientific sampling, but it may indicate some future problems.

Doc

[/ QUOTE ]

Just taking a stab in the dark but it could be due to the fact that the young bucks are staying in the brush because the more dominant bucks are out trolling around. Here in NY where there is a lot less competition for does we see young bucks all the time, but maybe they feel threatened enough to stay away because the bigger bucks have put them in there place. According to the biologists the older bucks are the bucks that should be doing the breeding with a very close buck to doe ratio maybe that is what is actually going on.

[shockwave]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
With the exception of the 2 small bucks i saw yesterday, everything i saw this year was an 8 or better, and i saw at least 20 different bucks this year

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you saying that out of 20 bucks, you saw only 2 small bucks? Personally, I wouldn't consider that real good news. Sounds like something is getting terribly out of wack there. I realize that that is an extremely unscientific sampling, but it may indicate some future problems.

Doc

[/ QUOTE ]

Am i mistaken to think that seeing mature bucks is a bad thing ?? The only problem i see is, the lack of does for all of these mature bucks to mate with.. A guy who hunts on a farm close to the one i hunt on saw 9 sub-legal bucks yesterday. With the mild winters and hopefully no roadkills, how many do you think will make it next year ?? I`m thinking they should all be an 8 or better, genetically willing of course...

[woodsman2230]

The only buck that my dad saw yesterday was legal. Usually we see tiny bucks around where we are. I think its working to make bucks bigger and older deer for sure. They just need to stop selling a few doe tags. Just to enough to keep the ratio around 2 to 1.

[Texan_Til_I_Die]

The information in that article closely mirrors the results we're seeing in those areas of Texas that have implemented AR. Glad to see some successes in other states.

[QDMAworks4me]

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Am i mistaken to think that seeing mature bucks is a bad thing ??

[/ QUOTE ]

Not in my opinion that is for sure, I would say you are lucky. In Ny during the season I usually see about 25 to 30 bucks a season but this year that was not the case. I only saw 10, and that is hunting almost every day after work and weekends. Many friends of mine noticed the same thing. It was not due to the fact that they were not around it was due to the fact that the weather was way to warm and rainy. I have had season where all I have seen is mature bucks and it does not mean that the little ones are not around it just means you were not where they were when you were hunting.

[Hoyt03]

In my area, doe numbers are way down, which in turn does create a better rut as for seeing action, problem was all I could see so far this year was spikes and forhorns and three legal bucks. I have never seen so mnay 1.5 yr old spikes running does around like they were. I sure hope they do grow up by next year cause I should have one heck of a year with the amount of young bucks I've seen this year.

Overall though i'm going to say I really do not see much difference. Big bucks got taken every year before AR, and I really do not see an increase in the # of big buks taken. Just see alot more younger bucks that get to make it another year.

[QDMAworks4me]

[ QUOTE ]
In my area, doe numbers are way down, which in turn does create a better rut as for seeing action, problem was all I could see so far this year was spikes and forhorns and three legal bucks. I have never seen so mnay 1.5 yr old spikes running does around like they were. I sure hope they do grow up by next year cause I should have one heck of a year with the amount of young bucks I've seen this year.

Overall though i'm going to say I really do not see much difference. Big bucks got taken every year before AR, and I really do not see an increase in the # of big buks taken. Just see alot more younger bucks that get to make it another year.

[/ QUOTE ]

Would you like to see the AR's taken away or would you say that you are satisfied seeing more bucks make it through?

[007hunter]

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I would agree that they are working. The biggest change that I noticed was the buck to doe ratio. Its gotta be close to 1 buck for every 2 does.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have never been able to hunt land that is a 2 to 1 ratio, does it the rut a lot more agressive, do you see a lot more deer up and on the move during the chase phase?

[/ QUOTE ]

Now what I saw came from a very limited time hunting. I wasn't able to hunt nearly as much as in past years. There'd be days out where I'd see more bucks than doe, now most of them bucks were not legal but next year is looking good! Another thing I noticed was that I never saw a large group of does. If I were to see does they either were by themselves or in pairs. Rarely in groups of 3 or more. As for the rut, I can't really say since my time afield was so limited and when I was out there the weather wasn't that great...