Last years Crummy weather for PA rifle season pays off big

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bowmike
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Last years Crummy weather for PA rifle season pays off big

Unread postby bowmike » Thu Dec 01, 2016 8:02 am

I got my buck but I have been seeing some out of this world bucks put up on different pages of PA hunters. My word. Last year we had really crummy weather for rifle season, and it let a ton of bucks get an extra year. I have never seen so many 140 and up bucks posted in my life. And even more man 150-170" bucks are being put up. I believe that Antler restrictions and terrible rifle season weather is a reciper for huge bucks the next year.

Anyone else notice some unbelievable bucks coming from PA. And it is not just the SW corner of the state this year.


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Re: Last years Crummy weather for PA rifle season pays off b

Unread postby DeerDylan » Thu Dec 01, 2016 8:17 am

Along with the mellow winter and great antler growing season in 2016. It's getting better.

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Re: Last years Crummy weather for PA rifle season pays off b

Unread postby AttackMode » Thu Dec 01, 2016 9:22 am

It's like that where I'm at in PA too. Lot of big buck falling this year.
I just kill mtn bucks
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Re: Last years Crummy weather for PA rifle season pays off b

Unread postby Outdoor814 » Thu Dec 01, 2016 9:27 am

I've seen an increase in big buck in my area of PA. Mostly early season trail can picks. I also saw the biggest buck I have ever seen on a observation sit this year. I didn't hunt it because I never found his bedding. I'm hoping he makes it threw the rifle season.

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Re: Last years Crummy weather for PA rifle season pays off b

Unread postby IkemanTx » Thu Dec 01, 2016 9:31 am

I wish Texas would drop to a short gun season. 90 days is just too long.

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Re: Last years Crummy weather for PA rifle season pays off b

Unread postby RidgeReaper » Thu Dec 01, 2016 12:09 pm

I'm noticing some giants in my area as well. So far it's rained steady the last couple days here again so some guys are sitting it out again. Great news for me!!

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Re: Last years Crummy weather for PA rifle season pays off b

Unread postby headgear » Thu Dec 01, 2016 1:31 pm

Very likely, I've seen a few examples of this. Hoping for some extra mature bucks running around MN next year, our rifle season was crazy warm and I didn't see much movement at all. Hopefully it pays off next year.
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Re: Last years Crummy weather for PA rifle season pays off b

Unread postby mauser06 » Thu Dec 01, 2016 1:43 pm

I don't recall the weather being bad last year...I actually think it was fine..I know I sat dark to dark and many hunters did the same.


Pretty similar to this year. But it's an odd state. One side it's nasty and the other it's nice.


I really think COLD and wet openers are hardest on the herd because so many people get up and move or leave early moving deer around..



I really think a lot of it is just antler restrictions.


It's getting to the point where even the one day a year hunter is passing on the 1.5yo buck at daybreak. I passed 2 opening day and couldn't believe I didn't hear either one get shot.


Not to mention the ones trotting by and instead of seeing a rack and sending lead guys have to count..

There are STILL guys that say the restrictions aren't working. I don't know how you can look online and say that without knowing you are full of it lol.

Yes, PA has produced big bucks even in the beginning of time. But it was rare. Heck I remember my first season and only seeing 1 buck. Lots of deer. Only 1 had antlers. Heck I went atleast a few seasons before getting a shot at a buck. Oddly enough it was the first year of ARs and he was legal.


Now I see antlers on many deer.


And I still see many deer. Guys boohoo there aren't any deer and doe tags and seasons need changed. My opener I thought was slow only seeing around 30. Guys that don't put in the time and simply go sit on the stump grandpa sat on may or may not see deer...



After this years acorn crop I think next year will be good too.


Lots of guys complain all they see is small bucks. But they don't realize once a buck in PA hits 2.5 or 3.5 he is pretty well educated and is a different kinda critter.


I love what I'm seeing.


Hunter pressure is dropping every year too. That doesn't help rifle hunters see deer.


My buddies cousin stopped at camp with his boy...he's idk 10 or so...I knew they weren't staying..his dad was never much of a hunter. I asked him if he wanted to stay and go hunting in the morning. "no I can't wait to get home and play my PS4". "Well hunting is way more fun than ps4". "Maybe to you people. Not to me! I don't wanna be one of you people".


That's the future we are looking at on an alarming scale.


That alone will be one of the reasons PA bucks explode. Not overly long ago I remember the news reporting over a million hunters heading to the woods. This year over half a million. We have lost half a million hunters in PA in less than 20 years. That is CRAZY. I wanna compare states to other big hunter states like NY, WI, MI. I'm curious if it's happening across the states or if PA hunters are the odd ball...

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Re: Last years Crummy weather for PA rifle season pays off b

Unread postby DeerDylan » Thu Dec 01, 2016 2:08 pm

mauser06 wrote:I don't recall the weather being bad last year...I actually think it was fine..I know I sat dark to dark and many hunters did the same.


Pretty similar to this year. But it's an odd state. One side it's nasty and the other it's nice.


I really think COLD and wet openers are hardest on the herd because so many people get up and move or leave early moving deer around..



I really think a lot of it is just antler restrictions.


It's getting to the point where even the one day a year hunter is passing on the 1.5yo buck at daybreak. I passed 2 opening day and couldn't believe I didn't hear either one get shot.


Not to mention the ones trotting by and instead of seeing a rack and sending lead guys have to count..

There are STILL guys that say the restrictions aren't working. I don't know how you can look online and say that without knowing you are full of it lol.

Yes, PA has produced big bucks even in the beginning of time. But it was rare. Heck I remember my first season and only seeing 1 buck. Lots of deer. Only 1 had antlers. Heck I went atleast a few seasons before getting a shot at a buck. Oddly enough it was the first year of ARs and he was legal.


Now I see antlers on many deer.


And I still see many deer. Guys boohoo there aren't any deer and doe tags and seasons need changed. My opener I thought was slow only seeing around 30. Guys that don't put in the time and simply go sit on the stump grandpa sat on may or may not see deer...



After this years acorn crop I think next year will be good too.


Lots of guys complain all they see is small bucks. But they don't realize once a buck in PA hits 2.5 or 3.5 he is pretty well educated and is a different kinda critter.


I love what I'm seeing.


Hunter pressure is dropping every year too. That doesn't help rifle hunters see deer.


My buddies cousin stopped at camp with his boy...he's idk 10 or so...I knew they weren't staying..his dad was never much of a hunter. I asked him if he wanted to stay and go hunting in the morning. "no I can't wait to get home and play my PS4". "Well hunting is way more fun than ps4". "Maybe to you people. Not to me! I don't wanna be one of you people".


That's the future we are looking at on an alarming scale.


That alone will be one of the reasons PA bucks explode. Not overly long ago I remember the news reporting over a million hunters heading to the woods. This year over half a million. We have lost half a million hunters in PA in less than 20 years. That is CRAZY. I wanna compare states to other big hunter states like NY, WI, MI. I'm curious if it's happening across the states or if PA hunters are the odd ball...

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I agree with all of this. It used to be a constant barrage of bullets on opening day. This was the first opener I've hunted in 3 years and I didn't hear all that much shooting and zero in the piece I was in and I know I wasn't the only one in there.

I noticed a change in the heard once I started hunting hard again in 2007. Before that I used to have a goal of seeing 1 nice one from a tree a season and it didn't happen every year. From 2008 it was like a switch went off and I started seeing 100-130" deer multiple times a season.

Anyone that says the antler restrictions haven't worked are just looking for a scapegoat to blame their lack of success on. In my area at least.

"I used to see 20 deer a day" ..... yeah and 19 of them were antlerless and the 20th was a spike.

Seeing a lot of deer helps pass the time but I'll take quality over quantity.

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bowmike
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Re: Last years Crummy weather for PA rifle season pays off b

Unread postby bowmike » Wed Dec 07, 2016 9:45 am

A hunting buddy of mine shot this is the same area I hunt. LOL I am happy for him but now I think it is just salt in the wound on shooting a decent 2.5 year old buck. Bucks like this one are not common, but I would say once every 3 years or so one gets taken off of the area I hunt. I need to have some sort of device on my bow that only lets it draw back if it is 3.5 or older. LOL man that sucks. LOL

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That is a freaking giant for public land PA.
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Re: Last years Crummy weather for PA rifle season pays off b

Unread postby DeerDylan » Wed Dec 07, 2016 9:52 am

That is a tank! Congrats to him.

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Re: Last years Crummy weather for PA rifle season pays off b

Unread postby Rich M » Wed Dec 07, 2016 10:51 am

The first thing I noticed was all the racks on the wall behind him. I'm guessing several generations of hunters?

Nice deer for sure.
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Re: Last years Crummy weather for PA rifle season pays off b

Unread postby CallMeFishmael » Thu Dec 08, 2016 5:11 am

I wish Michigan would follow suit. If we had APRs, our hunting would change similar to your experience. I would be the farm if I had one. For the 12 county area where it has been implemented here, a definite improvement has been noted. People argue against APRs but the fishing world has had minimum size requirements and those have always improved fishing. In Michigan, you used to catch a ton of 10" bass until they raised the minimum to 14". Guess what, bigger fish on average across the board. It is the same with deer. Here in Michigan, it is generally the older generation that are staunchly again the APR change.
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Re: Last years Crummy weather for PA rifle season pays off b

Unread postby Dewey » Thu Dec 08, 2016 8:13 am

Bad opening day weather with extremely strong winds saved a bunch of bucks in WI this year. Hopefully we see similar results with more older bucks next year. That extra year makes a huge difference.

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