Pa AR changes pos

Will Shaver said:

I’ve seen a lot of nice 5 and 6 points with wide heavy racks. Would I shoot one if they were legal, you betcha. Would most of my older buddies who still hunt for meat instead of horns, yep they’d shoot the first nice sized Buck regardless of the size of the rack. Would i shoot a little spike, no.

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5 and 6 point bucks are already legal in much of the state.

octagon said:

We on the West side of the state have different rules with the 3 Up rule. That is definitely political. Just not sure which group had the pull to get that one thru. I say 3 points to a side, state wide.

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And my statement could still be true and politics had nothing to do with the rule either.

nicerack said:

It’s the same legislation that passed the bill to eliminate the pink mail in application for doe tags
No one’s complaining about.

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Yes, they finally voted to REMOVE what was basically a political move in the first place to have county treasurers involved. So they finally gave the authority solely to the PGC.

Grown men and women complaining about opportunities for youth. THAT'S the failure.

triggercreep said:

What's next Bear cubs?

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I have no respect for shooting cubs.

RegularJoe said:

Guys think shooting a year and a half old buck is ok because they have a tag and want to fill it, a year and half old cub is taboo though, why the double standard?

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A year and a half old bear is not a cub. Not at all what I'm referring to. I'm talking about cub born that year in the den and killed that fall. That is a cub, less than a year old. You aren't shooting a year and half old bear (a yearling) unless you're spring bear hunting (which I did in New Brunswick at age 13, killed a yearling in the month of June.) I'm not elitist just ethical and intentionally shooting cubs and fawns is not ethical to me. I don't shoot button bucks or any running big game either.

I'm against eliminating AR for anyone except juniors, disabled or active military but for sure shoot any legal buck you want. I certainly do (when I bowhunted I did tend to hold out for a good buck.) I personally just find shooting fawns and cubs to be very undesirable. I killed a yearling,105lbs. I was 13 and it was actually my first experience big game hunting. I was very happy and so was everyone else for me but even then I knew I had killed a bear that I should've let go and would've with more experience. I would love to get a PA bear but I'll never even shoot a yearling again to do it.

Regular Joe, they typically stay with their mothers for about a year and a half. They're born in the den one winter and den with their mother's the next winter and emerge with their moms a second spring but are usually run off around May/June.

Potter Co. Joe said:

This years license will be my will be my 52nd, I think I deserve to have the option.

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Deserve's got nothing to do with it. Be grateful you wake up in the morning.

Potter Co. Joe said:

I don't think the PGC is considering dropping AR for Srs. for any type of gain, I think the idea behind it is giving the Srs. more opportunities.
and will have no impact on license sales.

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I don't think they're considering it at all. This proposal is just more Legislative interference. The PGC didn't propose this nonsense.

Potter Co. Joe said:

It would have ZERO effect on the deer herd, with that said why would anyone be against it?
Beyond that the youngins out there may understand better when they reach Sr. status.

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Because it's unnecessary. IMO the only exceptions to AR, if we're going to have any should be limited to Junior/MY hunters and Disabled hunters.

What I understand is that this is just an attempt by some older hunters that never accepted AR to get around it.

Potter Co. Joe said:

Well I think it is Unnecessary for the Jrs. as well. Let them earn their way thru the ranks as we all did. IMO that would mold a better sportsman.
I see some very young kids in these MY success pictures and wonder how many actually shot the deer. Like all the Mentors
trout fishing on the kids day.
As for those mentioning entitlement well so be it, beyond hunting Srs. get many perks in todays world so why not hunting.

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Petty.

5chunter said:

I’m not even 40 years old yet and I support the change letting the seniors shoot what they so please. Biggest reason that I support it is my late grandfathers last 2 years of hunting had a crack at a buck each of his last rifle seasons but did not pull the trigger for fear that his 86 and 87 year old eyes were playing tricks on him and what if the buck didn’t have 3 points on that one side as he thought looking through his old weaver k4.

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If you can't ID a buck, you don't shoot it, no different than anyone else. And if your eyesight is that poor you can't tell at all when with a scope, then it's time to hang up the rifle, sit on the front porch at camp and reminisce. Sorry bit this is a ridiculous argument, like most of thr others here. Safety first, no excuses, no sentimentalism.

WOL said:

Have any states had AR and dropped it? It would be interesting to look at how things turned out there.

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When you drop AR, you're going to lose the benefits of AR. That's how it turns out. Personally I don't need to wonder about it and this attempt by some useless legislator is really a first step in trying to go backwards entirely IMO.

5chunter said:

Well I wasn’t posting an argument just stating my opinion that’s all but I appreciate the response. Maybe seniors should’t get medicare or reduced health insurance either cause after all it’s just time to die.

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Well we're all on our way out, act accordingly.

Patrapper01 said:

An older fella not being able to cypher a 1" point to determine if a buck is legal or not isn't a safety concern, lame excuse. The only reason not to want seniors to shoot smaller bucks is pure selfishness, afraid they'll take your deer. Last I checked they wanted the herd thinned out for CWD anyway, do you think those snipers they contract are counting points?

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No, selfishness is men whining they need special rules for deer hunting just so they can kill another buck. Meanwhile some of these same whiners also lament that junior hunters shouldn't be allowed to relaxed antler restrictions "because we didn't have it whrn we were younger." Same type of Fudd mentality that doesn't like MY trout day because "kids don't need to be catered to."

C'mon, common sense tells you if can see the point, it's very likely at least an inch. If you can't see enough points, don't shoot. As soon as I see a buck I just count points until see 3 on one antler. After that I don't care, I focus on making a quick, clean kill. With bucks with only 2 up and with very small brow tines I definitely look over closer and likely let go.

nicerack said:

There a lot of science behind this. I’m not a biologist but if puzzles me why they want older bucks to breed. For example. If a ten point buck breeds a doe and her off spring is a buck. When he is a 1 1/2 yo spike doesn’t he have his dads 10 point genes at the point. Or does his DNA change as he gets older. Unlike humans 10 years old 100 hundred years old your going to crank out the same kid. Assuming it doesn’t then why wouldn’t it be ok for spikes. 4 point to breed then be shot . rather then waiting til they are 2 3 4 year olds.

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They want a better age structure among bucks and preferably for mature bucks to do most of the breeding. Prior to AR, there were very few bucks living (and breeding) beyond 1-2yrs.