nice [censored] shot!

You APR/QDM’rs have it all wrong. These regulation aren’t growing bigger bucks, they are creating a herd full of 2.5 year old bucks. I can’t find this old article that was about Pennsylvania’s APR system. After like eight years of it, the state had no trophy bucks, only little cruiser 8-ptrs. I read this article numerous times trying to figure out how this could happen, well now being from MN, I can tell you exactly how this happened, because it is happening here right before our eyes. Here’s how it happens:
1.) you force people that were ‘willing’ to shoot deer that were not genetically desirable…aka…spikes, 3-ptrs, 5-ptrs…deer that probably didn’t breed too much. The first deer that came along that looked like this, many hunters shot, and were happy doing so. This meant that the ‘trophy’ 10 or 12-ptr following this forky in todays world is the one getting shot, because the hunter has to pass on the little one, and wait another 30 minutes for the trophy to pass by. in the old times, this 10-ptr lived to be a monster sized deer….not any more, these mid-trophy deer are all being killed. You are forcing people to sit many extra days to kill a deer, and many times this is a trophy that in years past would have lived another year.
2.) by implementing ‘no party hunting’ and ignoring the true law breakers(poachers), you have forced mid to large sized groups to shoot any legal buck they see. and let me tell you, alot of these bucks are getting wounded and die(i’ve personally seen this, so don’t tell me it doesn’t happen). In the old world, law-abiding groups would shoot many does/fawns to fill the groups meat supply, and leave one or two tags open, for any one that wanted to truely sit out in the woods for a chance at a trophy, and yes the person that left the tag open, agreed to stay and hunt afied. In todays’ world, you are basically setting the stage for a person to kill first legal buck that comes along, because hey, he can’t really hunt anymore, he might as well take his 2.5 year old buck and head home. there is no ‘traditional hunting camp’ anymore, just a little buck killing camp.

Prior to APR and no-party-hunting, I would see three or four deer that grossed over the 150+” mark. every year i would see that type of deer. The last three years, i have seen exactly ZERO of these deer, and many of my neighbors have echoed this same report.

So, if you want to truely bring back the big bucks, eliminate the APR and bring back party hunting. Also, start cracking down on these deer-killers that use their grandma’s tag, or their neighbors tag, or friends tag from work. These are the people that got party-hunting eliminated and these are the same people that should be banned from hunting.

If anyone can find the magazine article about Pennsylvania APR failure, please post it.

Jake,
Not trying to burst your bubble, but that deer is 3.5 years old at most, and scores about 125….Let him walk.

: It green scored: Gross 234 5/8″ and netted 227 1/8, He had 25 scorable points and will likely be in the top 3 Non typical – archery in the state of MN all time after the 60 day drying period.