A nice opening day buck

[Graybeard]

My friend Barry got a nice 8 point buck yesterday on the PA season opener of gun season. There is the photo of him and the buck.



Here is the story in his own words:

Well our first day is done and what a mild day for hunting deer! I don't know how anyone could have gotten cold today!

I was in the woods and down almost into the steepest part of the hollow where I could see the bottom of it! I heard four shots long before it was light enough to shoot! At least in the woods it was still dark!  :eek:  I guess those flashlights they use to walk into there stands come in handy :-)!
 
And remembering what you mentioned about not hearing many shots in Kentuck I started counting shots! And after 45 minutes of sitting where I was and seeing no activity I decided to do some hunting afoot! I wanted to hunt up and along the hillside to another place that is often good!
 
As I worked my way to that area I saw a doe that must have seem me move or heard something as she slowly disappeared walking away from me! She wasn't alarmed just didn't like the situation! She looked behind her once so I started looking hard at the brush where she had glanced! So I see the backend of a deer and as I move along the body I see horns at the head :-)! Now this buck is just kind of rubbing on a sapling not hard more like something to do! And that is why I think it didn't notice the young doe moving off!  So it left that sapling and moved at an angle going up the hill to the next sapling and starts just rubbing not raking it! So I am looking hard to try and count points as its in some real brush! Had it gone in the direction of the young doe or maybe it was a button buck I would have lost sight right away!  But in the direction its moving its gonna put more distacnce between us! Its like about 40-50 yards away! So it stops again and I can see the shoulder well and the points that I can see look like they are good to go! So I'm standing there freehand and I figure its time to shoot if I'm gonna! I fire and when I come down from the light recoil I see the buck moving in the same direction it had been going! So I wonder what "did I miss as it was sure brushy there" and I'm trying to watch for another shot when it stops and then I see it wobble and lower the gun! It falls down and struggles just a little and the goes still! Now I can tell you had I had the LW243 I would not have taken that shot! I'm not saying I'd not have taken the buck as it might have come clear farther along but I wouldn't have tried to push that little bullet into it in that brush! Also had the brush been between us like half way or so I'd not have taken the shot but since the buck was standing right in the stuff I figured the 270 could reach it so the 308 was good to go! And I can tell you that the Ruger 308 is really a nice woods gun :-) that handles really well and shooting it freehand is a breeze! It makes you better!
 
So at about 7:50AM I had a buck down and I had heard 112 shots prior to taking my shot! Then I lost all focus on trying to count any additional shots :-)! Some were awfully far away and some were pretty close!
 
Now the buck came through my hunting area slowly on the move and that is what really makes it nice for me! He wasn't being pushed and was just doing what a buck would be doing that time of year! A little luck and it made for a nice hunt!

I can't talk my friend into posting here but I wanted to share the story of his opening day buck at a photo of it with you.

[biglmbass]

Nice buck!  Great symmetry.

[loaded4bear]

Real nice deer! One of the nicest I've seen taken so far in the PA gun season.

I believe that this deer is living proof that QDM practices work. A lot of PA hunters are complaining about seeing fewer deer in the woods, now that we're a couple years into the restructured deer management program in Pennsylvania.

The reality is that you can have habitat that is over run with deer due to an unbalanced buck/doe ratio & an immature age structure of bucks who don't survive past 1 1/2 years, or you can embrace QDM principles w/ antler point restrictions & liberal doe harvest allotments that seek to balance the herd with quality animals. The hard fact is that you can't have it both ways!

Hunters that want a realistic opportunity to tag a "trophy" class deer have to accept the fact that there will be days spent afield where you will see few, if any, deer.  We also can't  kill all the 1 1/2 old bucks and then complain that there are no big racks seen in the woods where we hunt.

[slayer]

I agree L4Bear, I would rahter have Quality over Quantity :grin: I can tell you, that is a very nice deer for PA, even for Allegheny and Washington counties, where they grow like that reguraly. Jack.

[samuel]

Very nice Deer. Definately wall hanging quality in my book.

[JPSaxMan]

I agree L4Bear, I would rahter have Quality over Quantity :grin: I can tell you, that is a very nice deer for PA, even for Allegheny and Washington counties, where they grow like that reguraly. Jack.

Agreed. I'd rather have a family of 4 or 7 well nourished, healthy, and balanced buck:doe ratio deer as opposed to a herd of 20 to 40 emaciated, out of balance buck:doe ratio, and diseased deer on my hunting grounds.

And that's a nice buck period...no matter what state  :grin:

[nyhunter863]

"The reality is that you can have habitat that is over run with deer due to an unbalanced buck/doe ratio & an immature age structure of bucks who don't survive past 1 1/2 years, or you can embrace QDM principles w/ antler point restrictions & liberal doe harvest allotments that seek to balance the herd with quality animals. The hard fact is that you can't have it both ways!"   No you can't have it both ways, but how long can the liberal doe harvest last?  Certainly can't  for too long, since deer numbers are already lower.  Then what?  The state will probably not give doe permits in many areas which will lead to fewer hunters being allowed to take a doe, while at the same time being restricted to shooting bucks that have 3 or 4 points to a side.  End result will be lower success rates, and more hunters losing interest in deer hunting altogether.  Maybe that's what the whole plan is about.  To have the state become a trophy state where the common man is run off so that the elite can lease it all out and throw the big money around?  Remember, many hunters hunt for the enjoyment and the meat deer hunting can provide.  Big antlers have very little to do with this.  The states responsibilty is to manage the deer herd, and NOT to manage it for trophy hunters!

[slayer]

I also agree with that, and have noticed alot less Deer this year. Maybe, they should cut back a little on the antlerless tags. My brother and his friends didn`t even see 1 deer in McKean county this year, that is bad. I remember seeing hundreds back in the 80`s, that was way to many. Seams like it has gone too far the other way in some counties. Jack.