Pa Whitetail=Big game?

[JerryKo]

I,ve been hunting PA deer since 1984.  I have yet to harvest a deer over 125lbs.  I have shoot a couple of decent racked bucks, but still the body weight was not there.  Is this average for App Mount deer, or should I find a new hunting area?  WMU 2a

Let me here what your harvests have been like.

[SHOOTALL]

most does in VA are 90-120 bucks up to 165 , they do get bigger but most don't get the chance , you most likely have the same thing going on !

[300winny]

Hi there jerry, well that all depends on they're diet, I hunt in the unit 4E which is alittle ways away from 2A but ive shot 4 bucks out of that area all but one of those were roughly 1.5 yr olds and they all went about 140 lbs dressed out and the nice 8 point i got this past year we figured him about 2.5- 3 yrs old and he went 182 lbs dressed out so i would think that deer there should get a little bigger than 120 -125 should, and the average doe goes about 130 -140, but we also have alot of buck laurel and soy beans and corn around my area.

[Davemuzz]

Jerry,

For bucks those are small body weights. Those are probably the average doe weights that I've taken in the upper part of 2B and the lower part of 2D in flintlock season. The bucks are usually 150 to 180, and on occasion, someone will haul one in at 200 or even better, but those are not too often.

I think 300W said it right. It's the local food sources that will determine the size. That will also determine the spring fawn drops of twins or even triplets. IF the food sources are good, you'll see more twins and triplets. I was out last week and saw a set of triplets for the first time in I can't tell you how long. But the local hunting guys have been working very hard the last 5 years to develop food plots for the deer. Seems to be paying off.

Dave.

[JerryKo]

I was thinking of diet myself.  There are mostly hay fields around.  Probably only a dozen or so acres of corn planted.  I also see a good bit of acorns about, but all red oaks.  I'm  wondering if all the recent well drilling might bring about some increase in larger deer.  All the weedy scrub woods have been turned into 3/4 football fields, but I'm not real sure what is growing up for erosion control.  Deer seem to be grazing it though.  I have mixed feeling about all the wells going in.  It has been about 2 1/2 years since first ones went in.  That next season had about 1/2 as many deer harvested as usual. Not many this past year either.  I don't know if all the activity ran them into the adjacent POSTED lot or what.  I haven't been out lately, but should start to see some sign soon.  I'll let you all know.  Thanks for the replies.

[Davemuzz]

Jerry,

I don't think the gas wells themselves have a negative effect on the deer. Lots of new wells going in here....it will change their "running trails" though. If the well drillers have cleared large areas and those areas are growing back, and they are now overgrown with heavy thick brush, chances are once those deer are getting shot at, they will head for the thick stuff and stay there.

It's amazing how long and how well they can sneak in and out of those thick tangles of growth without being seen. Scout around 'em and look for fresh trails of track and droppings. Put a trail cam up if you have one. Once you find their run, get there early and down wind!

Dave

[Rummer]

The age of the deer is also a factor.  Between hunters and cars deer don't live very long in Pennsylvania.  The ones that do get really good at avoiding people and make up a smaller portion of hunter's harvest.

Rummer

[Davemuzz]

The age of the deer is also a factor.  Between hunters and cars deer don't live very long in Pennsylvania.  The ones that do get really good at avoiding people and make up a smaller portion of hunter's harvest.

Rummer

I think there is no "truer" a statement that can be made. In the fall, when that big 'ol buck smells his second or third archery hunter....he heads for the thickest, nastiest, heaviest stuff he can find and he stays there for the next three months.

Dave

[300winny]

Thats exactly right. The area i hunt on is a leased property and there are about 100 acres on one side of a creek and about 250 acres on the other side and on the side i hunt on which happens to be the smaller parcel of the 2 doesnt get but maybe one guy archery hunting on it and the other side has about 8-9 people on it during archery so when rifle season comes in, im right in the middle of the "thickest, nastiest, heaviest stuff" i can  get into. And people always ask me  "WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO HUNT IN STUFF THAT THICK" and i always  have to say "who gets the deer every year" and i dont hear another word from them, and the next year where are they??? You guessed it, in the thick stuff. You hit the nail on the head with that one.

[goodwrench6710]

I have also noticed alot of the big ones live in the brushy areas near houses. If you drive these areas out, you'll see them but they seem to run in the directions that you can't shoot! I honestly believe the big ones are the smart ones! Last year I was hunting a friends Christmas tree farm which is right next to the PA turnpike (traffic noise), till I heard the dear he ran right past me & went down into a posted area then stopped & turned broadside. I think he was taunting me!

[Davemuzz]

Yup!!!!   There's a farm that the PA turnpike runs right by. I have hunted this place in the past. Two years ago I arrowed a nice 8 point there. Three days before that 8 point walked below my stand, I saw the biggest buck I've ever seen in my life. I was a 14 point and the body was massive. He was runnin with some doe's and 2 other bucks, one of 'em a nice 8 point (nicer than the one I got) and he made that 8 point look small.

That was the last time I saw him and from the fellows that hunted there, no one else saw him that season either. Now, no one shot him 'cause we would know and if he were hit on the turnpike, we would know that too. If he were poached, way too many big mouths for that one to keep quiet in this small town.

But....I babble a bit....last year, a group of boys (all from the same family) hunted this farm hard. Late in the second week they took one of their youngest....dressed him in jeans and a shirt...dropped him in the newest nearby housing plan of $500,000 homes and told him to take a walk behind the homes. He jumped about 40 deer including 5 buck from behind this tiny strip of woods. 

Now, I wasn't there to verify this, but that's the legend of how a few nice late season buck were taken on the farm.

Those deer aren't dumb. They know when they are being shot at and they know where "safe" is.

Dave