I got this little 8 Pointer (first pic) at 7:15 am on opening day, Dec 1st, of the PA rifle season this year. He ain't huge, but works for me. The second pic is of the 9 pointer I got 2 yrs ago in exactly the same spot that I shot the 8 pointer this year. My hunting partner and I think the 9 pointer is the father of the 8 pointer. We could be wrong, but there are not many bucks on the mountain we hunt, so the possibility exists. This year I was shooting my SIG SHR970 in 25-06 using the Federal 100 gr Barnes X load.

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Congrats on some nice PA bucks! I have seen some awesome bucks this year. I think the antler restrictions were just what we needed. We will see many more big racks in the future because more and more bucks will be able to live longer.

Thanks for the Congrats!

Iron Buck and anyone else from PA that see's this, I have a few questions for you regarding deer hunting this year.

1. Was the number of deer you saw this year less than the last few years?

2. Did your family or friends notice a decrease in the number of deer in the woods, or in the number of deer that they heard about others taking?

3. Did you happen to notice an increase in the amount of coyote sign in the woods? Or see a greater number of yotes this year compared to the last few years?

The reason I am asking is that the total number of deer that I saw, or heard about being seen or killed, was down dramatically this year. Very few people that I talked to saw many deer at all, and most of those were does. I only know 3 guys that saw bucks. I only saw one live buck other than the one I shot, and only have seen 3 dead bucks total this year. One of those dead bucks was in the back of a truck, and the other two were in the butcher shop.

I did see a large incrase in the amount of coyote sign this year compared to the last 3 or 4 yrs. I saw quite a few tracks, and lots crap as well. Even found some hair on laurel branches this year.

So, I am planning on going coyote hunting this winter. Hopefully I can do some damage to the yote population where I hunt deer. I would suggest that all the guys that only deer hunt, start to add coyote hunting to their time spent in the woods.

[ 12-08-2003, 06:45: Message edited by: 25CalNut ]

The concensus seems to be the upper tier of the state has less deer and the lower tier is the same as years past. My dad heard more shots the second day of bear season than the first day of buck / doe season in Cameron County.

I have seen more bucks than does this season. I hunt mostly in SW PA and in Butler County. I passed on 20 legal bucks this year before I took my 9 point in Archery......the 21st legal buck I had in bow range. I have seen the deer wise up due to the added hunting pressure my areas have been getting. I had to move around a lot more than in the past to stay ontop of deer. I also had to make sure I climbed at leats 24 feet up into trees to keep deer from busting me. They have seeen enough hunters in stands around here to learn that danger comes from above.

I here that we have coyotes here in Allegheny County but I've never seen one. I have seen coyotes in Butler. The farm I hunt up there has TONS of does. Ther yotes sure are not hurting the deer population there. I took my 9 point on that farm this year the last week of Archery. I will try to do a little coyote hunting there after the deer season.

In the southern part of the state, where I hunt, I've seen lots and lots of deer. I haven't seen any bucks this season though, but I've only been out about 2 and a half days. The property I hunt had 4 legal bucks taken off of it the first day, so there probably aren't too many left. I've seen several herds of does of ten or more deer (in fact one such herd was in my yard last night).
If I had seen any coyotes, they wouldn't have lived long, but I did find a few tracks. They don't seem to be denting the deer population much at all.