Griz I agree you bring up some very valid points.

My experience is mostly about PA and when the antler restrictions went into effect lots of people complained. Some still do but the fact is we are seeing more and larger bucks period. Even if someone is shooting an small immature six point it is still much larger than what we were seeing say 10 years ago when a six point was a rarity. Continuing with that we are seeing larger bucks and some 130"+ class deer. Now that aren't that common but we see a couple of "big bucks" each year maybe not quite 130 inches but much much better than in the past.

My biggest gripe with the PA Game Commission was the herd reduction program only because it went too far now granted herd reduction was needed and there is no argument there but we went from seeing lots of deer say 30+ in a day in rifle season to seeing 1-2 in the entirety of archery and rifle season. So when I say things are recoving up at my camp that means some days I see nothing but sometimes I see 1 a day and sometimes as many as 12 in a day. Not all are even in range for bow but at least I am seeing deer.

Granted my long stay for archery up there was 4 days in mid November.

Day 1 - I saw one shooter buck
Day 2 - I saw 12 does
Day 3 - I saw 1 doe (in my freezer)
Day 4 - I saw 6 or 7 does

Rifle season I was only able to hunt one day up there and we did lots of drives in the afternoon and I saw exactly zero deer between posting and driving. So all in all i was only skunked once on public land at my camp. Seems to be improving up there and this year should help as well since the does dont get much pressure in rifle like they used to. I hunted quite a bit more around home and at my gun club with my wife and we saw deer on just about each occasion. So like I said its getting better and we are seeing more deer. Everything is relative though. If you were used to seeing 30+ this hunting really stinks but after years of seeing 1-2 an entire season, I can work with what we have now. I do shoot does for meat and I am starting to buck hunt for a buck that was bigger than the last one but I haven't gotten any that many would consider "big" they are real trophies for me.