You won't see much age diversity because the entire northern tier was clearcut in the early 1900's,leaving an even-aged stand of timber.The ANF was being logged heavily in 1980's until the treehuggers sued and halted the logging.When they started cutting again,the surrounding habitat was so bad that the deer would maul the clearcuts.That's why for about 20 years,they had to fence every cut.It is scientifically indisputable that the herd needed to be drastically reduced.They did what needed to be done and the best hunting of our lives is just starting.I started to hunt in 1980 and my doe application was rejected.Luckily I killed a 4" spike that year.Last year my 15 year old son shot a beautiful 18" 9 point with a bow and at least 7 more doe,all on land DMAP'd and open to the public.The hunting is way better today compared to when I was a kid and it get's better every year.
The hunting is way better now...for trophy deer.
That works for me, but to get there, a community of hunters who didn’t have that mindset about hunting were put out.
IMO, that wasn’t necessary, had the process to achieve where we’re now heading been better managed.
I absolutely know there are more nice bucks now than in the past.
I hunted two years ago, only two days with the bow and a day and a half with the gun.
I was surprised at the number of deer and quality of bucks I saw. I let two shootable bucks go and saw several smaller bucks with the bow. One was quite a nice buck but I already had a bigger buck tagged in NY, had plans to gun hunt with family, and hadn’t been in the tree long, so I held out. I bumped into a dandy while gun hunting, but got caught off guard and missed the opportunity.
Those deer were up there with my best PA buck from before the restrictions and herd reductions.
Yet...long ago, I took my first buck ever in the forests of PA, a 17” 8pt. It isn’t my biggest PA public land buck, but I celebrated that accomplishment with a camp full of happy successful hunters and a pole full of bucks.
The hunting was pretty good back then, too.