I wont shoot 1.5 or 2.5 year olds.
I might shoot 3.5 if there is some rack characteristics that I like.
My part of PA is the 3 up rule and several doe licenses are easy to get. I see absolutely no reason to shoot yearling bucks when I can shoot multiple does.
I can understand someone that's not killed very many bucks shooting small bucks, but for veteran hunters, why shoot it if you have doe tags?
The best thing that ever happened to the quality of bucks in PA is the point restrictions. Guys have been forced to let the young ones walk instead of shooting the 1st buck with a 3" spike and now we are regularly producing some book bucks.
I could never understand how a veteran hunter with a few dozen bucks under their belt, would want to shoot dink bucks. They saw off the antlers and toss them in a box in the corner of the garage, never to be seen again. Let the young hunters shoot the young bucks.
I love deer meat, that's what doe tags are for.
I hunt PA some as well.
I have similar expectations of myself as a hunter. But I disagree with assigning similar goals, logic, or standards to other hunters, even veteran hunters, without consideration to their scenario.
As someone who has had some very limited seasons, and who has family who have had similar restrictions on their time afield, I have an appreciation for the excitement and camaraderie that taking a buck, any buck, can foster when it's someone's one day to hunt that year.
The old days in PA were pretty exciting, with deer running everywhere and shots all day every opener. It was alot of fun, even if it hampered the trophy potential.
My father's hunting mentor, who had some impressive mounts on the walls, used to show off that box of spike antlers with utmost pride. He told us, anyone can shoot the big ones, but skilled hunters can get close enough time and again to discern those 1" spikes. It was buck only when we went afield, and we were fine with that.
I think older hunters, who maybe can't hunt how they'd like or used to, or who didn't grow up in a trophy hunting culture or don't really care that much about that stuff, enjoy success on smaller bucks as much as trophy hunters who take the same size or smaller buck as in past seasons.
Lets be honest, how many ONLY hunt for a buck bigger than their biggest? That, to me, is a clear distinction from shoot any buck you like. Otherwise, you are just buck hunting, no matter what size you choose.
Last year my Dad took a medium buck, and he was thrilled. It wasn't close to his biggest. I don't know if he'll ever get another buck, or a bigger one. We thought that buck was a 2yr old. But we found him, for certain, in pictures from the previous two seasons. He really hadn't changed between 2 and 3. Sometimes age can be a bit tricky.
But, yeah, for me, I'm personally trying for nice bucks.