I have to admit, when Gary Alt first proposed his deer management plan and the PGC Adopted it I was disappointed (in the doe permits, I liked the antler restriction from day 1). The deer numbers dropped dramatically. As the deer population dwindled so did the license sales. There were a few years i struggled to see deer, I'm not sure why i continued to hunt during that time. But now, some 17 years later, look at what we have, yes it's been a long time but the quality of bucks has now increased significantly, the buck to doe ratio is a little more in check, you can actually rattle and grunt without scaring every buck in a 2 mile radius into the next county. I don't consider drawing back on anything less than 100"s. And this year it might be 120" I know of 3 140" Plus bucks in the area I hunt, one was killed the other 2 made it through the season.
I'm not a meat hunter, I enjoy being in the woods and really look forward to taking a trophy buck, all while watching smaller bucks fight and carry on like youngsters, these last couple years have been extremely satisfying. A couple years ago pretty decent 8 point walked by my Daughters stand, I told here to take it. She said we'll wait for a bigger one, that made my day. When i was her age I would have shot it and been the happiest guy in the world. She said it'll be bigger next year, now look 3 140 class bucks, Times are changing