Sep 29, 2002 By Rod Schoener 4 min read

A recent talk with Kevin Polish at Kevin’s Archery in Carmichaels revealed that area hunters are divided down the middle on antler restrictions. “Right now it is about half and half,” Polish said. “You have a lot of the older hunters coming in and they’re not too keen on it. A lot of the young, the big buck hunters, the young boys that have a lifetime ahead of them, they’re like ‘hey, this is cool. We’re going to be able to hunt big bucks. We’re going to have big bucks.’

“For my personal opinion, which means nothing, I think its going to be hard with the number of hunters we have in the state to manage this. In certain areas I think it’s going to work just fine, but it’s going to be 50-50. We wish the Game Commission the best of luck. I wish Dr. Alt (Pennsylvania’s deer management coordinator) the best of luck.”

I ask Kevin, “Are the bowhunters taking a lot of antlerless deer now, actually any more than they killed in years past?”

His response was, “Since the Game Commission has been encouraging hunters to kill more does in the past couple years and to fill their antlerless tags, and most hunters have the opportunity to get two or more antlerless deer tags, my sales the past two years have increased dramatically during the six weeks of the season.

“More people are taking does with their bows; they’re using more equipment. They are using more arrows and broadheads, where before when we only had the one doe and the one buck, it was a little more selective. More bow hunters were out there trying to take a nice antlered deer, and if they didn’t succeed, they would take a doe. Now its almost automatic that about 90 percent of the bowhunters who come in my store take at least one doe with a bow, because they can still muzzleloader hunt and they can still rifle hunt.”

Kevin has been stirring interest in harvesting more does by conducting a doe pool on the first day of the archery season.

“This is the eighth year we’ve offered the doe pool, and it is just a blast. We also offer a buck pool for the biggest buck. We get a free mount from Krupa’s Taxidermy in Smithfield.

“The doe contest is so much fun. We split it up into counties, realizing that there are some counties within 50 or 75 miles of us that offer some big deer because of their guidelines and other factors.

“What we have done the last three or four years is switch it so Greene County has one pool, Fayette County has one pool and all other counties have a separate pool. I try to change it a little every year.”

There is still time to sign up for the doe contests.

The Fayette and Greene County contests will return 50 percent of the entry fee to the hunter who takes the heaviest doe. Second place will receive 30 percent and third place will get 20 percent.

All of the entry fee will go to the winner of the all other county contest.

No button bucks are eligible. Only doe will be accepted.

All deer must be field dressed accordingly, but to allow for fairness, the winner in all classes must win by two pounds or more. If the weight difference is less than two pounds, the entrants will split the prize money evenly.

Polish said there have been rumors of some nice bucks in the Jefferson and Garard’s Fort areas, but no real “monster” bucks have been sighted to his knowledge.

“It’s not really different than any other year,” Kevin said. “I haven’t had anybody come in here and say ‘Kevin, I saw a state record in this field.’ Most of the time when we are judging the deer, we are misjudging them anyway.”

ARCHERY SEMINAR: Saloom Department Store of Mount Pleasant will hold its Fall Archery Seminar at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3 in the store.

Quaker Boy Game Calls staff professional Doug Myers will be the featured speaker for the seminar, which is presented in conjunction with Quaker Boy and Browning Archery.

Seating is limited, so it is best to call for reservations at 724-547-2207.

Refreshments will be served.

PARTING SHOT: Make it a safe hunt. If you plan to hunt from a tree stand, be sure to wear a safety harness.

Herald-Standard outdoor writer Rod Schoener can be reached on line at rschoener@heraldstandard.com