One million, most of whom are generally lazy: I read an article that said that most of them hunt within 1.5 miles of a road on public land. If you get access to private land or go further than 1.5 miles in the bush, I bet you'd hardly see a soul- or at least be more than 150 yards from another hunter!!
Obviously you have never hunted in Pa. In some parts it is entirely impossible to get more than 1 and a half miles from away from a road. There are other places where you won't get more than a few hundred yards from a road.
I am one of those million plus Pa deer hunters. We hunt one State game lands section that is 3500 acres, and there are several public roads that dissect that property. The Property our club owns is only 65 acres and we lease another 300. We are bordered by private property on all sides that crawl with hunters. As for what makes a"DRT" shot more attractive over a typical lung heart shot, well I think there is a very strong argument. In an area such as PA, there is a very real probability that if you don't drop a der instantly, or atleast within a couple hundred feet you may very well find yourself on someone else' property and there is no guarantee that you will be allowed access to retrieve that deer. We routinely take shoulder shots to anchor deer more quickly just for the above reason.
If you haven't seen a well hit deer travel more than 100-150 yards, you haven't hunted highly pressured deer very much. Last year we tracked a doe that had been hit high in the right front shoulder for almost a mile. When we found her and gutted her 1 lung was collapsed and the liver was shredded, and the heart torn. Deer energized by adrenaline are phenomenal creatures, and are capable of very surprising feats.
As far as hunters in Pa being lazy I think you should come out here and hunt. Yes there are lazy hunters here and I try every year to send everyone I come in contact with back to Philly or New Jersey. Most hunters I run into fall into 2 groups. 1 being the group who comes out on the first couple of days and just enjoys being in the woods, he stays out in a stand for a couple of hours then comes back for a nap and something to eat and maybe BS with the other guys in camp for a while then goes back to his stand for the eveining. He gets together with buddies on Saturdays and do deer drives all day. The second are the guys who hunt every hour of every day possible. These guys hunt hard, and cover as much ground as possible, even if it means covering the same ground often by different methods.
Honestly in my opinion Tagging a big buck on public land in Pennsylvania is perhaps one of the hardest things to accomplish in all of deer hunting
