RE: Vermont Passes Antler Restriction
I would have preferred to see an AR of 3pt on one side, but I am happy that we have AR at all.
You need to have a little background on the average number of points. In Vermont, a point is listed as a "discernable" point. There was no measurement of at least an inch. The old saying of "if you can hang a ring on it, it is a point" was in effect. The AR rule says that it must be at least one inch long. I think this alone will hold off a lot of people from dropping the hammer.
Still, let's look at a hypothetical situation on an average of 2.9 points. Let's say there are 100 1.5 year old bucks. A third have 2 pts, a third have 3 pts, and a third have 4 pts. This averages to 2.99 points per deer (a little higher than our true average), but I think these are reasonable assumptions. Let's assume that all the 2 pointers survive (33 deer). Let's also assume that half of our 3 pointers survive due to hunters not being sure if that third point is an inch or not (16 deer). Finally let's assume that 5% of our 4 pointers survive (2 deer). If you add it all up that's 51 deer out of 100 that would survive - or 51%. I'll take that success rate any day.
. . . Rob