ORIGINAL: muley69

Antler restriction simply allow for more trophy class animals and stabilize the male/female ratio here in Montana. One of the faulty assumptions people tend to make is that the animals with the biggest racks do the breeding. In the natural world, the breeders are the toughest and most agressive animals wether or not they have a large rack. I have seen herd bulls that are smaller then the satelite bulls, for whatever reason the satelite couldn't wrestle the herd from the smaller bull. Generally speaking the larger animals due the majority of the breeding because the heiarchy is determined to an extent by what the animals see in head gear from their opposition. A spike bull won't bump with a 6x6 for a herd at as matter of prudence, however, you may find a brush bull or two that is herd master although they seem to be cheating nature. Antler restrictions allow smaller animals to become more mature. As far as QDM I feel it is a personal decesion, nobody should say what animals somebody should shoot. Hunting is very personal, and I'm not prepared to criticize some 15 year old kid over what he shot. The hunting community has many different ways to divide itself and find things to argue about, what people decide to take shouldn't be one of them.