I am all for the restrictions.I see it was a way to improve the quality of thedeerage structureand to balance the buck/doe ratio rather than a trophy thing. I understand that VT's harvest before restriction was something like 80% spikes. There is something wrong there. A trophy is in the eye of the beholder, but to most hunters afork or basket 6 is not a trophy.The no spike rule at least allows the buck to gain another year of experience before coming under the gun.

Does are available in somezones for the meat guys too. And one should remember that a 3" min spike was an antler restrictionas well. Ithas just been upgraded.

I remember reading an interview with one of the Benoits. He said they only shot racked bucks in VT as kids, and not spikes because they HAD racked bucks.Just before restrictionmost of the male deer harvest was spikes and forks because thats mostly what was left for hunters to shoot.

I also feel that VT deerhunters (I am notVT resident)are some of the best in the country. They had overharvested the adult buck population, so the little guys need a break. VT hunters are just toogood!

Also, once the age structure and B/D ratio is in line, the AR can be lifted.

My 2 cents worth....