I grew up in Vermont....moved to Montana almost 30 years ago. I can tell you that New England hunters are hands down far better hunters than anyone I've met out here......that's not a slam against hunters who were born and raised in Montana......they just have never had to learn how to really hunt because of the abundance of game. It becomes even more obvious when you start looking at mature whitetail bucks hunters out here have taken who were raised hunting mule deer and elk. Most big whitetails taken my the Montana natives are taken by accident and very few have taken more than a handful of nice whitetails. After saying this I'm sure someone from Montana who was born and raised here is going to read this and take me to task on it, but I've hunted with countless guys who were born and raised here and know of no one who routinely kill big whitetails. I take that back.....I know of a couple of ranchers who allow no one to hunt except family members who have killed several big whitetails over the years.

But getting back to the original topic, making spikehorns illegal in Vermont will do little to improve the deer herd there. Shorten the season to 10 days, move it up so that it starts Nov. 1 (so that it doesn't coincide with the rut), allow a hunter one buck per season (whether it's with a bow, rifle, or muzzleloader), make the legal hunting hours sunrise to sunset (instead of 1/2 hour before and 1/2 hour afterwards) and you'll see an improvement in the deer herd. My two cents worth.