ORIGINAL: Sylvan
Wow, someone who can approach this subject unselfishly and with a rational mind. How refreshing!
Well let me start by saying that I can't speak for all of NY state but only my little piece of it. In my little piece I reject totally the premise that mature buck are that rare. Now granted, I'm retired and have a lot of time to hunt, and do, and I'm fortunate enough to be able to hunt a fair amount of good private land but still, as far as I can tell mature whitetail buck are taken pretty much everywhere in NY under the current rules. So we are not talking about not having the option to hunt them but about how to increase the chances of getting one for those that it's important to. Seems that you and I both understand that for many, it's not important at all. I might argue that it's not important enough to most hunters and totally eliminating their current option of taking a small buck wouldn't balance against the wants of a few to merely increase their chances of taking a large mature one. But no matter, even if it's the wants of a few, the desire is a legitimate one and the question you posed was how to satisfy both camps. I really don't think it is possible to do that on a state wide basis so I would suggest it's done kind of piece meal. Why not set aside given areas kind of like they do now with the trophy sections on streams. I won't suggest specific details right now as that would take some serious planning but it seems that kind of approach might indeed let everybody have their cake and eat it too.
With regard to xbows. Certainly. I wouldn't be interested myself but an xbow season would certainly increase our options and might get a few more youngin interested in hunting.
Thanks for the response. I know that central NY area, don't know the WMU off hand tried to implement an AR restriction in their area and it was rejected. Maybe DEC should cast a poll to each hunter in varioues WMU area's and find out if they would want the restriction(s). If so, pass the law in those area's rather than a broad NY restriction. This would help those in the needed areas without effecting others, like yourself, in your area. Like you I spend alot of time afield and have more opportunity to see more deer, and I can state that mature deer are few in the area. So I am one of the few that would like to increase my odds of harvesting a large antlered mature deer and can go an entire year without killing one to achieve my goal. With that said, and as you stated, for some it's not that important and I respect that. We all need to find a way to statisfy all the hunters, even though that does sound very niave of me.
Thanks, Rod.