RE: Confusion about ARs
Losthorn, you are correct in guessing that the buck succes rate is downsubstantially. Everything in quotes is direct from the PGC website:
"2001 total harvest of 486,014 (203,247 antlered deer)"
"2001 license sales were 1,047,820" so the bucksuccess rate was about 20%
"The 2005-06 antlerless harvest was 233,890 "
"The 2005-06 antlered deer harvest was 120,500"
"2005 license sales were 964,158" so the buck success rate was about 12%
There's no dispute that less hunters are harvesting bucks due to both AR and HR but here's theupside to that
"As a direct result of the three-point and four-point antler restrictions, almost 50 percent of harvested antlered deer were 2.5 years old or older this past season, compared to only 20 percent being that old prior to antler restrictions"