ORIGINAL: CamoCop
i haven't read every post so i dunno if this has been brought up or not. AR is a good thing to a certain point BUT can also be bad. if you have a buck(s) in the area or on your property with bad genes and they never exceed the legal antler restrictions so they can be harvested, then you will have them breeding does and spreading the bad genes. these bucks need to be identified and taken out of the herd to maximize QDM.
You make a valid point. But, in practice, no program can be perfect. A certain number of the types of buck you describe will fall through the cracks. Pa, for example, partially addresses this problem by allowing juniors, disabled hunters, and active duty military to disregard AR's.
Personally, I would like to see a sensible AR system put into place in Va. This system could, of course, be tweaked as necessary as experience leads to the emergence ofnew ideas.