ORIGINAL: alsaqr
The future of hunting in OK is to get more young folks involved in the sport. Dramatically raising the price of tags is guaranteed to have the opposite effect.Your proposal is much too complicated to administer.
I understand that, I just forgot to address it. I would suggest a lower-priced buck tag without theharvest restrictions for the youth...say the same price as the mature buck tag until they are about 16-18. That would be cheaper than 'they' are paying now (I am sure their parents are the ones paying in most cases).
ORIGINAL: alsaqr
You are opposed to minimum antler requirements. Yes, there are some olderbucks with inferior antlers breeding does. But there are not enough of them to matter. I am in agreement with the DNR about lowering the number of bucks killedto two. That is probably what will happen.
We'll see how it affects the deer herd ifthis type ofantler restrictionis implemented. My educated opinion is that it will have a positive effect upon recruitment of younger deer into the older age classes, but over a period of several years, the quality of antlered deer will begin to decline. If people are going to be shooting bucks, I would rather they be non-selective in the way that they do it instead of being forced totake the best out.
I know of some hunting clubs that have implementeda similartypeof management for years and they are paying for it now. One had an antler restriction of 8-points and, I believe it was, a 16-inch spread since the 70's, now they have a bunch of mature, 15-inch, 7-pointers running around. Doesn't sound like something I want on my hunting grounds.
If the antler point restriction is implemented, people will see the initial positive effects and be oblivious to the long term problems that it will be causing. This will make it harder than heck to change when this negative trend begins to show up in the herd and by the time it has become a visible-enough problem for them to want to make a change, it may be beyond 'easy' repair by a change in policy.