ORIGINAL: MC Bowhunter
It wont help. The only way it will help is with the people who hunt all three seasons. I don't know if there is a way to fix that problem unless you do a antler restriction for rifle season. It's a known fact people who have no clue grab a gun during rifle season and head to the woods for the first time of the year in hopes one will run by. But you can't do that for just one method of hunting. One thing you need to consider is a trophy to one person may not be to another. And most people out during gun season really don't care what they shoot. The people who are really hunting for big horns won't shoot the nice basket rack that needs to get bigger.But the person who just got picked up by his buddies to go deer hunting sure will.
MC
Good point, made me think of things from a slightly different perspective.
Maybe the best solution would be to raise the price of the tag and reward those that harvest deer meeting those guidelines during rifle and muzzleloader seasons by returning a significant portion of the tag fee to them. Then give the hunter the option of accepting the funds or donating them to a program that purchases or improvesland for public hunting.
...and have a cheaper youth tag as well