Over 27 years of land ownership on this hill, I have seen the quality "and" number of antlered bucks increase dramatically.
Note however, that prior to PGC-mandated AR'S, in 2000-2001 I was already seeing some great bucks.
However, myself and some neighbors voluntarily restricted our harvest to 8-points and above, several years prior, so I guess we were doing AR.
We also starting encouraging the shooting of more does --- which some of them never wanted to do in earlier years.
I do think that reduced deer numbers encouraged better habitat and that the deer simply lived better and developed better due to that.

IMHO, by far, the very greatest majority of hunters wanted and support this concept. Also, IMHO, I've talked to dozens of hunters since the close of the 2006 season and no doubt about it, the majority are thrilled with the results of the PGCdeer management efforts.
Just check your local papers. If they're anything like here in the N.E.and N.C. area, they are pumped full of pictures of good bucks.