Honestly, and I'm going to catch a lot of flack for this, part of it is the American mentality of "bigger is better." Honestly, look at the trends in the auto industry for example. In the last 5-8 yrs, crude oil has been on a steady rise, but yet, auto manufacturers were pushing for bigger more powerful vehicles, and the public ate them up. It's only just now getting to the point where sales are suddenly starting to take a hit in that segment of the industry.

It's not necessarily a bad thing, nor is it a good thing. We as Americans, however, are fascinated, enamored with size. We want bigger, bigger, bigger. We, as hunters read magazine articles, watch hunting videos, etc and we see this emphasis on 150, 170, 200"+ class deer, and that's where I believe it comes from. IMHO, it's a combination of media exposure (we are all influenced somewhat by media, whether we want to admit it or not), and the bigger is better mentality.

Just read Schultzy's response, and let me add, that if a person chooses to set a size limitation based on personal preference, that's great! I have no problem with that. My theory pertains to more or less the general hunting industry's emphasis on monster bucks.