ORIGINAL: pahunter60
this is my last year being a youth hunter, and im not looking forward for the antler restriction. i just hunt in the rifle season and the deer are usually running and its so hard to count points. im in WMU 1A with the 4 point restriction. is there anybody else that doesnt like the antler restriction, my dad hates it and says it made him lose the interest in deer hunting.
I personally like the restriction, but I can understand where you're coming from. Last year I had a buck trotting along in rifle season and I wasn't 100% sure he was legal when he was at 40 yards broadside. I got him to stop at about 100 yards quartering away and could see he had atleast 3 on his right side. I took a much more difficult shot and ended up only wounding him. I tracked/pushed him for about a mile and chased him right to my brother who finished the deal. The deer ended up being a 5 point with a 15 inch spread and a good sized deer, not a yearling. I did see 2 yearling 4 points the same day that I could have easily got one of them. And then hunting the same spot in archery 3 weeks earlier I had 4 little yearlings of 4 points or less circleing under my treestand going crazy over my golden estrus wick and my doe bleat call. It gives me some hope that maybe one of them will be a decent 8 this year as a 2.5 year old. Or that even one of them will make it another year and be a better 3.5 year old next season where before the restriction I am not sure any of them would have made it. JMO