prior to AR's we were taking almost ALL bucks with 3" spikes or better. Research showed that number to be as high as 85% on a consisitent basis. BTW the old 3" spike rule is AR as well. It simply was a much lower threshold.
If we were harvesting 85% of our 1.5 bucks , that means very few of the 1.5 buck were protected by the 3" spike rule, so that is not a factor.
Another reason for supporting AR's that won't fit into your CPA methodolgy is that a 1.5 buck has very limited survival skills when it comes to avoiding predators (man) He's equivalent to a young teenagerAllowing them a pass during the first year allows them the opportunity to learn the skills to possibly survive more than that one year it takes to grow a legal rack.
Now you are just making things up to support your opinions. The antlered buck study showed that 1.5 buck had a high non-hunting survival rate, while only 20% of the 2.5+ buck survived hunting season and the majority of those buck were 2.5+ buck that weren't AR legal..