ORIGINAL: bluebird2
If you think that is what was said you really do have some serious comprehension deficiencies.
Wrong again. We were told we would have more and larger buck than ever before and both claims were a lie.. The only way that could happen is if the 2.5+ buck were larger due to antler restrictions and it didn't happen.
No one from the Game Commission ever said they did or would produce beter antlers on 2 1/2 year old bucks even though they did say there woudl be more 2 1/2 year old bucks available to hunters, and there are.
The claim was made that by improving the age structure ,the superior dominant 2.5+ buck would do the vast majority of the breeding,thus improving the gene pool and producing bigger racked buck. As a result many hunters believe the 2.5 buck now have bigger racks and weigh more than before ARs.
Having larger antlers on 2 ½ year old bucks most certainly is not the only way you would have more and bigger buck then before antler restrictions. For you to suggest something so absurd clearly proves just how completely clueless you are.
Before antler restrictions we killed about 80% of our 1 ½ year old bucks every year. When we went to antler restrictions we started protecting about 50% of those 1 ½ year old bucks and allowing them to live a year longer. Since that then makes those 2 ½ year old instead of 1 ½ year old when they are available for harvest certainly means both more and bigger bucks even though those 2 ½ year old bucks are no larger then previous 2 ½ year old bucks.
You do know that 2 ½ year old bucks typically have larger antlers then 1 ½ year old bucks don’t you?
Here are the history of 2 ½ year old bucks harvested across the state for the past twenty five years so al can see how close that number has come to doubling since Doctor Alt first brought the topic to the forefront in 1999. Starting in 1999 we started to see some voluntary movement toward antler restrictions among the hunting fraternity so the period between 1998 and 2002 showed some improvement from the previous fifteen years.
Years…………..2 ½ and older bucks harvested per square mile
83-87.………………………….0.65
88-92.………………………….0.68
93-97.………………………….0.68
98-02.………………………….1.07
03-07.………………………….1.29
As you can see the number of 2 ½ and older bucks has almost doubled as compared to the old traditional data for 2 ½ and older bucks.
I will agree that the total buck numbers probably haven’t doubled yet, but that is most likely only due to the lower fawn recruitment rates we had following those harsh winter years a few years ago. Hunters can’t harvest deer, as adult bucks, when they died within days of being born. As fawn recruitment improves so will the buck harvest, but not until two years later when the those fawns become adult bucks.
R.S. Bodenhorn