Here is more proof that Alt was claiming the 2.5+ buck would be bigger.
“By increasing the number of
points required to be legal, we will pro-
tect a significant percentage of younger
bucks by allowing them to live longer.
This should increase the number of
bucks living at least one more year and,
in the long term, hunters
will likely see more
and larger bucks than they
have ever seen before.
If he was just referring to the effects of bucks living one year longer due to ARs ,he wouldn't have said the bucks would likely be larger, "in the long term." Instead, the more and larger buck would be seen in the second year of ARs.