Originally Posted by
Tumabuck
Hate to say it, but michigan does need the state or QDMA to get a quality deer herd. With as many hunters as we have in this state how many of us share the same mentality on letting the small bucks go? Its goin to have to be a mandatory thing that everyone has to follow, or a quality deer herd in michigan will never happen... period! Let him go so he can grow!
I think someone should be able to shoot whatever size buck is a trophy to them. But with 2 per hunter and nobody shooting does, no wonder the herd is out of whack. Limit it to one buck per hunter so they have to make it count, and put measures in place to force a greater take of does. I don't know about where you hunt but there are a FRACTION of the hunters there were 15 years ago.
I'm a hardcore doe hunter (average 3-4 per year forever) but I've even noticed the difference in my attitude moving to Indiana where you only get one buck. I don't even THINK about shooting anything less than 8 points. In Michigan I dropped the first legal buck I saw, then hoped I also saw something bigger. Usually I did not. Because everyone in Indiana seems to be following the same standards, we have bigger bucks and I have gotten an 8 and a 9 in my two seasons here.