OK maybe this is a different view
but all those that say antler restrictions should NOT be out there and that youy cannot eat the antlers views
WHY does an antler restriction even bother to you. as if your looking for MEAT< doe out number bucks several to one in most places and in some places WAY out number the bucks to do ratio's exist
so if your meat hunting, shoot a doe, there NOT that hard to find!
NEXT the antler restriction IMO< is meant more for allowing bucks to get older, so your NOT having the majority of breeding being done by juvenile males, as I doubt in any species its GOOD to have the young doing the majority of the breeding!
which a AR does very well, as it allows MOST first antlered males to make it past there first yr
Prior to the AR"s MOST all bucks shot in PA were very young deer and very few older males period!
NOW as for the insurance agency's strong arming there way into having a say in deer numbers, I see it thus way,
in today's world where MONEY has power, I think its impossible to say there isn't some leaning going on behind closed doors
BUT I also doubt its anything BIG
PA< has been known to be one of the largest deer population states out there and for yrs was in the top 3 for most deer and deer hunters!
as well as for super high deer vehicle collisions, and back in Pa's prime there(PA game commission ), they sure were NOT managing anything with the HABITAT In mind, deer destroyed most of the forested land in PA< and that was the MAIN reason for the HUGE reduction in deer numbers if anyone recalls this!, MOST folks that work.worked for the game dept, don;t like this fact, but its true!
took them YRS to admit they dropped the ball and left things go TOO Long
and many places are still in BAD shape due to having been damaged so much, poor browse is still a problem in many places, a whitetail deer's NORMAL MAIN food source, deer eat other things but by nature there browser's
when they ran out of good browse they ate everything else LOL
SO< IF insurance company's had power they would have been using it a LONG time ago, when deer numbers were at there peak, not now where IMO , most states DO manage for habitat and NOT about the CLAIM TO FAME for having the most deer and deer hunters!
nor are they managing for insurance company's
game depts WANT hunters money too, they loose hunters they loose money, so they do there best to make money and that means make hunters happy, but habitat can ONLY support so many deer period, doesn't matter if hunters want more or not!