Stealthycat- Our deer in Maryland are so plentiful that the land can barely support our herds, so we desparately need to reduce the number of deer. Sure, it's exciting to see 80 deer on opening day of rifle season, but how exhilarating is it when just one of those deer MIGHT be a buck and even less likely, a buck that is older than 1 1/2 years old?

Moving to an antler restriction lawset will change our herd and our hunting, but I think it's a change that would be for the better. There is a large percentage of hunters in my region (Maryland, Region A) who don't even kill does, period, so an elevated doe harvest would be a good thing. Maybe once the herd gets knocked down after the first year or two, the state should reduce the number of does that can be taken to keep the buck/doe ratio at a desired level...

AR's would yield healthier, more mature deer. Isn't that what interests most of us?