Well DD, we found at least one point we can agree on. You are absolutely correct that we need to kill does to be an effective manangement tool. You are also somewhat correct in saying that the the most vocal of anti-hunting hates trophy hunting. Usually they try to imply that trophy hunters take the head and waste the rest, another myth. I think most here will agree that the nuetral, non hunting public would be more offended by the massive harvesting of immature deer than the taking of mature adults. Yes, doe seasons take a bit of toll on the young does and button bucks but not nearly as much as you have implied. As a matter pf fact, the PGC fawn mortality study results put hunting way down the list of causes of fawn deaths. of 218 fawns in the study only 7 were killed by hunters.

Passing those spikes and y bucks is allowing SOME of our young deer to age to 2 1/2. Some of those will now be educated enough to live to 3 1/2, 4 1/2 and older. Gary Alts stated goal was to balance the buck/doe ratio
(and if you really believe our B/D ratio is 1:2 then maybe you should hire Santa Claus to manage our deer) and to manage for an older breeding class of adult males. AR, coupled with higher doe kills, will do that. It's not going to be perfect but the average age of our bucks will increase over time. Gary Alt was very clear when he repeatedly said that bigger racks would be a BY-PRODUCT of a sound scientific management program.

You and your "it aint broke! don't fix it!" buddies are the anti hunting crowds best ally. Here on one hand we have an experienced, well educated, wildlife management professional attempting to manage the herd for all interests, other wildlife, the forest, hunters, and non hunters and then we have the short sighted hunter that gripes because he might not get a shot because he now has to take a bit more care to see if thats a legal buck before he shoots. Worse yet, he might not have that set of spikes or y's to saw off and admire for a day or two before the dogs drag em off!