Well, I have hunted Oklahoma for a long time, and I don't see a problem with guys shooting what they want. I think many guys shoot the smaller bucks becuase some guys just don't see many bucks and have to take the one they see. If they don't shoot the first one they get a chance at, someone else will. I personally would go several years w/o a buck if I had to wait around for an 8 pointer. I just don't see them. Now I know that your point is that I might see them if we enforced a size rule, but I still don't think it is the best deal for Oklahoma. We like to put meat in our freezers, and there is no wrong in that. Now I agree that we'd start seeing a lot nicer bucks if we did this, but I'll also bet you that our harvest would be waaay low if nobody could shoot smaller than that. We already have enough deer in our state, and I think this would just make more. Now, what do you think of an "earn-a-buck system?" Every hunter must shoot a doe before earning a buck tag. This would still allow hunters to shoot what they want and be happy, but it would also narrow the buck-to-doe ratio margins and would probably help many a young buck escape a bullet on opening morning. Oklahomans are crazy that first opening day of rifle season. I say hunt hard with a bow and beat them to the woods, then when rifle comes around, go out with a rifle and just enjoy it and hunt for nice bucks since you've already bagged an archery deer. Either way, I imagine a nice chunk of Oklahoma poachers would ignore any rules. There are already plenty of poachers who shoot deer w/o the proper tags just becuase they think they have the right to. Now the department doesn't need to charge so much for a tag, either, just becuase they have the right to
. I say for now, though, show congrats to the hunters who get any deer. They consider them to be nice deer and nice stories to tell and that is their right.