We have 3 outofstaters that hunt from our camp. one from Fla., one from Miss., and one from NJ. All 3 will be coming back next year. Only complaint's I heard was "it's @$&%*#! cold up here", "when did they make this mountain steeper", and "I shoulda brought my other rifle". One of the 3 got a nice 9pt. and one missed 2 doe.
It would seem when you block out all the complaints you read on a couple of these sites, which are usually the same guy with several names; and talk to actual hunters in the field, AR's seem to be well accepted. I can't tell you how often I heard the response "I don't mind the higher restriction, it's the doe tags that need cut back". I think there was initial reluctance a couple of years ago, but since then I believe alot of people have learned more about them and have realized they're a good thing. Plus they've seen some of the early results. It's mostly the old timers that are afraid of change, even if it's a good change. But as the hunter numbers decline, which they were doing before raising the restriction and will continue to do, irrelevant of any regulation; those are the hunters that will quit hunting for health reasons.