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ORIGINAL: kevin1

Exactly why I voted against them, well said Mez.
If you're too lazy to hunt harder or smarter antler restrictions won't help you either, nor will they create a booner behind every tree, all they really do is reduce choice for everyone to pacify an antler obsessed few.

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ORIGINAL: kevin1

Exactly why I voted against them, well said Mez.
If you're too lazy to hunt harder or smarter antler restrictions won't help you either, nor will they create a booner behind every tree, all they really do is reduce choice for everyone to pacify an antler obsessed few.

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ORIGINAL: mez

Who am I to tell someone how they can or can't enjoy deer hunting so I will have a chance at a bigger deer.

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probably 90% of our buck population was made up of 1.5 yr olds....that just ain't normal under any situation.

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ORIGINAL: early in

You wouldn't be telling anybody anything. It's a matter of the LAW telling us what we will be shooting or not be shooting. Reguardless of what we think/believe, all we have to worry about is following the LAW.;)
As far as AR go, I personally think it's the very best thing the PGC has done in aLONG time! I'm seeing more bigger bucks than ever before, no doubt.This gives our bucks a chance to live past 1 1/2.:DWhat needs to happen now,is for them to "close" antlerlessseason in some "counties", andlower the number of available tags in others. This doe situation needs a lot more attention than it's getting. It seems to be too across the board/broad. Attention needs to be paidmore onspecific area's. Counties, not whole WMU's.JMHO

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I'm certianly not going to read 11 pages, but I am 100% all the way for them. While nicer bucks can be a benefit, that isn't the ONLY thing or the biggest reason PA started using them. Our herd was FAR out of whack and had NO age class structure. probably 90% of our buck population was made up of 1.5 yr olds....that just ain't normal under any situation

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ORIGINAL: mez

I understand what you are saying Rob. I can look at it both ways but IMO AR's and QDMA are about growing bigger bucks for people to shoot. I really don't think it has as much to do with a balanced or managed herd as people like to claim. Does anyone know what a balanced or managed herd really is? This all started in Tejas and I've lived there, its about the headgear, not about the herd. They want just enough does tomaintain big racks. The heavily managed or QDMA herds fly the places with helicopters a couple times a yearand photograph every buck on the place. I've seen the pictures and personally know the manager of one of these farms. He shoots a 190 inch deer every year. He shows me about this time of year what deer are going to be taken that season by hunters and the deer that he is going to take. They name the deer by identifying characteristcs seen in the photos and from trail cam photos. They decide prior to the season which bucks are big enough to be killed that year and those that shoot something else are fined. I would be all in favor of QDMA if it really were the herd that everyone had in its best interest.

The QDMA president was quoted in an article last year in Field and Stream regarding an exclusive hunting club in South Carolina I think. There are HEAVY fines for shooting younger, smaller bucks. Members pay a monetary fine as well as having hunting privileges revoked for a certain number of seasons depending on the deer they shot. The QDMA president said that this operation was the absolute Pinnacle of what QDMA was about and what everyone should strive to emulate.I think the guys supporting AR's need to do some research and present some factual evidence as to what consitutes a healthy herd. I also think that they need to distance themselves from the QDMA crowd. The two are not the same and have different goals yet they fall under the same ubrella. QDMA is about the horns plain and simple, the President of the organization stated that in the F&S article. QDMA is a facade for growing bigger deer that I don't and won't support on a wide scale. Leave it behind high fences where it belongs.

If there are too many does, simple, issue fewer buck tags and issue more doe tags, they do this in SD and NE. If having a greater number of mature whitetail bucks in the herd signifies a healthy herd then the AR's should be set up like a slot limit for fish. Deer with 3-4 pts per side can be harvested and anything bigger can not, or say anything over 130 inches. This lets hunters shoot some good deer and keeps the really good deer in the herd. How many of those supporting antler restrictions would gladly be in favor of of letting all the big deer walk policy?

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One constant that always comes up in these threads is the I'm seeing more and bigger bucks than ever before. Do more and bigger bucks signify a healthy population or just give those that like to shoot big deer more enjoyment out of the sport?

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