Antler Restiction programs ...are you for or against them?
08-04-2008 | 08:08 PM
#131
Giant Nontypical
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 8,167
Likes: 0
From: PA
RE: Antler Restiction programs ...are you for or against them?
ORIGINAL: Rob/PA Bowyer
You whole post is regarding HR (herd reduction) Antler restrictions did not do that.
ORIGINAL: AK in PA
I loathe them in Pennsylvania. I never have been, nor never will be hung up on antler size. PA has had point restrictions for several years. Upon initial discussion, I honestly didn't think they would affect my own hunting and almost didn't care one way or the other if the regulation was passed. Now, I can see that I was wrong. During the same period as the antler restriction inaugauration, Pennsylvania's game commission went on a crusade to reduce the deer population, under the pretense of increasing the average antler size. Funny now, how I don't see the bigger bucks, let alone the number of deer that I once did. (Formerly, if I so much as bumped a deer heading in or coming out in the dark I considered myself lucky. I neverdid see the "herds" of deerthat the game commission claimed. Last season, I went 15 days straight without ANY encounter or sighting to even know whitetails still existed.) The bucks that I do see are smaller than before, and I feel like such an @ss staring at one throught binoculars at 5 or 10 yds trying to count their points and make sure they are all an inch long. I don't care what it is. After 20 yrs of hunting, I'd still be thrilled to shoot it! But, I abide them, and ifI can't be certain, I let them walk, albeit shaking my head in disgust the entire time...
I don't see what theso called "QDM" buzzis about. WHAT is the point of shooting a deer with large antlers if ALL the deer have been cultivated to produce such? Where's the trophy?!!! Even if some hunters only want to kill "big" deer, "big" is still relative to the region.
I loathe them in Pennsylvania. I never have been, nor never will be hung up on antler size. PA has had point restrictions for several years. Upon initial discussion, I honestly didn't think they would affect my own hunting and almost didn't care one way or the other if the regulation was passed. Now, I can see that I was wrong. During the same period as the antler restriction inaugauration, Pennsylvania's game commission went on a crusade to reduce the deer population, under the pretense of increasing the average antler size. Funny now, how I don't see the bigger bucks, let alone the number of deer that I once did. (Formerly, if I so much as bumped a deer heading in or coming out in the dark I considered myself lucky. I neverdid see the "herds" of deerthat the game commission claimed. Last season, I went 15 days straight without ANY encounter or sighting to even know whitetails still existed.) The bucks that I do see are smaller than before, and I feel like such an @ss staring at one throught binoculars at 5 or 10 yds trying to count their points and make sure they are all an inch long. I don't care what it is. After 20 yrs of hunting, I'd still be thrilled to shoot it! But, I abide them, and ifI can't be certain, I let them walk, albeit shaking my head in disgust the entire time...
I don't see what theso called "QDM" buzzis about. WHAT is the point of shooting a deer with large antlers if ALL the deer have been cultivated to produce such? Where's the trophy?!!! Even if some hunters only want to kill "big" deer, "big" is still relative to the region.
08-04-2008 | 08:19 PM
#132
Nontypical Buck
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,911
Likes: 0
From: Minnesota
RE: Antler Restiction programs ...are you for or against them?
Minnesota needs to do something, anything! AR's would be a start, and a great one.
[&:]
ORIGINAL: Germ
Iowa kills more % of their deer herd than Minn. If you had a choice to go on a free hunt to Iowa or Minn where would you go?(no offense to Minn hunters)
Minn has twice as much habitat
Iowa kills more % of their deer herd than Minn. If you had a choice to go on a free hunt to Iowa or Minn where would you go?(no offense to Minn hunters)
Minn has twice as much habitat
08-04-2008 | 08:20 PM
#133
Nontypical Buck
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,469
Likes: 0
From: Isle, MN
RE: Antler Restiction programs ...are you for or against them?
I'm all for AR's in Minnesota. i'm so sick of seeing 1 1/2 yr old bucks it's not even funny. we should also move our gun season out of the rut (that will never fly here though).
08-04-2008 | 11:14 PM
#135
Nontypical Buck
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 3,612
Likes: 0
From: Manassas, VA
RE: Antler Restiction programs ...are you for or against them?
"Too limit a man's ability to legally kill a deer while encouraging another to kill an elephant is a travesty"....mother shadow 2008
08-05-2008 | 04:38 AM
#136
Giant Nontypical
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 7,208
Likes: 0
From: Pittsburgh, PA
RE: Antler Restiction programs ...are you for or against them?
Too limit a man's ability to legally kill a deer while encouraging another to kill an elephant is a travesty"....mother shadow 2008
08-05-2008 | 05:04 AM
#138
Dominant Buck
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 21,043
Likes: 0
From:
RE: Antler Restiction programs ...are you for or against them?
Who are we managing for?
I'm all for letting the guys with the degrees (read KNOW-how) to manage our natural resources (until a more qualified body comes along).......but who are we trying to "please"?
AR's "seem" to shove a QDMA "type" system down some hunters' (in states they've been implemented) throats.
What is "hunting", to you? Is it about bigger bucks? What about the majority of hunters in your state?
I'm for the guy who gets to hunt 10 times a year.....being able to get "his buck" if that's what he wants to do. From everything I read.....the juvenile bucks do a lion's share of the breeding. To the average hunter.....why should he care if the herd is balanced (hold on...) in regards to age structure? As long as the natural resource isn't being depleted to dangerous levels......why should the average hunter care (and I ask this.....being ignorant to the answer) AS LONG AS the buck/doe ratio isn't completely out of kilter?
One half of a deer's genetics comes from the doe. I think this fact is oft overlooked.
I'm all for letting the guys with the degrees (read KNOW-how) to manage our natural resources (until a more qualified body comes along).......but who are we trying to "please"?
AR's "seem" to shove a QDMA "type" system down some hunters' (in states they've been implemented) throats.
What is "hunting", to you? Is it about bigger bucks? What about the majority of hunters in your state?
I'm for the guy who gets to hunt 10 times a year.....being able to get "his buck" if that's what he wants to do. From everything I read.....the juvenile bucks do a lion's share of the breeding. To the average hunter.....why should he care if the herd is balanced (hold on...
) in regards to age structure? As long as the natural resource isn't being depleted to dangerous levels......why should the average hunter care (and I ask this.....being ignorant to the answer) AS LONG AS the buck/doe ratio isn't completely out of kilter?One half of a deer's genetics comes from the doe. I think this fact is oft overlooked.
08-05-2008 | 05:06 AM
#139
Nontypical Buck
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,751
Likes: 0
From: Damascus MD
RE: Antler Restiction programs ...are you for or against them?
Im all for it for many reasons. If you just enjoy the challenge of hunting whitetails and getting outdoors, and or youre after meat, then theres plenty of Does to shoot.
08-05-2008 | 05:23 AM
#140
Boone & Crockett
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 11,682
Likes: 0
From: Michigan/Ohio
RE: Antler Restiction programs ...are you for or against them?
What is "hunting", to you? Is it about bigger bucks? What about the majority of hunters in your state?
As for the doe slaughter, it's exactly what PA and Alt said they would do. Does anyone know why?