Keep an eye on Wisconsin.

Your right about that. They already are. The amount of people that don't report deer is astounding .

In Sullivan County NY they implemented this maybe 4 or so years back, and it really has helped. For once the DEC did something correct.
Over the last 20 years up there they shot anything. and I mean anything.
This past year there was some nice bucks taken, and many too.

One lease land club I know had 5 guys....... they took 4- 8's and a 7.
Me...my neighbor shot my buck. The day before the season opened.
Scumbag.

Well, being he screwed me. I curved my rules of my land for him.

1. no tresspassing.
2. no free firewood anymore
3. no cutting trees for better Dish reception.
4. no ez access parking to his house. I chained the driveway.
5. no hunting. He used to squirel, deer, grouse, ANY animal. No more. NOTHING.
6. His smokehouse I let him build.is on my property. I knocked it down.
7. no target practicing. He has 1.4 acre thats next to my 20 acres. Go to the range now.
8. no branches, leave dumping on my land. Go to the landfill.
9. No barrel burning. He used to on my land.
10. No conversation anymore. Because he is a lying POS.

SO. The moral is....when your getting alot from your neighbor, don;t screw him and poach his deer. Friggin idiot.

Don't care for the idea of antler restriction. Hope it doesn't become the law here in Steuben.

Antler restriction to me is trophy management... If my kid wants to shoot a spike let him... That in my eyes is a trophy...

I dont think the point restriction is trophy management, i think they are just finding a way to help the herd so you can enjoy many years of seeing deer in the woods. Before antler restrictions, people would shoot anything, and it really hurts the population. Now whats hurting us here is all the doe tags that are being given out in some areas where the population is so low, you could hunt from dawn to dusk and maybe see 2 deer.

Here in PA, while you are a junior license holder you may shoot anything you want, let it be a spike or a nice 6 point. My guess is so the younger hunters can really learn what its about and appreciate harvesting an animal, because on game lands you may not see a buck with 3 on one side if you just go out for opening day. I'm not sure if these rules still stand but they did a couple years ago.

X2 now this is when it feels like trophy management. You are going to spend so much time trying to tell if that buck in your cross hairs has the right spread, beam length, etc that you will never get a chance to shoot.

In PA, junior hunters can still shoot any buck. My boy shot his first buck when he was 7 years old. It was a spike.

my first buck was with my dad still hunting with my bow. i was 12 years old and we walked around a giant thorn bush to see a a really big spike. this was my first day ever out with a bow, and i was mad cause he slept in hahaha. well the point is that buck was a trophy to me and it always will be. they should let juniors shoot anything in any state.

These last two years are the first years I have seen an improvement since PA passed the antler restrictions. I am still seeing way less deer, but I am finally seeing the better bucks that were promised. I spent three days at the cabin this past weekend and did some scouting. I saw a ten point, an 8 point, three 6 points, a 4 point, and a spike. I also saw fifteen doe. This was seeing A LOT of deer compared to previous years. And a lot of legal buck. However, prior to the restrictions, I woulda seen well over a hundred deer in this time frame. Although it is doubtful I would have seen the 10 and 8 point. So yes, there are better bucks in the area now, Although, the deer numbers are way down. In PA the doe tags, as previously mentioned, is the main cause of this.
-Jake