The driving reason most hunters are for AR is simply because they believe it will make it easier to kill a larger rack deer. There's nothing wrong with that either but I get a little anoyed with all the baloney about healthier deer herd. Thats just a justification. First of all AR is not going to make deer healthier. If you believe it will you believe in the idea that somehow older buck pass on better genes. The old survival of the fittest argument. But in NY far and away the primary cause of death for whitetail buck is hunters. This will be true with or without AR. We don't have survival of the fittest its survival of the luckiest and a buck will pass on the exact same genes at 4 1/2 as he does at 18 months. Another justification is that AR will lower the doe:buck ratio thereby insuring there will be less doe bred late in the season and therefore less fawns born late which in theory is not a good/healthy thing. The only problem with this argument is that if it were significanly true we should have had an awful lot of unhealthy deer over the last 60 years with no AR, basically buck only, and at least in theory high doe:buck ratios. Fact is the NY herd expanded from nearly nothing to a population of 1 million in that time and I have never and I know of no one who has ever taken a genetically defective deer in my 40 + years of hunting. Every year hundreds of Pope & Young or Boon & Crockett class buck are taken and in virtually every district.

Let's all be honest. The purpose of AR is to make it easier to kill a big buck. That's all and that's o.k. so don't try to disguise it with the healthy herd argument. BTW the trophy's are out there now and if there were more of them it would only make getting one a little less special. I like it like it is. You can trophy hunt if you want or if you are happy taking a 4 point you can. Why would we want to enforce trophy hunting on everyone?

Sylvan, you are the man! keep up the good work.

I am not really for or against it. If they were to do it, I would go along with it (in spirit and in hunting)

I like what the DEC is trying to do with the test area (i think its near albany). the hunters and hunting groups lobbied for it and looks as if they will have a "test" area in a couple units. I think it is an excellent way to test the waters. we will be able to get some feedback from the DEC and the hunters over the next few years and see how it works.

NY the next big fight,STANDBYE

I heard a rumor that NY has hired new deer biologist..... Gary something, I think!

Wow, Senator Shumer, Senator Clinton and Gary Alt, that would be great![8D][:-]

Just a few more thoughts...

I believe AR sends the wrong message about hunting. It gives ammunition to the anti's and it tells our youngsters that killing a big rack is what successfull hunting is all about. Maybe some of you belive that's exactly what it is all about but I don't. With or without antler restrictions the taking of a trophy whitetail won't be a common occurence for the vast majority of young hunters. A hunter is very fortuante to take 1 or 2 trophy whitetails in a lifetime. Sooner or later that young person will realize this and if he/she has bought in to the idea that that's all that counts then their conclusion might be that they are either a failure at it or that its just not worth the time it takes. So why do it? We see that young people are already not becoming hunters like they did in the past. Let's not give them another reason. I would rather see the emphasis be placed on all the other great things there are about hunting. Things they can be gauranteed to enjoy. I'm not going to try and list them, you old timers know what I mean. If they learn to love all those wonderfull aspects as I do then mabybe they will stay with it long enough to become an old fart like me who still can't wait for another october to come.

I agree with you 100% while I was reading your post it brought back memories from a long time ago, my first buck it was a two pointer on one side and a broken off stub on the other side, that deer is still worth more than any other deer I have taken, In my mind I can still hear him comeing and that first sight and to me it was a trophy.

Right on lost horn. Now can you imangine how you would have felt if someone had come along and told you that you should have passed that deer?

That would of broken my heart at the time, I have 4 sons they would be in the same boat as I was none of their first bucks were Boon& Crockets but to them they were.