FroMan

Okay,

Here in Arkansas we' ve had a 3 point rule for many years now...and it seems good in theory, let the younger deer walk...but...

But being able to shoot the young 6, and 8 points, and letting the 4 points and spikes walk...aren' t we getting just the opposite by letting inferior buck genes breed deer?


Seems to me that it should be...let maybe...3 and 4 point racks on one antler beam should not be legal to shoot...maybe racks with 5 points on one side...or the smaller inferior bucks with 2 points and spikes...

But how many deer antlers actually get more then 5 points on one side? Would we have old deer dying? I' ve seen some fairly big and old 8 points...

Should we even have point rules at all? If we haven' t seen much growth in deer antler racks (that' s pretty much what the point rules are all about, bigger deer racks) and we' re shooting good gened deer that are 1 1/2 6 and 8 points, and letting 2 year old spikes and forked horns go...what are we doing any of this for?

timbercruiser

Much of the time the spike and 3 points etc are yearlings that were born a little later in the season. Earlier born usually have better first and second year racks. After 3 or so years the growth of racks even out proportionately. Actually the younger bucks and the mature bucks share basically the same genetics, time is the difference. As far as actual cull bucks the percentage is very low in most areas.

SCRIDER1

FroMan,
I think you are absolutely correct. And there are some deer biologists that agree with you. But you dont need a biologist to know that the three-point rule--if left in place long term--eventually harms the buck gene pool. When hunters are compelled to harvest bucks with a minimum of 6 points, the majority of the 6 and 8 point bucks harvested are going to be the young dumb ones...and the young bucks that have already developed nice racks are the genetically superior bucks (at least superior for antlers). This takes these bucks out of the gene pool early. At the same time, tens of thousands of hunters that would be just as happy harvesting the first spike they saw are forced to wait for a bigger, but still likely young, buck. Add to this the prohibition to take does in much of the state this season and you have EVEN MORE pressure on the young, quality bucks. Another thing we all know happens too often is hunters shooting illegal bucks and just leaving them dead in the woods. Some of the best marksmen we all know suddenly started coming back to camp saying they had missed as soon as that 3 point rule went into effect. What to do? I dont know...but it seems to me that a " pulsed" system would be better.... maybe every third year its " spikes only" or maybe you make ALL bucks off limits once every 3 years. Or maybe if the 3 point rule was done just once every 3 years. I dont know, but we have to do something different.

G-Dawg_02

I agree.. I have had more opportunities this year at spikes and 4 points than i have ever had at anything in my life. And i have never killed a buck. Yes, i would like to harvest a good mature deer, but to be honest, where me and froman live, you don' t see those big boys until after 10 o' clock at night. Even during the rut they are scarce. It is extremely hard to have to go all season without shooting anything because i am not able to harvest a spike or some other smaller deer. I think the three point rule is good in theory, or at least for about 2-3 years, but after that, i think it becomes harmful. I agree with you scrider1, that alternating our laws every season would be much more convenient. Although i will admit, if we were allowed to kill spikes and four points, and not shoot any over say, 8 points, i wouldn' t see anythign other than monsters! lol.. Murphy has really got me good..

Russ otten

Murphy has another quote:
" If you try to please everyone, somebody is not going to like it."

G-Dawg_02

I have had two shots at the same four point where i hunt, both of them with a bow. I know this deer will not get much bigger, because he had a big body, and the mass on one side was increadible, with some palmation between the main beam and the point that came off of it. He looked like a 2 or even three year old deer.

jtom

Boy howdy did you strike a nerve[:@] Here in Ga. we have the dubious distinction of being the first state in the nation to adopt the QDM rule on a county wide basis. Now the problem is spreading across the state county by county. Here it is a 4 pt on one side rule. I have come across more carcasses that were abandoned because the hunter mistakenly shot a 3pt on one side and left the animal out of fear of the Game Wardens making cases agains them. I shot a 6 pointer last year about 300yds behind my house and the local processor would not accept it because of the 4 point rule. I wound up taking to the local warden and " donating" it to the feed the hungry progam(which is a wonderful program). But I received a stern lecture from the Game Warden for not being absolutely sure that the buck was a 4pt on sider. But when I asked the warden to age the deer it made no differnece that he aged it at about 8 yrs old. The base of the antlers was about 2.5 inches but the beams were mishapened and this buck was obviously on his down hill slide. This year I have already seen several bucks that are the apparent offspring of this old guy. Not one of them even look remotely like they are going to have " QUALITY" racks and some of them I have seen for the 3rd season now. So, I think that we need to unelect those individuals who vote to enact such screwy laws and that indeed will send the appropriate message to capital hill in our respective states. Managment by all means, but with a bit of common sense will go a lot further than saying that a 13 yr old boy who is looking down the pin at his first buck and then having to pass it up because it doesn' t have 4 points on one side.