Law enforcement uses discretion and makes subjective decisions all the time so there would be nothing new here. Besides, the only time it would be necessary to actually do measurements is when the buck is borderline and the responsibility could be placed on the hunter, if an LEO ticketed him for a non-trophy buck, to contest the decision. Not at all unlike when a cop gives you a ticket for failing to come to a full stop at a stop sign.

Anyway, these are simply details to be worked outin a side discussion. The spirit of the debate is that if we are going to go down the road of antler restriction and educate hunters to the idea that killing mature trophybucks to improve the health of the herdis what all deerhuntersshould befocused on then then we should make rules that would be more effective in attaining that goal. 3 and 4 point on a side rules just don't do a good enough job to get us there. We need to stop shooting those 100 to 120 class bucks and "let em grow" so than can become mature animals.

i bet most deer hunters wouldn't know a 120" deer if it came up and kissed them on the lips. seriously, my dad has been deer hunting since he was a kid, i bet you ANYTHING he wouldn't be able to pick one out of a lineup. cripes, with my past guesses on the 'score this buck' threads, i probably wouldn't be able to either. we're so used to talking about scores on this message board that we've lost touch with reality in a sense. Most hunters don't know scores, at all!

I know how to stop, and what law means "come to a full stop"
What I can not do is tell the differnce between a deer scores 121'' and one scores 118''. I have been two inches short my whole life, and now I am going to get a ticket[:@]man!!!!!!

There are more ways to manage than just for trophy quality. What about managing for numbers of deer? Self imposed limits are fine but I think the gov't. should keep its nose out of our business more than it does. This is just another example of over regulation.

Mofireman.
Looks like youare correct sir.Going south would be the best bet. I still don't like our permits going up all the time.

Ark. $25 includes all game species for gun, muzzle loader and archery as well as 4 deer.
Tenn. $28 includeds all big game and 3 antlered bucks.
Ill. $30 for 2 deer one of each sex.
Iowa $27 for 1 deer and general license
Kansas $32 for 1 deer.

Like I said in my first post, the point isn't to split hairs, the point is to only shoot mature trophy sized bucks. If you are in doubt or you think it's borderline then don't shoot. Besides the same hair splitting takes place with a 3 or 4 point rule. In order to be a point it must be at least 1" long measured from an imaginary line along the beam. Can you tell the difference between a 0.99" point and a 1.01" point? That could literally be the difference between legal and not legal so regardless of the system an LEO will always be using discretion and judgement.

Anyway, nobody is satisfied or gets enjoyment out of shooting a small buck or at least they shouldn't,right? So if you are after meat then shoot a doe. When shooting a buck everyone should shoot only 120" or above and then everybody who hunts buck wil be happier and the deer herd will be healthier. Fair for everyone. Unless there are hunters who actually are satisfied shooting 120, 100 or even lower class bucks then what's the point in any kind of antler restriction. Just leave things as they are.

It works great, except it protects the sloppy cow horn freaks you want to cull. Here in Texas, they had a similar restrictions which lead to all the small 6 and 8 pointers getting shot before maturity and the cow horn freaks grew to great size and fertilized many of the does. We also had a spread restrictions which created problems as well. Thebuckshad to have a minimum of a 14 inch spread. Agian, all the freak basket racks were protected as well as the cow horns with the imature 6 and 8 pointers getting taken before their time. If the antlers were out side the ears, people were shooting them.

I think you loose the non hunting public with AR's.

Which there are, so I think you just proved several people's point; no antler restrictions mandated by the DNR.

antelr restrictions = less deer if your state has public hunting land

why ? because your G&F will neglect to limit the anterless tags and people will slaughter the does for meat deer.

it happened just like that in Arkansas. 3 point rule went into affect, we lost 1/2 our deer herd in 1 year and have yet to rebound

screw antler restrictions ....... if your deer aren't "trophy" enough for you, choose a more difficult weapon and rediscover that hunting is NOT about the horns.