nyantler

I built something 20 years ago where I can recline in a soft chair, its heated for warmth on those cold days, have a frig not too far away in case I get hungry or thirsty, TV in case I get bored, I even have a stereo... oops sorry.. that is my livingroom.. nevermind.

I'm thinking that the added pollution to make ethanol pretty much negates it's "pollutes less" status. It was a good idea gone terribly wrong... somebody didn't do their homework. But, I'm guessing big money was involved.

nice healthy bucks!!

How many of you would still hunt if it was big bucks only??

Hey.. at least thats an honest answer.

Tough to argue with that...

Antler Restrictions (AR's)

+1

It's not designed to "help anyone".. it's designed to help the deer herd... you're still missing the point.

The numbers we get are basically statistical probabilities with some actual numbers thrown in and multipliers added to account for unknowns based on just the types of stories some of you are telling about fawns being killed that get to the DEC's ears. The formulas are statistical formulas.. and anyone who has taken statistics in college will join me when I say... It's all greek to me!! I couldn't understand it then and I sure as hell don't understand it now.

So you're saying that you absolutely don't want the DEC telling you what type of buck you can shoot, but you're okay with them telling you how many? I've heard the argument on here that "we pay a lot of money for our tags, so we should be able to shoot the buck we want"... wouldn't that argument hold true then for the number of bucks also. Especially if both are being done as part of a conservation effort? Doesn't anyone think it's strange that any hunter would choose a one buck of any age rule over multiple bucks that must have at least 3 points on a side? And there are not too many bucks killed each year... just too many yearlings.. fortunately those yearlings will be replaced the following year... and every year... the only age groups not getting filled are the ones that were waiting for those dead yearling to fill the older age classes.

Although I'm okay with a one buck rule.. i don't understand why any hunter that wants to take yearling bucks... would be for it instead of AR's... if they stuck to the AR plan and were still allowed the number of bucks that are allowed now.. those yearlng buck hunters would have more chances to take an older buck and possibly multiple older bucks... not sure why one would opt for one young buck a year instead of the option to possibly fill the freezer with 2 or more older bucks. especially since they are arguing that the reason they want to hunt any size they like is to fill the freezer. I think those hunters would be way more unhappy with the one buck rule than AR supporters.

What is vague about the excuse? You forgot to quote the rest of my statement... I wasn't saying I care what he shoots at all... I was saying that if you want to complain that the reason you have to kill yearlings is because there are no big bucks.. then why on earth would you be against a program that would help you get to that end so that you weren't limited to only seeing young bucks to kill? That is what I don't undertand... like I said in the last sentence, which you failed to quote as well.. is I perfectly understand the " I want to kill yearling bucks" excuse.

I've been fishing... great prep for the upcoming hunting season... no stress at all!!

You shouldn't be concerned with what others think... but what others think seems to be something some guys get all cranked up about for some reason. And, don't always make the assumption that just because someone does it differently that they care about how you do it.

There is plenty of info out there... if you just go back and read some of the AR threads you can get a lot of it. As for guys not seeing a buck to shoot... it has more to do with the hunter than the number or quality of the bucks in the area.

LOL.. sorry.. but it is very uncommon. And antler size generally IS related to age... I dare you to find a yearling buck that scores140 in the wild... or even 100 for that matter... if you could it would not be natural and has no place in determining conservation decisions for whitetails as a whole. Where some of you get this stuff is a mystery... ignorance I think is conservations biggest enemy.

If you have been paying attention you already have the info you are requesting. I think it would serve you far better though to educate yourself better on the subject so you won't have to ask someone else. You might also learn that its the mandate part that you don't like not the concept of AR itself.

How about the recipe for older buck stew... it's the same as younger buck stew with a bigger set of antler on the wall..lol Doe stew would still be okay too.

Actually it doesn't work that way... you will be creating more older bucks.. thereby creating more competition for breeding rights and creating a pecking order where the older more dominant bucks will be doing most of the breeding. As for the spike that survives to get a year older.. that has little to do with how smart he is and more to do with dumb luck. In a good AR program the new hunter will not have the need to kill a young buck because he will have much more access to older bucks because of the better age diversity... an advantage that us older hunters never experienced in our childhood with the old "shoot anything" system.

The reason it matters is because conservation efforts are not dependant on a hunters freezers or trophy preference... it is dependent on what is better for conservation. The hunter is just a resource to aid in the conservation effort.

Although I understand the whole "any deer is a trophy to me" concept... I don't understand why hunters are reluctant to at least examine and learn more about the why age class structure is important to deer managment. Even if you take away the "more big bucks to kill" aspect of it. It just shows me how little some hunters really care about conservation... even though they talk a good game.

So you'd rather continue hunting an area that rarely produces bucks in older age classes instead of participating in a program designed to help balance out the age classes? I have trouble understanding the argument that there are very few bigger bucks in my area so I am forced to shoot yearlings to get meat... yet you are against doing anything that would improve that situation. At least the "I enjoy shooting young bucks" argument is more logical.

Yeah .. seems like it would be nothing more than a guess without actually seeing the bucks. Visually examining bucks wouldn't be hard for yearlings.. but the numbers given for other age groups would be far more difficult without examining the jawbone. makes ya wonder about the numbers and their acurracy.

True that a button by himself is hard to identify... that is why early on this was addressed as part of the QDM concept back in the early 90's... the concept urged hunters not to shoot a lone antlerless deer, but rather wait for multiple deer and try to shoot the biggest. Buttons seldom travel with other deer and are loners after being shunned, so except in unusual cases, passing on lone antlerless deer helps to reduce the number of button bucks killed by accident.