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Antler restrictions


nodeerhere
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I'm not a huge fan of the term "antler restrictions" as a deer is more than just antlers. I am however a huge fan of herd management and allowing the animals to mature, whatever their antler potential may be. I think the benefits that come from allowing animals to grow into adulthood, which does include generally larger antlers, are immense.

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I am of the thought that everytime you pile on more restrictions, or try to limit harvests, you lose another armful of hunters. I also believe that much of the reduction in hunter numbers comes from the relatively recent constant belittlement of the deer that people choose to take. Little by little, there is a growing number of hunters that want to get themselves involved in the business of what you need to consider as your hunting goals. The result is to take away from the enjoyment of hunting and continue to drive more hunters out of the activity. There is no excuse for belittling the harvest of another or trying to make them feel bad about the deer that they chose to take. And that is true whether you attack via personal ridicule or passing laws.

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Rifles aren't the problem. The length of the gun season is. My 20 gauge can poke out to 250 yards. Not many places in the state I can shoot that distance besides power lines.

Look at Ohio. One buck and your done. Pretty simple. There season starts in sept and goes till feb. reducing the total season would be terrible but making hunters think more about wether they want to tag out is brilliant!


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9 minutes ago, Four Season Whitetails said:

I know many.  I also know of some that love to fill the rest of their families tags for them.Tighten up some rules and things would change for the better.

I'm commonly one of them. No doubt tightening some of the regulations would help. I would have no problem with having to register each deer  at a check station. 

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I have strong feelings about this topic. As Doc posted, I think we have trouble getting people interested in hunting, and the fewer people involved, the fewer people care about keeping hunting alive.

Making it more difficult to have success means fewer hunters. I am what I refer to as an "old school" hunter. I don't have time to use trail cameras, scout very much, and I only gun hunt-I bust my tail before deer season getting ahead at work and with personal chores to have some time to hunt during gun season. I am happy to see some deer and maybe shoot a buck and/or a doe. Despite hunting for over 35 years, I still get pleasure out of shooting a small buck. I don't shoot more than I have tags for and don't have anyone  tag my buck so I can keep hunting. I shot a spike the first day this year, and am spending my time now trying to fill a doe tag. If I were to see a slammer, oh well, it sucks to be me-but it's not something that will keep me awake at nights-I made my choice.

i hunted for 15 years before I shot my first "trophy buck" an 8 pointer that probably would score 95-100. If I couldnt have shot some smaller bucks along the way, I might have lost interest. I miss the days when people would congratulate you on any deer harvested- not laugh about it being a spike or even a button buck.

Will

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11 minutes ago, Will_C said:

I have strong feelings about this topic. As Doc posted, I think we have trouble getting people interested in hunting, and the fewer people involved, the fewer people care about keeping hunting alive.

Making it more difficult to have success means fewer hunters. I am what I refer to as an "old school" hunter. I don't have time to use trail cameras, scout very much, and I only gun hunt-I bust my tail before deer season getting ahead at work and with personal chores to have some time to hunt during gun season. I am happy to see some deer and maybe shoot a buck and/or a doe. Despite hunting for over 35 years, I still get pleasure out of shooting a small buck. I don't shoot more than I have tags for and don't have anyone  tag my buck so I can keep hunting. I shot a spike the first day this year, and am spending my time now trying to fill a doe tag. If I were to see a slammer, oh well, it sucks to be me-but it's not something that will keep me awake at nights-I made my choice.

i hunted for 15 years before I shot my first "trophy buck" an 8 pointer that probably would score 95-100. If I couldnt have shot some smaller bucks along the way, I might have lost interest. I miss the days when people would congratulate you on any deer harvested- not laugh about it being a spike or even a button buck.

Will

Agree to a point but the times have changed and we must change with them. We used to have a camp in the Dak's years ago when there were still a decent number of deer there. Now the big woods camp is gone and the camp is now if the deer rich part of the state for obvious reasons. I dont really believe antler restricts would put many out of business that were not about to get out some time soon for other reasons. A hunter is a hunter and will do what it takes to continue being a hunter. Now the future of hunting is up for grabs but with todays hunters teaching their kids what deer management is all about and taking care of them to make them to be mature animals will have a very bright future in their hunting lives.

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7 minutes ago, Deerstalker said:

Dont no why anyone would want more restrictions . Its hard enough at least on public land to get anything as it is  .

If they do that it should be only in select areas so people have a Choice. 

Well maybe that would take care of your problem of not seeing deer on Public land?  Some hunters will never find deer on any land because they just dont do what it takes to find and get them. I hunt a lot of state land and see plenty of animals. 

It will always be a 50-50 thing between hunters that want the best and biggest challenge in the woods and those that want to kill the first deer they see and get back to drinking and football, Family, Work, what have you. I think Ny is heading in the right direction and i think those at the top are starting to see what we can offer in the hunting world with their emails and comments on letting the little ones walk. Now to get them to adjust the dates and the implements used at what time!

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Well maybe that would take care of your problem of not seeing deer on Public land?  Some hunters will never find deer on any land because they just dont do what it takes to find and get them. I hunt a lot of state land and see plenty of animals. 
It will always be a 50-50 thing between hunters that want the best and biggest challenge in the woods and those that want to kill the first deer they see and get back to drinking and football, Family, Work, what have you. I think Ny is heading in the right direction and i think those at the top are starting to see what we can offer in the hunting world with their emails and comments on letting the little ones walk. Now to get them to adjust the dates and the implements used at what time!

If you want the biggest challenge than why would you want AR's? That's seems counterintuitive.


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6 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:


If you want the biggest challenge than why would you want AR's? That's seems counterintuitive.


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I hunt an Ar area for the last few years and its done nothing but improve the herd and the buck age group. Still plenty of legal bucks. Many that are off limits and has improved the mature buck numbers in a big way. Not sure where the bad is in that area.

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1 hour ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

 


Who would work them and who would pay for it?


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Don't know ask the original person who said it. If it's up to me keep it how it is let people shoot what they want It's hunting not trophy hunting.

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22 minutes ago, Four Season Whitetails said:

Well maybe that would take care of your problem of not seeing deer on Public land?  Some hunters will never find deer on any land because they just dont do what it takes to find and get them. I hunt a lot of state land and see plenty of animals. 

It will always be a 50-50 thing between hunters that want the best and biggest challenge in the woods and those that want to kill the first deer they see and get back to drinking and football, Family, Work, what have you. I think Ny is heading in the right direction and i think those at the top are starting to see what we can offer in the hunting world with their emails and comments on letting the little ones walk. Now to get them to adjust the dates and the implements used at what time!

Dont know where you hunt but I know people that go  up on  public land every year opening  weekend in groups 4 more guys every years and most the time they come back with nothing  or only one guy gets one . 

What it takes is to hunt lots of days on public land . And even more so  if you want a bigger buck . 

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