Antler Restrictions - What are your thoughts?

[Culvercreek hunt club]

And you know what Fairgame....those are the best hunts...sharing with your Dad. I know mine are. Now that description right there is an honest account of what AR has done for that area and no numbers or statistics are needed for that. Other areas of the state are far better off than that. I have been lucky and have taken 2 buck over 145 and a half dozed in the 120's. To be honest all those are since I moved out here to this region. the one on my icon was a northern buck though. Kind of spoiled hunting out here. I hae laid eyes on 6 different buck this year that are at least as big as my biggest and 2 dwarf them. I have seen probably 15 that are over 110. I am not a big rack score guy but it is the only way I know to convey the size...lol

Form the descriptions I hear of your area it would appear the that food source migh really be lacking and that is a tough nut to crack.

Are most of the out of towners folks coming up from the city?

[Fairgame]

there are some farms but not very many.  The deer seem healthy enough from the ones I have harvested.  I shot a nice eight last year during bow ( probably 100 inches)  We weighed him in our garage dressed at 185.  Was he 2 1/2, 3 1/2,  I dont know but a good body on him.  The seven pointer during rifle season a few years ago was bigger than the eight I shot but at the time I didnt have a scale to weigh him.

Yes, almost everyone that owns land in that area is from the 5 boroughs or long island  My two immediate neighbors are from manhattan.  My dad is from long island I am now in California but I fly in just about every weekend during the hunting season.  Sometimes stay for 2-3 weeks go home for a few days to see the wife and then leave again, just to get as much time in as possible.  This is what I have to do until I move back.  (oneday, hopefully in the next year)  Hunting in southern Cailfornia sucks mainly cause I mostly have to do it by myself and its dangerous.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

California?...well that sucks. Enjoy your time home and good luck this year

[Fairgame]

I always do, Thanks.  I sometimes still feel like I live there from how many times a year I'm there.

Good luck to you too!!

[Larry]

Football tonight GO SAINTS

[burmjohn]

Nope

[fasteddie]

Hunting in Kali-fornia ? That's a hoot !

[TheHunter]

Thehunter---To satisfy my curiousity---wht do you think caused this problem down there. I could understand if the folks in the high peaks region of the Daks or even the Catskills to some extent wanted this. From what I can tell from airial views the regions has quite a few crop areas and fairly wide tracts of woods. Theere doesn't look like all that much State land in the region, from what I can tell from the DEC's map.

What had caused it? Do you guys have that much hunting pressure down there?

To be honest, I do not know completely, I'm still doing some research.  I believe a lot has to do with hunter pressure, as it is quite high.  I wish there was more micro management on the doe permits, some of these WMU's are just to large.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

..I sure do wish there was a cause determination before they moved on a management plan. I would think you need to understand what made the situation before you could try to fix it....you is the management group not you NY.

[rutstrut]

i think it is long over do.i am all for it

[buckshot]

please let buttons and spikes go at least till last-day of season.

[mxsmitz201]

rather than an antler point restriction....why not use the inside spread to be the determining factor?  Im just saying because I have got about 5 deer this year on camera all eligible for take with the 3 pnts on each side rule. BUT there only 1 1/2 yrs old!!!! Maybe when their spread reaches 16-18 inches then ill draw my bow.

Here is my reasoning.... If each one of those 1 1/2 yr old deer were taken this year, and all the scrubs made it through, then it would seem to me a few yrs down the road were gonna have some bad genetics in the deer herd in my area.  Just my opinion. 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I am just guessing but I think they might not stand around long enough foe us to get a tape meqsure on them. I'd hate to be the guy getting a ticket for 15 1/2

[SteveB]

Way to hard to enforce and does little to address the numerous "why" questions posted here and elsewhere.

[jimbodwb]

Maybe we should all just be required to carry a tranquilizer gun with us. We could knock em' out first, measure them and see if they a 16-18" spread deer first, and then shoot them.

[steve863]

Maybe we should all just be required to carry a tranquilizer gun with us. We could knock em' out first, measure them and see if they a 16-18" spread deer first, and then shoot them.

LOL!  Wouldn't that be funny!  And if we forgot our tape measure at home we could load the buck onto our vehicle and drive it to the nearest hardware store to buy one.  You would have gunshots going off in Home Depot parking lots if the deer did measure up!!  LOL

[wztirem]

Do not shoot until you can see the white in their eyes or have a tape measure handy, oh well whatever comes first!

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Lol steve......home depot...they can have regular parking spots.....handicapped ones with the blue symbol....and deer dispatching spot painted in red..lol

[steve863]

Yeah, it would probably put a few more people to work also.  The many Home Depots around the state would probably have to hire people to mop up the blood in these deer dispatching parking spots!!

[jimbodwb]

Just make the parking spots like the oil change places with a big hole dug out and a mesh platform. Shoot the deer and let the blood flow down to a barrel.

But what if they don't measure up? Then you gotta bring em' back to the woods.

[wellsley]

I practice AR in what I shoot. But as for a law that makes everyone do it I'm against it. To many hunters don't have much time to hunt and to have to pass up the only buck you see is not right. There are also alot of hunters that don't care about the horns and want the meat. They will shoot all the legal deer they can and will eat them. There are also area's of the state that the deer densities are low and just seeing a buck is a treat. Still by passing these deer would increase the the age structure but the price of a license one has to get their money's worth. I understand both sides of this delema and I feel it's wrong to dictate to everyone what size buck they have to take.

[Doc]

rather than an antler point restriction....why not use the inside spread to be the determining factor?  Im just saying because I have got about 5 deer this year on camera all eligible for take with the 3 pnts on each side rule.

Actually, it is my trail-cams that tell me how impractical antler spread rules would be.

I have quite a few pictures of bucks starting to accumulate, and just as in hunting situations, I have yet to get one that has the deer's head turned toward me so that I would have even a remote chance of estimating the antler spread. The same thing is true in hunting situations. If the buck turns it's head toward me, it is probably because I screwed up in some way, and the very next move on his part will likely be to blow out of the area never again to be seen.

It seems like every thing I ever hear regarding AR involves something designed to frustrate hunters. This antler spread thing is a yet a new level in making that frustration happen.

Doc

[mxsmitz201]

everyones arguments are valid, but i would think estimating an inside spread to be just as difficult as estimating an inch and a half on a point. i only suggested that cuz i have read in magazines about it and its about 14 inches from ear to ear when the deer has both ears forward. i dunno, just a suggestion haha but whatever works!!! whatever the case it would be nice to see some bigger deer.

[nyantler]

Estimating inside spread is not hard at all... if you use the deer's ears as a guide.  tip to tip  a buck's ears are about 16" apart. As far as antler restrictions go there will always be the problem of estimating antler size for the hunters that have itchy trigger fingers... if you take the time to really look you can tell a shooter from a non-shooter. If you have any doubt.. you just let the buck walk.. simple!

[Doc]

What is the spread measurement on these deer?