In some cases yes. Majority of deer hunters in most states in the lower 48 are a "once a year" hunter. They are the ones that buy the majority of licenses and because they make up the majority, are the ones the wildlife managers listen to the most. If they say they want a better chance at a bigger deer, the managers listen. Those folks who hunt deer year round and spend a lot of time in the woods, don't generally need the state to tell them to wait till next year. They generally have a self-imposed APR. State imposed APRs have little or no effect on their harvest. Where APRs work well, are on areas of land open to public hunting where deer are heavily pressured. Land that is good deer habitat but does not have a large herd to to unrestricted hunting. Bucks in this type of scenario have a short expected lifespan because as some folks have mentioned, they shoot the first buck they see, because they don't see many. They suspect the bucks just don't get big because they never see any big bucks. Add to this a low population because most bucks are shot off and you get little or no permits for antlerless deer. Now you have a unhealthy doe to buck ratio. One way to change this is to shorten the season. But that leads to a lessened economic impact because of less licenses sold and hunters in the area for fewer days. The other way is to leave the season length and restrict what folks can harvest. Giving them more deer and larger deer to see, when they used to see fewer keeps them coming back, even tho they don't get to take something home every year. Most hunters are conservationists and know how the system works and appreciate the fact the their local F&G is trying to keep the quality in their hunt. Shooters that just want to kill don't care, they just want to shoot something and are upset when they can't. Some, like tahunua001's friends have to go out at night, outside the legal season to get that thrill. Like all poachers, they try to validate their poaching, but the excuses are always the same. "There are too many deer anyway and the F&G don't know what they're doing!". Yep, as if poachers know wildlife biology and animal husbandry better than the professionals.
Anyone involved with Whitetails Unlimited, Quality Deer Management and other organizations that promote the "Let 'em grow and let 'em grow" know that lettin' smaller bucks walk does indeed improve the quality of bucks in the area. But this has to be combined with the philosophy of a healthy overall population and buck/doe ratio. Bucks that never grow big racks do very little breeding. Large bucks with dominate genes are never shot off completely when there are good numbers of big bucks around. Deer DO NOT get inbred when populations are high and the gene pool is large. Thinking so just shows one's ignorance of animal husbandry and genetics.
APRs may or not work in every area for every scenario. No state regs are perfect in anyone's eyes. They generally are intended to please and to make the hunt fun for the majority of those involved. Voluntarily passing up small bucks in an area may prevent it from becoming mandatory. Voluntary catch and release fishing is a prime example. Many states have kept limits and length restrictions to previous levels only because the fishermen themselves have not keep smaller fish or kept less. At one time, going fishing and not coming home with your limit was thought to be a sign of a poor fisherman. Now it can be the sign of a true sportsman. Success does not have to be what you put in the back of your truck to show your buddy, but what kind of experience you have in the field. To many of us, this is the difference between a hunter and a shooter.
