Antler Restrictions

Fisherman, I apologize excessively... I do not speak "score" I speak pounds...:o Weight of deer hoof weight or gutted...:cool: I couldn't tell you the first thing about score 'cept it is with a tape measure laid on inedible body parts...:D
Brent
 
Gotcha. I'm far from an expert on scoring, but I've been around enough people who think it's important to get an layman's understanding. A 100 lb doe and a 130 lb buck are fairly big around here. The big 10 I spoke of earlier in the thread weighed 170 field dressed (on a scale, not a guess), what a haus. Despite the talk of Texas and their tiny dog sized deer, we get some fair sized ones out in parts of Near West Texas. Nothing like a Canadian deer, but enough to fill a freezer pretty well.
 
Last time I went deer hunting the deer had to be Forked horn or better 1 a season. Spikes and doe tags were a drawing also I think now there are area limitations. For a state our size very dismal.
 
Thanks, Pilothunter. I've killed my share; been through the Scoped Rifle, Handgun and Traditional Rifle phases and I still need to whack one with my .54 Hawken. I still like to roll one over occasionally although I'm not 'driven' like I used to be.

Still, the most excited I have ever gotten over a deer kill has always been when it was a kid or novice adult that I coached through to their first filled tag. Seems like a damn shame to reduce their chances in favor of those whose sole measure of a hunt is the size of rack they can hang on their wall.
 
First, APR stacks the odds against novice hunters- and as a father and husband who's been in on a number of 'first deer' I can tell you that these hunters need all the help they can get. Many of these are kids, out with Dad or Uncle Fred for their first deer hunt.
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Ms. does take young hunters into consideration. We have three youth(under 16)seasons. They can take one deer with any hardened antler.
 
Were I live in Michigan last year you had two choices of tags you could get. You could get a combo for two, but one had to have three points on one side, and the other had two have four on one side. Or you could buy a single tag that you could take a buck with one antler 3" or longer. If you bought the single tag you could not go back and buy the other tag. Just another way for the state to make more money. If doe tags were available in your area you could apply for that also. I usally take a doe for the meat, and look for a nice rack. I think land owners on there own land should have more input for there property, and given the choice to do what they want on there property with the right tags. The sportsperson always follows the law, the ones that mess it up are not true sportspersons even if you do not aggree with the laws in your state. Some people here buy the combo end up shooting a small buck then having the wife buy a tag for it. There is alot of debate on how this is going to work out, and I can feel for both sides. If a hunter wants to shoot a spike fine, but then thats it your done for the year unless you have a doe tag. Just my opions on the matter, but I have heard, and can feel for all sides that try to follow the law.
 
And all of these are even more reasons that I do not like a state-sponsored min rack size. On smaller, private owned units, it makes good sense. On a state-wide level, its just not feasible.

Brent, those were some mighty fine Florida (er, uh, lower Alabama;)) deer. Unfortunately, my experience hunting central Florida for ~10 years, I only saw deer as nice as that a couple times. Too bad I'm an airlifter, pretty much guarantees I'll never be stationed in the panhandle.

Someone mentioned above about never seeing a 3-yo buck with only spikes. Well, they're out there. In Jan, while on a cull hunt in TX, saw not 1, but 2 that were 3+ with spikes, one pretty dramatic with 12" of straight up ivory that broke off the left one (ala unicorn!). Unfortunately, my girl couldn't get on them fast enough or was offered a poor shot and we didn't seal the deal. That's OK, she took another 2-3 yo with only 1" of ivory. It does happen. In a rack management world, those are the ones you need to put out fast.
 
Antler restrictions are necessary, however IMO they are set up all wrong. This three/four points on one side is pure crap. There should be slot limits just like on fish, w/ basket racks being legal and more mature breeding stock 6-10 pointers being off limits. Any buck killed in that range must be proven to be 5yrs old or older or a fine is issued, nothing outrageous but $100 will deter people from shooting deer that should stay in the woods for two more years.
Kids 14 and under should be able to harvest any single deer that crosses their path with a restriction placed on any second deer taken in a single season. Does should be taken liberally from managemant areas (especially in FL). These rules should apply only to public lands, private land and leases should be at the discretion of those maintaining the herd and any decent lease has minimum requirements.
There are my 2 cents, like it or not.
 
[QUOTE: Final complaint is that APR promotes that deer hunting is all about'points and trophies' ] That depends on how you teach a novice. APR is not designed for the trophy hunter, its designed to promote the strongest herd you can get and should be taught that way so future hunters can enjoy the same thing we do today. Ohio also has youth hunting season for deer and turkey. These are my fav. seasons also, as Sarge explained there`s nothing like taking a youth out and succesfully putting a smile on youths face he can`t wipe off. Also its the teachers responsibility to teach youth about future hunting as well asthe hunt they`re currently experiencing. Car wrecks,yea this 'hillbilly' wrecked his truck a couple years ago. Hit a doe. She may have been pregnant sooo in theory killed two deer instead of the one buck. Again people feel different about APR probably cause were they live and the deer pop. in their area. IMO, I would say everyones local biologists know best.
 
Parts of California used to have 3-4(6-8 east) point restrictions in certain areas.Used to see alot of dead forked horns wasted in the woods.The state dropped it to forked horn or better state wide.Point restrictions will work in limited entry units as the number of hunters is reduced.
 
Antler restrictions can go either way. If you are killing the does, and letting the bucks walk, it works. If not, then it can hurt.

The 3 on one side rule is effective I think. 8 may be too much for state wide. With the 3 point rule, I got to tate this dude out of the herd. But he may have been able to be culled sooner if not for it.

Although I don't know if his jacked up hoof played a part in his lack of a rack.

I posted this one late last year.

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=319581

Places along the South have way too many deer to be limiting the does. SC is does a decent job but still doesn't have enough doe days.
 
Washington state is a mess with game laws. We have 3 different species of deer here and the state is split into dozens of game management units. Each unit has its own rules and I'm pretty sure the boudaries were made by a mad man. They are all over the place and dont make any sense. Some examples of diffences between units are; any deer, buck only, 2 point or better mule deer only, 3 point or better mule deer or any whitetail buck, area closed for deer, etc. etc. It's kind of a pain in the butt because nothing is physically marked or posted, and they include private lands that would be illegal to hunt on in the area descriptions. Another problem we have is that the forests are used heavily by hikers, mountain bikers, mushroom pickers, etc. and they dont stay away when it is hunting season. We dont have the hunting opportunity on public land that our grandfathers had in their day.
 
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