I was always under the assumption that the short seasons were a management tool to control population.
I have mixed feelings about genetic breeding for antlers. It's kinda like Wally-World. Some good, some bad, but it is what it is, so we must learn to live with it. I used to hog hunt on a ranch that had big antler breeding. The hog hunting was in off season and cheap. This guy sold some hunts, but his main business was selling breeding stock to other ranches to improve their heard. I guess that about half were sent to large low fenced and the other to high fenced ranches.
Because, for many years the state mis-managed the heard by not allowing does or spikes to be taken, almost any buck with a forked antler was shot. Land owners wanted deer to be seen, no matter if they were dinks or not. I was on a lease where 7 or 8 bucks were killed the first year. I believe one was a 6 another an 8, the others spikes. We killed, almost twice that number does. The averaged gutted only weight for the bucks was 67lbs and does in the low fifties. I think all the bucks were under 2.5yrs. The next year my buddy was distraught, because he thought he had killed a huge button buck. It weighed 75lbs and turned out to be a 5.5yr old 1' spike. I'm sure that with intensive management, that ranch, by now, 40yrs later, might be producing decent deer. Who's to say, or try to stop that landowner from trying to improve his heard with better genes.
OTOH, on the ranch where I used to hog hunt, I've seen breeder 2.5yo bucks in his pens that will score 200+ B&C. Hopefully some will escape and improve the pool for all. I do have mixed feelings, but live with the hand I'm dealt. Captdavid
