My take, FWIW. I own and hunt land in the north country, upstate and the southern tier. North of Syracuse I would consider any buck a trophy due to the lower density. Around home in Western NY we grow some bruiser bucks and I've been more than blessed to kill quite a few really nice 3+ yo bucks. We also have access to more doe tags then I would ever need to fill in a year. I hunted the Southern tier a lot more when I was younger but still hunt Steuben/Allegheny with friends from time to time. The deer heard in that area is but a shadow of what it once was, but there are lots and lots of really nice deer taken down there every year WITHOUT the need for ARs.
One of the biggest problems I see is we are losing hunters every year in this state for a multitude of reasons. What I'm afraid ARs will do is discourage the guy that can maybe only get out one or 2 days a year. If Joe weekend hunter now has to let bucks walk , he very well could decide it's not worth it anymore to buy that $40 license that supports the sport. Not every guy who likes to hunt can afford to take time off to do so, but we NEED every dam one of those hunters to continue the pursuit or pretty soon they wont be anything left of the sportsman's voting block and then there wont be any hunting left at all.
When we were younger we used to think ARs were a good idea, BUT - Who am I to tell you what you should be able to shoot or not shoot? If a guy want's to shoot a yearling spike and it makes him happy, God bless him. That should be his choice. Bottom line - you don't NEED ARs to grow big bucks, you just need some self control. The a$$wholes who are pushing this are just a bunch of greedy, self righteous Yankees that want to control chit that ain't theirs.
They say everything happens for a reason. For me that reason is usually because I've made some bad decisions that I need to pay for.
