Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Trying to Legislate Antler Restrictions into NY

There are plenty of good bucks in NY now. Always have been since I started hunting in the 70's. No, they're not behind every tree. That's what makes them trophies. If you're good and persistent or lucky you'll get them. If not, well, everybody doesn't deserve to win now do they ?

The vast majority of the young of any species of animal are healthy. Health and youth for the most part are one and the same. That's the easy part part of Deer management. Shoot 1.5 YO's and odds are each one will be healthy. Not mature, full grown or at their peak, but most likely healthy.

Makes no difference what plan you follow, hunting seasons, one way or another manage a Deer population.

Important to note that this effort is ENTIRELY outside the DEC and their biologists.
It is totally being pushed by professional politicians.
This does not bode well for most of us!

Everyone in NYS should be contacting their legislators informing them of your stand on this.

Battue and I talked about this on a few occasions. I was dead set against QDM when it started. It takes a few years, but the result is a much more balanced deer herd, and nicer racks. It's tough to pass up those spikes. They do eat good, but it's for the betterment of the herd.

Two things. It is funny watching the NY boys get all riled up about AR's. I listened to both sides while it was going on here, and man did it roll. Eventually, the logic of it surfaced. Horns come with age and you don't get all that many when you are killing off the vast majority of your Deer at 1.5. Now, are there going to be hogs walking around all over? Nope, but eventually, you will see a definite increase in nice 8-10's. Deer you will look at and know with a glance it is legal. I can see the young guys perhaps not in favor, they haven't killed the number of Bucks the older crew has. But the facts are most of them will be. Then again how many little Bucks does the older crew have to kill before they are willing to give some of them time?

Does will be in season for meat and holding off for a nicer Buck may extend the season and time afield. Win-Win.

I think it's stupid.

I'd be willing to bet that the only thing I had time for was to determine if the deer was a buck or a doe before I shot.

If one considers hunting as sitting in a tree or a blind, then it will likely make them happy.

I mainly only sit in a blind late or if I have no other choice. I'm usually moving around and stopping here and there to look.

Some you will have to hold off because you are not sure. Others you will know as soon as you first see them. Especially when you see them before they see you.

Again, it mainly appeases the 'sitters'.

There are more of them every season.

Can't comment on NY, but in Pa it was a GC decision. Based on a few issues. Excess Deer for food supply and some insurance input with regards the number of Deer/Car collisions. Didn't hear a single comment from either side that had anything to do with how one hunts.

Mostly it appeases guys who are mainly hunting for horns {IOW bragging rights } and are too stupid and/or lazy to find a "trophy buck" without special restrictions to increase their numbers.

I hunt to fill the freezer. It's fun when the king tells you which ones of the king's deer you can kill and which ones you can't.

God forbid someone shoots a 2 1/2 year old forkhorn for the freezer.

Hunted NY in the 70's

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.

there is no room for logic in this debate. brown it's down is the rule and always should be!

actually in real life if you let deer live they get bigger. it's a crazy concept I know. bow everyone knows if you let a buck to live to be 6 he's likely to be dominant/big. he has to run a lot of gauntlets to do that, so it's rare. slam everyone else into a short season, highly populated means that HEY! you kill a deer, you're somethin'. a legal buck who cares, an antler is an antler. take the picture an forgetaboutit amIright? seriously though point restrictions aren't that bad in a hunting populous that can't control their trigger finger. (I'm speaking in generalities and not for everyone there). a point restriction on a limited term might be good

I'm hoping you let any and all hunt your land in the North Country?

Yep. I don't own enough to make a difference and even if I did I don't live there so it's open to the locals and they have always responded in kind.

There are many landowners in the county that I live in that are hard pressed to even hang on to there property due to the outrageous tax burden.Telling these folks what size deer that they can kill on their own land is not going to set too well!

So the "king" never tells you when you can hunt, or how many deer your allowed to shoot?

This could be a better cat fight than what went on in Pa. We kept it along management lines, this is about taxes and may bring about the next American revolution. Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty will rise up from their graves and lead New Yorkers dressed up as Indians while they burn and throw their licenses into the NY harbor while screaming "Don't tread on my Dink". This could be a hoot.