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

Also, just thinking a bit sitting here, if you aren't trying to better your herd, aren't you just participating? Like ball games these days where everyone gets a trophy for being there and there is no score?

Is that a plus or shouldn't we do everything we set out to do to the best of our abilities, even if we fail in that effort?

At the end of the day their is nothing more noble than a man providing meat for his family. I don't give a f&ck it it's a spike or a 10 point.

Once we've completely gotten to the point that laws state you can only kill 1 Ten point, 130 B&C or better per year, deer hunting will be dead.

Limit the bucks one can kill in NY, limit the number of hunters. New Amendment to Safe Act, "Bill hasn't bought a deer license in the past 3 years, Bill doesn't need his deer rifle any longer"

I ain't trying to better a f*cking thing. That mentality has given us 'Global Warming' and the believe that we can control waters with levees and dams.

In the end, mother nature will prevail. I don't like feeding deer, I don't like 'managing' deer, as I believe the more we f&ck with shiet, the more fu*ked it becomes.

Let mother nature deal with nature.

Re Does; it is only common sense they contribute to the genetic well-being of offspring.

There is little doubt that QDM will allow one to have more mature Deer hanging around. And older Deer will have larger horns on average provided they have good nutrition.

QDM's biggest weak link is that most of the QDM poster boys live on intensively managed food tracts. Rost has his high protein, mineral rich feeders. The "Bucks of Tim Buck Too" and the other managed farms the same. They are the equivalent of NFL players having a registered dietician on staff 24/7. Ensuring they have the right combination of carbs, protein, fat, and micronutrients. It is eternal summer. That's not normal in the Adirondacks or the Northern Counties of Pa.

When winter sets in some are lucky to make it till spring. Now a mature strong Deer has a better chance of making it than one who isn't, so QDM still has its advantage. But QDM, as practiced by the farms, is not the same as in the Dacks.

Where I deviate strongly from QDM is when they start managing for horn appearance only. Then you get into the realm of the AKC and we know what they have done to many Dog breeds. They have turned most into stupid caricatures of the original. Perhaps that odd looking 3 point is the one that passes on resistance to CWD and needs some mating time to pass it on. His value is greater than what is on his head. You don't know, but take him out just because he has spindly horns, and the good genetics he posesses other than horns never will have the chance to be passed on.

I agree with you partially, but there will always be limits. No limits didn't work out that well for Ducks during the market hunting days. No limits didn't work out well for the Pa Deer heard and we had to bring some in from other herds and start over. No limits didn't work out well for Elk in Pa either.

There are times when I want to shoot a big buck. Well, I usually want to shoot a big buck.

I now shoot a doe for the freezer and eat my buck tag or let my kids fill it with whatever they want. I couldn't care less if I don't shoot a buck anymore. As long as my kids want to keep filling my tag. After all, spending time with them in the woods far outweighs what I'll get from a deer.

Most of time I don't care what kind of buck it is, just that it's a buck. Then - BANG!

I've read most of the thread and totally agree with this.

Some of you will get a chuckle out of this because I kill some nice bucks. That's my choice. I usually wait to shoot a decent, mature buck. I'm fortunate enough to live and hunt in an area where mature deer exist. With that being said, I also kill several does a year. My kids kill any buck that strikes their fancy and that's the way it should be. Case passed up a couple of small bucks this year, but he wasn't trophy hunting. Truth be known, I don't think he was comfortable with the shot.

In my opinion, deer hunting is going the wrong direction. The size of the rack shouldn't be legislated. We need to encourage hunting and shooting.

Then we'll agree to disagree on this one.

Mother nature screwed our deer herd up so bad for so many years, being that there were basically no rules other than shoot no does, and now that we have management we have more and better deer...

Its hard for me to run the thought of leave it all alone is best sometimes.

I think the antler restrictions have improved size of bucks in PA significantly. I wish there was some provision to be able to do some culling of genetic losers, however. I have a little buck who is at least 3 years old now who hangs around the patch of woods behind my house and who has never developed much more than long deformed spikes. He seems to be successful with the local does as I see the characteristics showing up in some of the younger bucks now. I guess I could try to get a junior or disabled hunter out there to take him out.

I know what happened in TN, the folks with the authority to regulate the buck limit down to 1 are political appointees that are at best armchair biologists wanabees. And that is allowing them far more credit than is deserved imo.
They went against the states professional biologist position that said there was no justification to further limit the buck regulations solely in the name of herd health improvement. But they did it anyway.
So yes, the restrictions were made in the name of inches on the head by the big horn minority that pissed and moaned... at the expense of those that just want to enjoy their hunting heritage.

Anyone want to talk about passing antlered deer your preaching to the choir with me. I've passed a chit load of em up in the last 10+ years. And in an area that has very little hunting pressure too.
I just got tired of dragging the bastards. You don't get to drive or take 4 wheelers where I hunt.
And you know what, it has made very little observable difference in the overall age structure or overall health of the deer herd population.

If I owned enough land to hunt, I'll be damned if someone is going to tell me what I can and can't shoot on it.

You own enough land in Pa and leave it open, then the GC will pretty much leave you alone within reason.

Post it up for yourself and get turned in for killing whatever or whenever? Once they have the evidence, they will drag you out of bed and straight to court. And you will go.

The real tipping point for me was sitting in a bow stand on MY own land, with no meat left in the freezer on a beautiful fall afternoon watching 4 healthy but not legal bucks walk by and nary a doe. We have to have 3 on one side here. I went home empty handed that day. The creatures are not on this rock so you can hang a cool mount on your wall.....

I ended up putting meat in the freezer that year but it was no doubt on a cold winter day when I'd much rather have been sipping a drink.

One of the best tasting deer I've ever had was the biggest buck I've ever shot. There was not doubt he was in full rut. He wanted to kill me when he came in looking for a fight.

Take your time gutting and getting out of the woods. And shocker....your deer will probably taste good.

We use a sled to get them out, even if there is no snow.

And, if APRs are so critical to managing the heard how come it's harder than ever to put meat in the freezer?

The only deer we couldn't eat much of was a doe. And she was properly cared for as well. She was also huge and probably old.

I disagree. The herd is the herd. The way nature made it.

The ONLY reason APR's are in place is because trophy hunters are bitching about it. You don't see the DNR asking for them. It's from hunters complaining.

Good to see that socialism is alive and well in some states...

"MY" land has done more for the advancement of QDM than probably anything else. You peasants stay the hell off "MY" land. Maybe not exactly Kingly, more like I'm the Lord of the Manor.

And when did the wild animals on your land become yours to do with what you wish? I thought we got passed that King and Lord of the Manor thing centuries ago.

So you can legally kill whatever and whenever in yours without the GW's coming to visit? What State would that be? Should be a hunters paradise.