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

I never said the deer are MY deer, just as the Robin I'm looing at right now, ain't MY Robin.

But it is MY land and if YOUR deer happens to be on MY land when I'm feeling frisky, it might end up in MY freezer.

Again, reading comprehension escapes you as you are apparently too ate up with the Yankee.

Anyone here want to go over to Battue's house when he ain't home so we can get some of OUR deer out of HIS freezer?

Same old, same old. Nor does reading comprehension escape here. North or South there are the have and the have-nots, and there are advantages to being a have.

You are much like Clinton. "It's all what your definition of is, is"

Even if it is a stupid analogy. No need to sneak, all have to do is ask, be more than willing to share.

When have you actually seen a game commission propose these APR's? It's usually after enough of the "hunters" begin whining about there not being enough trophy bucks for them to shoot.

A trophy is different for all of us. I've shot two spike buck trophy's.

Both were shot with my late FIL. One was my first buck in WI. You've never seen a man smile as much as he did that day. When we met up later that morning he gave me giant hug. We shared a whisky that evening over a steak dinner. He was so happy I'll never forget it.

It's also the smallest deer I think I've ever shot. Don't care...



Here he is with it.

How did mother nature "screw up your deer?"

I tell you what I enjoy. Is the look on some of these anglers faces, sitting a 40 thousand dollar bass boat, about to go bat schit crazy because they see someone throw a legal small mouth into a cooler full of ice! Now THAT's Funny!!

The head hunters ain't much different, yep, nothing that more regulations can't take care of....

Not going to be an issue. I'm not going to own land in PA, so it's not a concern of mine. Nor is shooting a deer on my land, posted or not.

When I got hungry.

Nice memory. First Rabbit I killed was leaning off the hood of Unc's Cadillac that had a set of those Texas Longhorns for a hood ornament. Under the spotlight it was also.

He was happy, I was happy and I still have the memory. Had little to do with game management.

Another State where you can hunt whatever/whenever. As long as you don't get caught.

"But officer, I was hungry." "Oh, OK. Why didn't you say so and it would have saved us both all this aggravation. Tell you what, call me next time and let me know you are hungry and I'll ignore that poacher call-in I received."

I can't wait for a poacher thread. You will be on the poacher side, right?

I found out along time ago, if your gonna hunt with a remmy 760 pump, then you just have accept the fact stuff is gonna die...

The key to healthy deer herds (hell--to healthy populations of all wildlife) is the quality of the habitat. Sure, it's easy to over-harvest healthy deer populations in states which have lots of hunters and not much habitat. But avoiding over harvest is what limited license sales and bag limits are all about. (In the interest of full disclosure, I personally, have no use for high fence, QDM deer management--it's deer farming, not wildlife management. If you just have to have a lot of big heads on the wall and have more money than time, QDM operations are your huckleberry--but that's deer shooting, not deer hunting.)

States like Texas (and most of the southeastern states) have whitetails coming out of their ears. They are more focused on preventing overpopulation and the resultant habitat degradation and damage to crops and ornamental plants. They can afford to monkey with tying the harvest of a mature buck to the removal of x-number of does and/or "inferior" deer (like spikes and yearling bucks that don't have at least 8 antler points). This really isn't necessary in states like New York and Pennsylvania. If you try it, you risk alienating a significant chunk of the license-buying public. That's just one of the reasons that state game departments don't like it.

Multiple studies in a variety of states have shown that the most deer hunters are more interested in hunting opportunity and harvest success than killing a whopper. Big bucks are nice but what they really want is the opportunity to go deer hunting and bring home some venison, rather than holding out for a wall hanger. Since these are the large majority of the license buyers, game and fish departments make every effort to cater to their desires. The "big buck"-oriented pushes in state legislatures typically have their genesis in conversations between legislators and some of their well-to-do constituents who are significant donors to their campaigns.

I realize that all hunters are smarter and more knowledgeable than the average big game biologist , but most big game biologists are hunters, too. They have a personal as well as a professional interest in maintaining healthy populations of deer and other big game animals in the states in which they work. Allowing game management and harvest to be dictated by your state legislature is pretty much a guaranteed train wreck.

As another poster is fond of saying, read that and then read it again!!

Mother nature wasn't doing the screwing in that scenario...

Mother nature should have been able to balance...


But you make my point, you have to manage it SOME way. YOu can't just let people decide... they'll kill anything and everything that walks....

Well that's not all I hunt with. But that 7600 30-06 is one of the most accurate guns I've ever shot.

Thanks, excellent post and I agree most want to go out, hunt and have what they think is a reasonable chance of success. The definition of success becomes the hard part. Spend a morning and have an opportunity, a day, a week? See a lot of Deer.? Miss and think your season is over or think another chance will surely happen?

Seems as if most rifle Deer hunters here in Pa have reached the point they want to spend a little time, not too much now, shoot a Deer and get it over with.

Bow hunters, seem more dedicated and willing to work at it.

Difficult job managing an Eastern Deer herd for both the Deer and the Deer hunter. I can tell you that most hardcore Deer hunters here in Pa love the current system. They are willing to work for the opportunity to shoot a respectable Deer and damn few of them are high-rollers. The majority are working guys, They don't want a Doe behind every tree, because they know if they find the Does the Bucks will be close by. They seem willing to fail more than they win. They go into the season not expecting it to be easy. They have different mentality when it comes to their hunting than most of us.

What makes you think I'm going to talk to an officer about it?

I also didn't say I do that. I did say, an APR sure as hell wouldn't stop me from doing it if I needed to put meat in my freezer.