-DeerSlayer-

Well, bwhunter501, this would be a complete waste of a law to pass. I am going to get this out in the open right now, I have felt strongly about this subject and will post it here. Although I am not going to try and be mean, this is just my opinion and hope you take it as only that.
The Antler groth restriction is not a fair or even sensible way of taking bucks. a 4x4 buck would be the restriction? It has no logical meaning to it, I passed on many year and a half 4x4 bucks this year, knowing that they are too small to shoot, waiting for a larger and more mature buck. Many states think that an antler "point count" restriction is a good way, but it really is a waste. What if you have a management buck that you are needing to take out of the herd because it is only a "3x3" , but yet mature. You would not be eligible to take this management buck, because of his points? that makes no sense. A reasonable way would be a scoring limit, such as a 125 inch gross minimum. This would at least have a good reasonable way for bucks to grow a good antler size and reach a point of maturity. And if the scoring procedure wouldn't work out, for people who arent good at judging size, maybe an age limit would be a possible way to let bucks grow larger antlers. But for now, I see nothing wrong with the way things are. There is a plentiful amount of deer in Illinois and not one person should have trouble taking one in Illinois. The way it is now(no limit) gives kids and first timers a chance to get a deer. This is only my opinion and I hope that you read and consider my points.
-DS-

fillae

Missouri started a 4pt restriction in certain counties last fall. I'm hoping to see some bigger bucks this year. I think if you have a healthy, well-managed herd to begin with, you will see better results. If you are not able to cull the mature bucks with smaller racks, then I think this would negatively impact the overall health of the herd. I think in the short term we will start seeing some better bucks, but I have serious doubts about the long term effects of the program.

rybohunter

AR's aren't a perfect system by any stretch. In places where you already have good hunting and a hunter mindset that allows bucks to grow older I would never want to institute it. BUT in places where you have potential for big bucks, BUT a horribly warped hunter attitude for shooting ANYTHING with bone, I like instituting the idea to force people to reevaluate thier thinking.

longrifle1000

I would like them to start worrying about the health of the herd, not the size of the antlers. I think CWD should be the first thing on the agenda. I could care less about antler size, I can't eat them.

Buckhunter 17

i don't think that the antler restriction is a very good idea. they were talking about doing it out at site M in IL. just because it has 4 points on each side doesn't mean it is a good buck to take. because most all 11/2 - 2 yr old bucks are 8 pts. and not mature. which means if everyone starts to shoot small bucks, their deer herd will decrease in amount of quality mature bucks. it also doesn't give kids and first timers a chance to get their first buck. like -ds- said there should be some type of scoring. like 125 or higher to take them, but not 4 pts on each side. i think it is fine the way it is in IL. there hasn't been any problems so far, so why not keep it going. this also doesn't alow outfitters or people who like to manage their deer herds to take out a management deer, say that has 5 pts, they will have to watch that buck and never get to shoot it. it probably wont get any more pts as it grows, this means bad genetics are passed on to the young. meaning future bad deer.

BH

adams

I'm beginning to see a turn of the tides regarding QDM. More and more hunters are seeing the light and lwetting immature animals walk and in some instances (myself included) this means eating a buck tag.

Slayer, I couldn't agree with this statement more.

Swampman and IL also make good points about AR being flawed. Ar's will reduce the buck harvest totals but often at the cost of the best genetics. IMO states should be limiting buck harvest totals. Limiting hunters to one antlered deer per year (just for argument sake) would force hunter who shoot the first buck they see and then hunt for a shooter to be more selective in what they choose to shoot. I hear the argument that "not everyone what to shoot a big buck".I call BS on that statement. What the problem is is some hunters have no restraint and want to have their cake and eat it too.

I give my personal kudos (as if that means anything) to the hunters that voluntarily practice QDM. Keep spreading the word and your ideas and the tides will continue to turn.

Adams

IL_BOW_MAN

I am with cornfed on this one. 95% of the the 18 month old deer in my area are 8 pointers. Very rarely do we see a 6 pointer and almost never see a forky.


I myself have ate my Buck tag for 3 years letting the little ones walking just so I can screw up on a bigger one. But oh well, the price I have to pay!!

veener88

From what I have read I agree with that. When I was watching buck masters I could not belive how fast blue tounge hit a deer also.

alwyshntn

I am mixed on this issue but I do know that I don't like the state telling me what size deer I can shoot. I myself practice shooting mature bucks only but I do not want to take a child or a first timer out and limit them to what they can shoot. The counties I hunt in here in MO have the AR limits and I guess we will see what the results are in a couple of more years but I just have my doubts. On the downside to this I did find a couple of what I call ground checked bucks lying in the woods this past year. They both had perfect kill shots on them and were decent small bucks but didn't make the cut. I have hunted at Jim Edgar in IL for the past several years now where they have a AR and there are no doubt alot of nice deer there but I don't know if its simply because of the antler restriction. I think it is all the outstanding cover,food, and diverse terrain as well as being surrounded by outfitters.

xeniabuck

No No No....I mean as long as we keep rifle season out of here, magnificent bucks will always thrive here in IL. I always think of antler restrictions as if I was a first year hunter out in the woods, and I see the first deer I am able to kill, but I can't harvest it because of antler restrictions. I don't know about you guys, but they would piss me off.