Love them or hate them, antler restrictions are a common component of many management plans.
QUESTION: I live in Pennsylvania, and we have antler restrictions that I do not agree with. I don't feel we have more bigger bucks than we did before, and I know if you let a deer go, you’re letting him grow. But we are getting overrun with small bucks that aren't legal, and they are breeding the does. I watched a small 4-pointer breed three different does last year. A youth hunter (youth hunters don’t have to abide by the antler restriction) shot the buck, and when we pulled the jaw it was a 3.5-year-old deer.
So my questions are:
1) Do you agree with antler restrictions?
2) Do you feel they impact genetics?
3) Do you feel that antlers mean more than the thrill of the hunt?
— Brinton B.
ANSWER: My opinion on the matter is somewhat irrelevant. What matters more is what the majority of hunters in Pennsylvania believe. There’s a significant body of evidence supporting the concept of mandatory antler restrictions (MARs) as a means to improve the age structure and, thus, antler size of bucks in a particular area. However, each area is different and might require different prescriptions to achieve those objectives.
Biologists and managers must also consider what is in the best interests of their constituents, which include both the hunting and non-hunting public. Pennsylvania provides a good example. With too many deer on the landscape, some areas were on the verge of an ecological disaster. Many native plant species had become rare or absent, and several habitat types and the non-game species that inhabit them were in peril. The solution was to increase doe harvest. Antler restrictions were more of an ancillary after-thought — a carrot, if you will, to get hunters to go along with deer herd reduction.
As for genetics, it’s nigh onto impossible to have any control over them in free-range deer populations. If there’s sufficient quality food and habitat in the areas you hunt, older deer should sport larger racks. There may be an occasional oddity, like a 4-pointer that’s three years old, but that’s rare, even in areas of marginal habitat quality. I wouldn’t be too concerned about that being a dominant genetic trait.
The answer to your third question ultimately depends on the individual. While some may not readily admit it, we all want to kill a big-racked buck. To me, the experience is far more important, and I consider any mature buck a trophy, regardless of what his antlers score.
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