Look what I found........
Posted: February 10th, 2005, 11:25 pm
PoisonSnake
Registered User Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 1
First post, long winded answer...
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First of all, antler restrictions in the state of MS cannot even be considered antler restrictions at all. The 4 point rule in MS is exactly that. A 4 point rule. Not four scoreable points to a side, but 4 points and that is it. In essence of that, you most certainly are going to kill a number of 18 month old bucks if it is that you chose to shoot a forked horn or six pointer every time you see one. I am not certain what the restrictions are in PA, but in MO, we have recently implemented restrictions of 4 scorable points to a side. South of the MO river, 20% of our 18 month old deer will be 8 pointers. North of the MO River, that number rises to a mere 30%. So, Most 18 month old deer in specified counties will or should be protected. I am all for this and what that means in those counties is that buck kills in the future should, in fact, decrease. In certain areas of MO, as many as 50% of the buck population used to be harvested in any given year. I hope to see that number decrease for sure. I also hope restrictions are implemented statewide north of the MO River. Is this the best solution to protect yearling and 2.5 year old bucks? Of course not. I would love to see our season mimic KS, IA, or IL. But, I will live with this.
Now, to the issue of overharvest of does. I do see this as an issue and I feel that we too are dealing with it. I am seeing less deer than in the past and I hunt in one of the more populated regions of MO. Therefore, I think that unlimited harvest of doe deer is not a good thing. I think that the harvest of does should definitely be regulated. If it is that doe harvest continues to be unlimited, I feel that nuisance tags that are issued to farmers during the summer months should be ended. I do not think you can have it both ways. However, I will also state that we as hunters (myself included) are somewhat to blame. Oftentimes, when your state agency sets the regulations, we as hunters tend to follow them to a T. If they tell you to shoot every doe you see, some folks will do exactly that. I have neighbors that continue to do this and then they wonder why it is they are seeing fewer deer year in, year out. We don't shoot near the number of does as we once did because it seems everyone else is doing that job for us. In other words, we as hunters are the best at conserving the resource in my opinion. Regardless of these issues, some folks will never get it. If it is that the MDC tells them they can shoot 27 deer a year, some folks will do it. The rest of us may very well suffer for it.
Registered User Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 1
First post, long winded answer...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First of all, antler restrictions in the state of MS cannot even be considered antler restrictions at all. The 4 point rule in MS is exactly that. A 4 point rule. Not four scoreable points to a side, but 4 points and that is it. In essence of that, you most certainly are going to kill a number of 18 month old bucks if it is that you chose to shoot a forked horn or six pointer every time you see one. I am not certain what the restrictions are in PA, but in MO, we have recently implemented restrictions of 4 scorable points to a side. South of the MO river, 20% of our 18 month old deer will be 8 pointers. North of the MO River, that number rises to a mere 30%. So, Most 18 month old deer in specified counties will or should be protected. I am all for this and what that means in those counties is that buck kills in the future should, in fact, decrease. In certain areas of MO, as many as 50% of the buck population used to be harvested in any given year. I hope to see that number decrease for sure. I also hope restrictions are implemented statewide north of the MO River. Is this the best solution to protect yearling and 2.5 year old bucks? Of course not. I would love to see our season mimic KS, IA, or IL. But, I will live with this.
Now, to the issue of overharvest of does. I do see this as an issue and I feel that we too are dealing with it. I am seeing less deer than in the past and I hunt in one of the more populated regions of MO. Therefore, I think that unlimited harvest of doe deer is not a good thing. I think that the harvest of does should definitely be regulated. If it is that doe harvest continues to be unlimited, I feel that nuisance tags that are issued to farmers during the summer months should be ended. I do not think you can have it both ways. However, I will also state that we as hunters (myself included) are somewhat to blame. Oftentimes, when your state agency sets the regulations, we as hunters tend to follow them to a T. If they tell you to shoot every doe you see, some folks will do exactly that. I have neighbors that continue to do this and then they wonder why it is they are seeing fewer deer year in, year out. We don't shoot near the number of does as we once did because it seems everyone else is doing that job for us. In other words, we as hunters are the best at conserving the resource in my opinion. Regardless of these issues, some folks will never get it. If it is that the MDC tells them they can shoot 27 deer a year, some folks will do it. The rest of us may very well suffer for it.
