3 POINTS TO ONE SIDE RULE

[Arch007er]

I went into the army in april of 04, and wasnt able to get in a full hunting season till last year when i got out...ive been hunting for over 10 years and never have i seen so many damn 4 points or less on bucks then last year, and this year scouting...i never saw a spike....but last year i passed over a 1/2 dozen bucks because for their lack of points....now is this just a coincidence that im only seeing these little fellas, or is this going on all over the state (i realize in some of the northern counties its 4 to a side) but this rule to me does not make any sense, i see the goal they/"he" tried to achieve by this rule, but i think its counter productive being that we can only harvest the bucks with good genetic growth potential and allowing the scrub bucks to knock up the does with their 4 point seed....i mean you dont breed mutts to show at westminster, so why allow scrub bucks to breed?!?

[moose]

I'm down in NJ, but the first year that rule came into affect, I had a 4point in a great shooting lane. Same thing happened from season to season, and so far everybuck I have ever seen in the woods has been off limits

I was always under the assumption that bucks grew every year?

[jpavoncello]

From a little internet research.....


W.A. Armstrong published an excellent article titled The Management of Spike Bucks in the spring of 1994 issue of Making Tracts for Texas Wildlife in which 10 conclusions based on the deer research at the Kerr Wildlife Management Area were presented. The title could have been 'The Management of Whitetail Deer'. These conclusions are based on data from 20 years of research records from more than 1,600 total deer, 1,103 sets of antlers from 384 different deer and include the following:

1. Antler development is genetically based. Not all deer have the same genetic potential.
2. Nutrition does affect antler growth.
3. Early or late birth does not affect antler development if deer receive adequate nutrition.
4. The majority of yearling spike bucks will produce smaller and fewer points in following years than will fork-antlered yearlings.
5. You can improve a herd by selectively removing inferior antlered deer and allowing the deer with good antlers to breed.
6. Does provide half of the genetic potential for antler development.
7. Average yearling bucks on good range should have six points.
8. Even when most bucks are spikes, removing them will not endanger the breeding potential.
9. Antler development improves with age up to a point.
10. The best time to manage for genetic improvement is during periods of nutritional stress.

see the entire study here:
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild...ers_inherited/

[soup]

Shame they don't allow hunting in Valley Forge National Park... the deer in there are crazy, herds of them, big ones too.... I guess you can always hit one with the car...

[Ten*K]

when i was at camp david we had retardo deer... does with horns and bucks who would eat corn cobs out of shotgun barrels.

[Archer4Life]

Here in Fayette county there have been some really nice ones being shot. Last year I got a 120+" six point, and my friend shot a 140" ten point from his stand not more than 3/4 of a mile from my stand. I got mine on Oct 15, and he got his last week of archery season. Greene county also has a lot of big ones but EHD has had its impact. Ive been seeing lots of medium sized bucks (6-8 points 100 inchers) while bowhunting, and I feel that antler restrictions have helped. Im eager to see what this season will be like. Thank you for serving our wounderful country, good luck this year.

[kevindsingleton]

EHD devastated the deer in western PA, and we've seen only a few shooter-sized bucks on trail cams that were capturing some big deer, last season. I didn't go out, last year, because of EHD. I don't think the herds have recovered, yet, this season, either.

I thought Darwin taught us that natural selection would do away with the smaller, weaker animals, but Carl Roe is determined that mini-bucks will be all that's left when his administration ends.

[Arch007er]

thx for the input guys, just wanted to see how this rule was effecting everyone else...and archer4life thats good news that the rule is working to you benefit, but i think your the only one ive heard of that the deer are actually growing larger racks, maybe im in a geographical oddity and need to explore...well good hunting all, OCTOBER 4th!!!!!

[ErSwnn]

Shame they don't allow hunting in Valley Forge National Park... the deer in there are crazy, herds of them, big ones too.... I guess you can always hit one with the car...

Grilled venison anyone?

[seoulstice]

Shame they don't allow hunting in Valley Forge National Park... the deer in there are crazy, herds of them, big ones too.... I guess you can always hit one with the car...

Tons of deer there but if you ever get a chance to look at them they are all malnourished and some are even diseased. I drive through there every day and have never seen a buck above 4 points and if so they were scrawny. Talked to a County parks officer during a lottery goose hunt and he said that no one in there right mind would eat a deer from there, they find dead ones all the time, dead from disease.

Would be fun to be part of one of those sniper teams they send in there though.