nope

No

It's about hunting, and waiting for that buck to give you a perfect shot, and being able to determine if it's legal. If you can't then let it walk.
Anyone can sit out in the woods and sling lead, and just have to kill something.
As mentioned there are ways around AR's.

Some of you are taking the question way to serious, so let me rephrase it.

Have you ever passed on a buck because you could not confirm he passed AR's, and then noticed after it was too late to get off a clean shot, he was a "shooter"?

I will spell out for you this time ....N-O

If I did not think he was a shooter the first time, then he most likely wasn't a shooter the second time, no matter how much I wanted him to be.

You are right. A gut shot will kill an animal.

This one would give a lot of guys in AR county's heartache.

Nope. When I hunted in Texas, I specifically avoided leases in AR counties. Stupidest game law ever passed by the TPWD.

Not really. It has drastically improved the number of bucks allowed to mature in our area. People are killing bigger, older, more mature bucks because of it. I see the results every time I go to the processor.

If you don't have enough time to identify if it is a legal buck or not, I would set your stand up better and clear some lanes. If you can't tell or aren't sure, just don't pull the trigger and more than likely you will see the deer several more times.

I understand your question and I appreciate that you asked it. Posts concerning antler restrictions seems to upset some people.

nope I like em wide and very short tines.

We've had to let a few of these walk since ARs.

Yes. Tall heavy basket racked 8 point, great deer, except for the spread. BUT, I still support AR. We are seeing many more nice bucks than we used to.

No

I havent lost a shot at a deer because of AR rules but because of bag limits i have seen a LOT less deer. when they implemented the new rules in hopkins co.several years ago they started the 2 bucks and 2 does bag limit wich is way to many to legally kill in our county.In my opinion thats the biggest threat to my seeing or shooting a legal deer.Last year i killed the biggest deer to date at my place with the drawback that it was the ONLY buck i saw all season. SORRY for that long rant.

With the type of buck I'm looking for each year, AR's will never come into play.

Something not to be overlooked in the discussion is that the tactics being used can be the key difference in not being able to get off a clean shot because the hunter was delayed by making sure the deer was legal.

Now let me make it clear. This is not another thread to bash AR's. I support them 100%, even though I would still like to find a way to modify them so the older top hat bucks can be taken.

It was the impact of the rut that truly prompted my thread, and how you don't always get plenty of time to check a buck's antlers and get off an ethical shot when he's chasing a doe. While you might be able to watch him for 20 minutes or even longer when he's tagging along with a doe at a feeder, you might get less than 20 seconds in other settings, such as one that's chasing a hot doe across a bean field or some small opening.

Dan it might not be a AR bash thread but because it is a tread about getting the shot at a legal buck under AR rules wich I dont like but still have to abide by i had to put in my 2 cents worth. If we didnt have the AR rules we wouldnt have to rush ANY shots to kill a legal deer.

Yes, that was a goal, to get some indication of how often good bucks are getting past hunters because of AR's.

Taking all things under consideration, it doesn't appear to happen that often. One reason might be the high percentage of those hunting over feeders and food plots where a hunter could easily have 10 or more minutes to watch and check a given buck. Take those out of the equation and I suspect the number would spike upward.