Have antler restrictions ever cost you a nice buck?

More specifically, have you ever missed getting a shot at a nice buck that you weren't able to pass as being legal before it was too late for a shot?

misunderstood your question.

Got it now and answer is NO.

No

nope

oh yes

the first one was the first year of this
mess when it was "five on one side" at
the wma's. i had one less than 10 yards
that i could have killed with a garage
sale bow and bent arrows, but it had it's
head to where i couldn't see it properly.
there has since been others that were big
bodied deer that would be considered culls
at a managed ranch.

No.

Nice buck probably not many, a buck that needed to be culled I'm guessing yes.

Yes, had one in front of me 2 years ago that was as tall as it was wide and havent seen him again. He was an 8 point that had 10-12" g2s and couldve only been about 10-11" wide. Id imagine a local didnt care how wide he was and thats why he hasnt been seen again.

And last year I had a nice 10 point come walking in at about 60 yards in real heavy fog. Couldnt figure out what deer he was. Then some hogs came from behind and he hauled butt through the field damn near running my pop up over.

YEP! During the rut Bucks come through fast. I whistle or bleat to get them to alert and glass them. I had one that didn't even look up.

Yes, we have one that is maybe 12 inches across, but very thick and very tall. It would be a nice trophy if legal.

That was the exact reasoning behind my OP, that it can be very difficult to determine if a buck is legal when he's passing thru and has other things on his mind.

I've started another thread to discuss a possible solution to that problem.

No

If it is moving through that fast, you should not be slinging lead at it. You just end up with a bad shot and a wounded deer. Wait for a better opportunity.

No one has implied taking poor shots. The OP and comments thus far have focused only on missed opportunities at getting a clean shot as a result of not being able to judge a buck BEFORE it was too late.

If we ever come out of the MLD Program, it will be tough for the first few seasons to remember to consider that.


I already have to remind myself to not take a rifle with me on October hunts and that the season ends right after New Years elsewhere in the state.**

Nope not here.....

I am all for AR but I wish it was like Missouri where it has to have 4 points on one side. If of a deer is trailing a doe you don't have time to tell how many inches he is but you will have time to see if it has 4 points on one side. It would also be a lot easier for the kids to tell too.

No.

If this is an issue for you, I'd suggest checking into the MLD program. Our ranch is MLD3 and it extends the seasons and eliminates antler restrictions allowing you to cull bucks that need to be culled. I understand the purpose of AR's, but it just seems like another way the government is telling us how to live. The MLD program let's the management minded hunter make the decision. Works well for us.

Oh yea. Last year was my first year deer hunting. I have a nice Remington 700 but it had a cheap Bushell Scope on it. The first morning out with my dad, we'd thrown corn around the edge of a field and saw a good sized deer walk out real early about 130 yards away. It was still dark enough, and my scope just bad enough, to not be able to get a read on him well enough to comfortably shoot. My dad couldn't tell either. After about 20 excruciatingly long minutes (probably more like 5) he started walking away from us with his head down right as the sun was starting to come up. At about the edge of the field, and about 200 yards away he looked up and turned his head and he was a big ol' buck - probably 10 pointer. Immediately jumped the fence and into the woods from there. That was the only deer we saw that 3 day weekend, and i spent the long drive home from Throckmorton to Houston quite distracted.
I didnt regret not shooting though. While it was certainly a great buck in hindsight, at that time of the morning, at that distance, and with what i had to work with, it wasnt a shooter.
I did quickly buy a nicer scope though...

No it has not caused me to miss a "shooter" buck but it has promoted a sense responsibility within many hunters that is good for the sport. The simple fact that a young buck gets a pass allows us to see what his potential might be. That is a good thing especially if the resources are not there to manage the deer any other way. The antler restrictions try to establish a baseline to which the deer herd can be built upon.

Agreed.

And the numbers of those who respond with "yes" just goes to show how many ethical sportsmen we have in our ranks.

That was the intention of my OP, not to attack the current AR's, but to see how many hunters have let one get away, rather than shooting first and checking later.

I answered no, but it has nothing to do with ethics. I've honestly never had a bang-bang scenario where it was shoot or miss the opportunity, or a scenario where I couldn't truly determine if he was over 13". We don't have narrow genes on our place, but even then I only average about a buck every other year, because I'm looking for a mature deer. If you want to interpret the results as 'Yes = Ethical' then the question needs to be 'WOULD antler restrictions cost you a buck'. To that I would gladly answer yes. I'm not going to murder a deer and hope that he grows to meet ARs in the time I'm getting down and walking over.

That depends on the man behind the rifle. Plenty of people are capable of killing a moving animal.

Never shoot first and check later. Be darn sure of what your shooting before the safety ever comes off

Nope

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.