He's a question for the pro ARs. What is the major reason for this legislation A) Improve age structure or B) Produce quality bucks

Quality comes with age!! AB.

You have the choice of where you hunt. If you do not like AR's go to a county that does not have them.

It is just like somking bans. I do not smoke and do not like breathe someone elses smoke while eating dinner. I have no problems with someone's right to smoke in a public place but I do have the option to choose another restaurant. Even if that means driving a little farther to enjoy my meal smoke free.
That owner has the right to choose his patrons just like our elected officials have the ability to change laws of the state. If your arguments against AR's could be articulated by a large enough population that would outweight the TPWD study for the AR's then your elected oficials would be able to change it. Until then choose a non AR county.
I could use Speed limits as another analology is you like. Same thing...

I may not like the AR's but I understand why they are there and do not disagree with the implementation in the county where I hunt.

The problem with that thought process it that all wildlife resources are owned by the state. The land owner does not own wildlife resources.

If you own a pond, you can manage the fish in it the way you see fit.

It would be nice if they could say hey you can shoot tall or freak racks but honestly how can they write that. People would take advantage of it. I personally dont shoot spikes unless I can for sure tell its over 1 1/2 years

It's very obvious that alot of the people here who are in favor of the antler restrictions do not own land. And the majority of the proponents, I'd bet, do not even hunt in AR counties.

While we do have self imposed AR's on our land, call it a management plan, I still feel that it should be up to the landowners as to what "plan" is in place.

And as a test to see if the state of Texas truly owns all the deer in tx....Hit one with your truck, then sue the state for damages. They will not take responsibility for THEIR deer then, only when it benefits them. It's all about the money! If you hit a cow that's standing in the middle of the highway, that cow's owner is responsible for damages, and rightfully so. But the state of Tx doesn't give the same consideration when it comes to 'their" deer.

And again, I'd place a wager that says the majority of those who were responsible for passing the whole AR scheme do not own land in, or hunt in, AR effected counties. No data to back that up, and I might loose, but I don't think I would.

One last thing. AR's are like the BCS. Its just a flawed system.

I think we can summarize:

AR proponent: Conservation minded individual interested in helping promote the wildlife population, and bettering the situation for all involved.

AR opponent: Wants some meat and doesn't care if he wipes out anything that moves. Will get his meat regardless, doesn't care if neighbor goes without.

Fair?

Or something like:


AR proponent: A person that has lost touch with the reason we hunt. Someone that just wants to shoot a trophy without regard to what it does to the Heritage that allows him to take that trophy. A person that is not happy just shooting a deer where there were no deer two generations ago.

AR opponent: A person that is typically a lifelong hunter that has for years invested in the hunting Heritage that has now been told he has to qualify a deer to make it worthy of killing. A person that has been pleased with the hunt without regard to the animals genetics or perceived trophy status.

Great news, sasquatch. Since you don't care about "trophy status", you can still shoot spikes and does and be perfectly happy.

If you say that you don't want to be limited to that, guess what, you're looking for a trophy and simply want to be able to shoot the first thing that walks out whenever and wherever you decide.

Can't have both sides of the argument.

If people were honest and did the right thing, sure.

But that's not what lead to ARs to begin with. Maybe you're a respectful hunter that just wants to teach kids the outdoors. But for every "you" that's against ARs, there are 10 "just want to blast something with horn" types.

I really don't know this....How does letting a buck mature help a herd? Honestly. To me, the only thing letting a buck mature does is getting to see how big his antlers will get. Any half mature buck can breed with a doe and make babies thus creating deer and making population.

There are times and places where brown and down works for me. But I want to kill a nice buck for the most part and that takes self control.

Don't let the anti AR guys fool you. They will gladly shoot an old trophy you have worked hard to feed and nurtured and watched grow for five years then brag to their friends about the big buck they killed. They are not being honest with themselves much less the rest of the hunting community.

Amen - many of the anti-AR guys on this thread have posted pictures of the big bucks on their walls. But wait, they are meat hunters and don't care about horns!!!!!

Oh and one other thing, I feel that we should all high fence our properties so that way everyone is happy! No one has to worry about someone else shooting that deer they protein fed for 4 years! We can just disregard all the big arse deer that people actually "hunted" instead of raised. There was a post that made a good point about going to cabelas and looking at the dates and stories of the deer they have on display, you might learn how hunting should be/was.

Mature bucks are much harder to kill than young ones. I can see how some hunters with less ability do not like ARs.

I have to cry HOGWASH on this. I can prove it to. First give me a blank check and I gurantee I kill the best buck in the state of Texas this year. Hunting (deer hunting that is) is all about the allmighty dollar. I have friends that hunt once a year and some of them dont even own a gun even, that kill giant bucks that go beyound my wildest dreams.

ARs are no different than welfare. Sure it may help some people that want it, but why should Something be taken away from me because you want bigger deer. If you want bigger deer go to a HF or get away from my lease, but don't tell me what I can/can't shoot, and don't take my hard earned money outta my check. Two rants in one.

It would be nice if they could say hey you can shoot tall or freak racks but honestly how can they write that. People would take advantage of it. I personally dont shoot spikes unless I can for sure tell its over 1 1/2 years