The only thing i can understand about antler restrictions is its design is to keep people from shooting smaller racked deer. The problem with that is sometimes big mature bucks have small racks. So then you try to do it by age. Then you'll have people disagreeing on judging deer on the hoof and accidents will be made. There's no wrong or right and the best thing you can do is get some buddies together and set it up where for the most part y'all are all on the same page. Even better than that is lease or buy your own land and shoot what you want. One thing that needs mentioning is some of y'all don't need to come out onto a public forum and tell folks you don't hunt for meat. PETA would have a field day.

@JDFARMS,

There is no perfect rule, but the best IMO is an age restriction.
Members of your club would have to learn how to age deer in the field.

50%+ mature bucks isn't too bad. My suggestion would be more education about aging on the hoof and making a hit list with trail cam pics.
on letting the kids shoot , keep it fun.

It really sounds like ya'll are doing better than some of these folks giving advice, restrictions by spread is bout dumb, spread/width ain't nothing but air, air is everywhere. Point restrictions bout as bad. And then there's if you shoot it , ya gotta mount it.

I don't know that there is a good answer that suits everyone. The best I've seen so far is the mount it unless it is 5 years old or older rule but even that isn't perfect. I don't like going by # of points as I have an antler mount of a 4 point with a 23 " spread. I can also show you very high scoring deer with a 15" spread so going by spread isn't consistent. If there is any measure of antlers that is the best, but not perfect predictor of age, it would be mass or beam circumference and that is hard to judge in the field.

I think the best way to handle it would be to allow each member one buck each/year. This will force them to be choosey at least up until the last week. While we don't have a written rule like that, we all keep our kills to a minimum. The other day I shot at my first deer this year and killed a mature 7 point that would probably not meet many club standards except he was mature. I passed up at least 50 bucks better that him this year I bet, but it is getting to the end and I needed some meat. Unless I see a moose tomorrow, that will be the only buck, or deer for that matter that I kill this year. Well. actually, if I see a big doe and it is almost dark, I have a friend that wants one, so I'll shoot her.

I would also have special provisions for kids hunting, especially ones that have never killed a buck.

To me, there is a fine line between having fun and managing buck harvest. You have to really have a special group to really, really manage for older bucks..It takes a well trained eye and IMO, The majority of hunters cant tell a 3 yr old from a ten year old. I know I can basically separate under 2 or over 2. Some are obviously bigger but most look the same to me. I am not a fan of you shoot you mount it. I usually shoot one buck a year, and only 2 bucks in the last 4 years. I try to only shoot mature bucks but the largest buck iv;e ever killed was a 135 in, 3 yr old 8 pt. The best rule our club came up with was to limit members to 2 bucks and strongly suggest they be outside the ears. This year I think we have taken 7 bucks on 2500ac. a normal year maybe 10 or 12. Make your restrictions to high and you are going to have a high turnover unless you have a way better than average buck herd.

Ideally, we would all have two places to hunt, one place you could deer hunt and one where you could trophy hunt. But what the hell do I know. I ain’t pulled the trigger this year and I only got one sit left.

At our club, we go the other way with it. We impose fines for shooting deer that are too big. We require our members to shoot deer with spreads less than 12" and shooting a deer over 150 lbs results in automatic dismissal from the club. No exceptions. One year, Bubba shot an 8 point, a 10 point, and a 12 point that all weighed 205-210 lbs and we all got together and beat him up and burned his house down. We do not put up with that sort of nonsense in our hunting club. NO big bucks. Period.

I've watched this forum evolve over the past 15 years to the point that it is mainly focused on trophy hunting. It's fine with me if that's what hunters want, but it's very concerning for the long term future of hunting. Studies have shown that the public still supports hunting for food, but not trophy hunting. And trophy hunters are not content to just manage their land as TDM, they want the dcnr to manage the whole state for TDM.

If we move as far in the next 15 years as the past 15, then we are gonna have a one buck limit with antler restrictions on him. We will keep losing hunters and support for hunting, and legal hunting could eventually cease to exist. I'll be dead and gone, but I hate to leave my grandchildren a world like that.

I know that I am not alone in thinking QDM has gone too far to be healthy for hunting, but it will be very hard to reverse the trend. We need an organization to lead the way. The Anti QDM Association just doesn't sound very catchy; gotta have a better name for the movement.

PCP would you pls stop contributing to this thread?? you're bumming me out man!!! (but i hear ya; concerns the hell out of me too)

this^^^ is exactly what I used to do. One place for me and the wife and another for kids, brothers, guests to shot anything. They always wanted to come on my place because they didn't have any big deer....really? Reckon why?

Hunting shows have ruined deer hunting. If it aint a trophy, let it walk. I do not shoot little deer intentionally, but I do hunt to eat. Alabama is NOT Illinois . I spend a lot of money to hunt deer, I do not want some over educated idiot telling me what I can, or cannot kill and eat.

seems like a good time to repost this....

Ok, I've decided to formally start an Anti-TDM organization. We are gonna change everyone's perspective on deer hunting and get it to the point that people will be ashamed to shoot a big buck. We are gonna end the doe slaughter, get cameras and corn out of the woods, end the buck limit and GC, and put the dcnr back in the hands of The People. Got a lot of other ideas that I will share at the formal kickoff, but you get the point. We are gonna save deer hunting and make it fun again; there oughta be a catchy slogan in there somewhere.

I need help with a name. We can't be defined by what we are against; it must be about the positives. Any ideas?

"MAKE HUNTING GREAT AGAIN" - there ya go, PCP!!

I was thinking more along lines of Make Hunting Fun Again. I think most deer hunters have forgotten how to do that and it will seem like a radical concept.

I'm still struggling with the name. I thought of Organic Deer Management. Organic is a good word that lets you charge double for stuff. Also thought of Sustainable, Natural, and Blockchain.

Whatever the name, it's gonna be beautiful.

ok let's hash this out -- how 'bout:

- Green Deer Harvesting
- Eco-Friendly Deer Leveling
- Sustainable Deer Tactics
- Probiotic Deer Administration
- Hormone-Free Deer Stewardship
- Synthetic Deer Commandments

Yep.

I'm with PCP--but I'm against liberal doe killing

OCD... Optimizing Common Deer