Hale naw

I asked the question because I genuinely want to know your stance on the issue. From reading your post, I gathered that you believe killing 8 pts or better state wide will improve the deer herd. How exactly does that work? How does that improve the "deer herd"?

I do wish that public land in Alabama was as good as what I've seen in IL and KY.

My opinion on this is no. And for a few reasons.
Dont get me wrong. I try to only harvest 3-4 year old or older bucks, 8 points or better and wider then their ears.

Both places I hunt, one my own land, we hunt that way. And we have a great deal of success on big bucks.

However there are exceptions to that rule...as Ive taken both a big 6 and a 7 pointer that were 4-5 yrs old but had never done ANYTHING more rackwise. So..I shot them.
Id hate to think that would be illegal!

Also, EVEN THOUGH that I how I PERSONALLY prefer to hunt..I DO NOT WANT TO LEGISLATE my way as "the only way". We have enough laws already.

Also, I hunted in Pa. when they did that. The effect was the opposite of what was desired. Any young deer with genetics to make 8 points was shot.....as soon as people could count 8 points on it. 1 1/2 year..it didnt matter. 8 points and it died!
So the deer who were better potentially at that early age were shot...because they were the only legal deer!

Our club shoots 4 on one side, 150 lbs. or 13 inches inside. A buck must meet 2 of these criteria. This takes most if not all the young bucks out of the mix. I think this helps move more bucks into an older age bracket. We only get 2 bucks also.

Legislative political meddling, wasn't it?

I like the eight point or better. We have done this on our property for about 5 years and I can tell you we are killing some good deer as a result. The down fall is that you have to have a big place or the other land owners have to do the same otherwise it won't work.

Because members are not happy If they can't kill the goose that laid the golden egg.... Maslow's "self actualization" will never be achieved with tunnel vision.

I'm a big, big fan of the two of three rule. In my opinion it's the best marriage of those wanting to trophy hunt and those wanting to have fun. We try to manage our place for 4.5, but if a 3.5 year old makes your knees knock when he walks out, I'll be as happy as you are that you got him. Ain't no sense in waiting another year and missing out on the thrill of a lifetime. Many (probably 75%) of the bucks we have pictures of, or lay eyes on the year before, we never see again. The older I get, the less I worry about "big bucks." I like big memories and big smiles.

I wouldn't mind it. Rules are rules, but here is my reason to say no.

Didn't that recently change to these restrictions because they first tried a statewide 4 pts rule?

Me now I'd be fine with it but 25 years ago I'd fight a fellow over a spike so NO.

When you kill 2.5 year old 8 points you are killing your best potential future bucks.Its called high gradeing and not a good idea.Much better to learn what a mature buck looks like and shoot them whether they have 6 or 12 points or whatever. JMO.

I am against having a state wide 8 point rule I do t think it would help much if any at all and may hurt in the long run. . But I also don't agree the I should be able to kill as many of what ever they want just because they own some land Crowd. Just because you own 10 or 100 acres all that means is you own the land not the deer that happen to cross it from time to time. They also belong to your neighbors.

They changed several years ago.

I would be more inclined to agree for something similar to the restrictions that are being used in MS I think they are still doing main beam and spread I would be for that. Something that would protect all or most 2.5 year olds would think would greatly increase age structure in bucks and also make for a better shorter rut and overall healthier deer herd. The point restriction actually reduced there scores in a statewide study from what I remember reading.

If everyone shot up 8 pts based only on antlers the future for producing big bucks would not be favorable. As others have said, then everyone shoots any 8 point regardless of age..........and a lot of young 8 points die never to spread their genes. I don't know about you, but I would rather have a very young 8 point breeding rather than a 5-6 year 8 point. That very young 8 point may have the genetics to produce a monster racked deer when it was 5.


But that doesn't really matter to me, if I want to fill the freezer I will shoot a spike in a heartbeat.

No. If you are trying to manage or improve the heard there are better ways if doing it.

I do too buddy but in reality to achieve that we would probably need to cut rifle season to about 10 days or so and enforce a 1 buck limit for the season.
And it still probably wouldn't be as good as it is up there.

No