Turning alabama into a trophy state no matter how you do it would raise the price on leased land so high the average working man could not afford to hunt.Besides antler restriction is no way to manage for trophy deer. I would vote hell no.

Relax, everyone...it's not like this is something that's actually being voted on. It's someone posting an idea on the internet. An idea that I would be AGAINST

Hell no! I'm not getting fined for killing 6 points like this!

HELL NO. To many people seem to be caught up in the unrealistic dream that Alabama is gonna produce monster bucks like Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Montana and the like. Simply put; most places in Alabama do not have the genetic pool to grow these deer year after year. Granted some areas grow big deer every year but our heard is so different from one side of the state to the other it's just not possible to produce those deer.

An 8 or better law would let some of the most mature deer in some place die of old age because they we'd just a 6 or 7 point.

We need less laws and restrictions regarding our GOD GIVEN RIGHTS to harvest from the land and feed our family's. Not more.

Illusion

Not hardly.

That'll just make the honest folk outlaws..I have a pretty nice 4.5 yr old 6 point hanging on my wall.Under your restriction i coulda been fined or lost hunting privileges because i woulda shot him even if there was an 8 point+ restriction which woulda made me an outlaw for breaking the law.If i want to kill a spike,4 point or a yearling its my business and i dont need no damn body telling me otherwise.I love hunting and dont get into the "trophy deer" hype.Its just a deer that will be replaced once hes outta the gene pool.

You have exclusive right to restrict trigger pull to shoot only 8pt or better if you want to. That's your choice. Plenty of examples on here as to why that should never happen statewide.

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Mirage, I'm not sure if you are completely serious about your idea or not but if you are I believe it is people like you that will ruin deer hunting for the majority before its all over. Does it really aggravate you that much that I might shoot a nice mature 7 point on my own property that happens to be miles and miles away from yours.

Your idea sounds equally as ridiculous to me as someone saying "What do yall think about Alabama imposing a spike only rule statewide?" Because, as we all know, once a spike always a spike. (Sarcasm off for those who couldn't catch it)

Oh I'm dead serious about it, I'm not saying 8 point rule is the answer, but I would like to see something done. No, I don't give a sheet if you kill a mature 7 on your place, what does aggravate me is folks that have been hunting for a while that strictly implement the "brown and down" rule, there are thousands and thousands of those out there whather you know it or not. Let me guarantee you that it will not ruin deer hunting with some type of antler restrictions, it has been very succesful in other states.

I'm on a management system on my land, if I manage to get my scope on him I'm going to shoot him if I want to.

Hunting ain't all about the size of the rack. Or at least it shouldn't be. I've been blessed enough to have killed some good deer, but its because they was the first ones I saw that day. TV has ruint hunting. I don't understand why its my business or anybodys else's what another hunter shoots. Just kill what you want and leave everybody else alone. Simple when you thank about it.

Please name the states that ARs have been successful in. I've hunted a few states other than AL and I don't recall ever having to check any criteria on a rack before it was legal to shoot, except in MS. I worked in MS at the time as an official scorer, and the places their really big deer are coming from each year has nothing to do with any regulation the state has placed on them. It's from private management practices on the most fertile soil in the USA. There is nothing wrong with ALs current system of allowing two bucks of choice and one with 4 points on one side. There is already an AR in place for the third deer. That's enough.

And there are plenty if mature deer in the population now. Plenty. If you can't kill one or think it needs to be even better then you're living in a fantasy. You've already stated you have control of lots of land and manage it well. That's a great thing. But you're already getting what you want out of your deer herd through what the state allows you to do. Forcing your management objectives on everybody else because you don't like to see immature deer killed is selfish.

I agree Matt. Ive hunted ALL over the country and midwest and there were NO antler restrictions.
Only state I hunted WITH antler restrictions was Pennsylvania and it screwed it up!
Like I said in my earlier post..and the young deer with good genetics got shot at 1 1/2.

And Mirage..Both Matt and I only hunt mature deer. But dang it man..Im not going to force my standards after hunting 40 plus years on KIDS and others.

I choose to manage deer and do well without forcing others to live by my stanards.

There are LOTS of big bucks in Alabama. Heck..if you find the right property(s) you can harvest 130-170 inch class mature bucks every year.

and unlike alot of midwestern states with alabamas bag limit you can shoot 2-3 in one year if your lucky!

Actually, there were some good ones on public land around Starkville that had AR. However, ARs are being self imposed on some out of state places. That's why they're hunting there, to kill something big. Although it's not the rule, it seems to be the norm in some cases.

Have you seen the bucks that are killed on AL public land? I worked on public lands in MS for 4 years and AL kills as many, if not more huge bucks than MS on the state WMAs. Even the deer that are killed on the Wildlife Refuge system in the MS alluvial soils are no better than what's brought off north AL public lands.

And I'm getting word that there are a few WMAs in MS that have had antler criteria minimums far exceeding the statewide criteria, that are experiencing huge declines in mature deer.

Georgia for starters, I hunt Meriwether county and it is four on one side or better, it's been highly succesful. There are several Georgia counties that are that way.