Brad Van Aken

yeah i know, were i live in new york their was 3 pt restriction on the other side of the road and on my side of the road there was no 3 pt restriction, but if a little buck that some one let go on the other side of the road pass and it walked on this side some one could shoot it so i really dont know. but there seems to be some bigger bucks this year because of it i gues.

Warrior Outdoors

down here in Ga we have no rules like that unless the club sets them. but from what i have seen some clubs have a 4 pt rule on one side and typically those clubs do produce bigger bucks. i think only because they allow them to mature.

Zack Doyle

It has done wonders for us here in PA. Im seeing bigger and bigger bucks every year, and bigger bucks are being killed. The age structure is getting better. Some areas of Texas actually implemented an inside spread rule with tremendous success. The age structure in those areas improved dramatically over the first few years.

gordon artis

Theres always a bigger buck somewhere. My father told me if I keep to getting the first small guy that walks by I'll never get the big one. But in Idaho, as well as New York I'm sure, there are so many animals that arent even seen every year that you never know what the season will bring. I wouldn't worry about it. It all comes and goes. Im heading out for deployment here in a couple weeks and I'm not so sure i want to do any elk hunting because of the time I have with family, and the time and new rules put on the archer season. Usually you can take cow or bull any day on sight. But this year the season is shorter, and its bulls only. A lot of people are crying about it. But where I hunt, i see more bulls than I do cows because of the scouting I do. And I hunt in areas that seem too close or far from the road, and you just have switch up game plans. But I've never see regulations that make the next season worse. Always for the benefit of the game poplulation. So many animals go without being seen, no way will it wipe out the gene pool. There's WAY too many animals out there to do that. It would take years to wipe it out. Might be difficult this year, but if you're dead set on putin meat on the table I know you wont have a problem.

Mike Richardson

I agree with Zack. The 3 point rule has really increased the odds at 2.5 and 3.5 year old bucks. I get trail cam pics of 115-140 class bucks on PA public ground. Not happy with the way they are managing antlerless applications and i will say i was against this rule at first but now i love seeing the bigger bucks. One good thing about reducing the herd is very healthy deer. Shot a 7 point in rut that was still fat.

Todd Quinn

I live and hunt in NY and I wish the 3 point rule was state wide. As of now only a few areas are designated as such. I want to see larger bucks, and face it, if the bucks are shot at 1.5 yrs of age, they won't get to be the big 8 point, 10point, or bigger bucks that we all want. We obviously can not get everyone to just shoot 3point per side or better so lets change the regs so its required. Im all for it.

Tim Maxim

Well I guess if every one says it's a duck it's a duck! In other words if you all say it's a good thing it must be. I suppose I'll find out in the coming years. I still wonder though about the gene pool thing. If you only shoot bucks with good antler growth and leave only the small ones will there be any good "studs" to to carry on the genes to produce more big racks ?

Brad Van Aken

yeah thats one problem i would say with it. like i have seen 3.5 year old spikes and four points that just dont get any bigger because of their genes and with the restriction no one can shoot them, so they pass on their bad genes to their offspring which i think is bad. like i saw a spike in adarondaks last year, it probually would of dressed at 200 pounds and it only had little three inch spikes that were like a inch wide, i would say he was a 3.5 year old buck and has bad genes its crazy.

Todd Quinn

why wouldn't you think that happens now ? If folks are shooting everything with antlers before they are allowed to grow to maturity you have no way of knowing if people are shooting deer with good genetics or bad. Maybe the deer with good genetics are getting shot, the deer with bad genetics are already breeding the doe and you have no idea of whether this is happening or not because they are not allowed to grow due to the hunting pressure and lack of restraint by people now.

Zack Doyle

It does happen now. There will always be poor genetics in some animals, but you have to remember that half of the genetic information comes from the doe as well. Bucks don't necessarily pass on all of their traits, many come from the does mother and father, and so on. The occurrence of a 3.5 year old spike is extremely rare, and probably has more to due with some sort of disease, or malnutrition, than genetics. That sort of thing is almost unheard of, and because of dominance issues, he probably wouldn't do much breeding anyway. Inferior bucks with inferior genetics won't pass on as much as dominant ones will. There will always be exceptions with any antler restrictions, but its so minute it makes no impact. The only way to guard against it is to have age restrictions, but 99 percent of the general hunting population can not accurately judge the age of a whitetail, and it just wouldn't be practical anyway. Your best bet to help your state as a whole is to restrict yourself to shooting bucks that are at least 3.5 years of age, or 4.5 years of age in trophy type areas. Even if you can get a contingency of landowners in your area doing it, forming a trophy management area, you'll see bigger bucks in only a few years.

Mike Diggs

In a few years should start seeing bigger bucks, when Agfc started that a few years ago here(Arkansas) was big outcry but now most approve of it, I don't for the simple fact I hunt for food not horns

Tim Maxim

Yeah me to Mike. I think the state is really doing it to try' en increase future non resident license sales.

Bill Conway

In our County( the GMU near my house) here in Washington state they made it a 4 point or better.. all we are seeing is more deer being hit on the Highway and less hunter (legally) taking bucks...Plus we are getting ALOT of Does around..

Tim Maxim

WOW Bill, I never thought of that there probably will be more deer running around and getting hit and or jacked and maybe less successful legal hunters because bigger older deer are smarter and harder to kill and sometimes because of generations of dodging hunting season they become nocturnal. That is surly some food for thought there.

Tim Maxim

this year it's is gonna be a little rough this season cause besides the 3 point restriction there is going to be a new youth hunt in the middle of bow season. I'm all for youth hunts but there is going to be some spooky deer out there

Brad Van Aken

@tim when is that youth hunt and what are they allowed to use?

Tim Maxim

Brad, I'm not sure yet... I read it in the paper and it wasn't very detailed but I will find out and let you know.

Tim Maxim

Brad, now I don't know if they are going to have the youth hunt this year. A friend of mine that owns a bait/tackle shop said that the youth hunt will be during bow season and Dec wants the hunt to be w/rifle so I guess their still trying to hash it out. Went on NY hunting .com 2012 and didn't see anything about it. all I do know is that youths 12-16 are exempt from the 3 point restriction. and bow season starts on the 1st of OCT instead of the 15th.

Tim Maxim

NY did have a youth hunt for one weekend around the second week of bow season