Re: 3 Point or Better Units
Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 5:53 pm
I believe the 3 point restrictions actually did work. Those were different times however. The Henry's and Book Cliffs were vast areas of mostly roadless terrain, miles from civilization over very bad roads. Few people hunted there. The herds could take the pressure being put on only the mature bucks because there were plenty of mature bucks. It's true that a few small bucks got shot by mistake, but with healthy deer herds and few hunters the regulations worked well.
These days we are putting maximum pressure on our herds and harvesting every buck we can. Roads have improved, speed limits have been increased and traveling is not as big of a deal. People are more desperate to find deer and they will drive further. The problem with a 3 point restriction now is that only the older bucks will be pressured, resulting in fewer big bucks. You may see an increase in actual 3 and 4 points, but a big deer is much more than just a 3 point. A mature buck by my standards is at least 5 years old. So if the average deer becomes a 3 point at age 2.5, MAYBE 3.5, you have every hunter on the mountain trying to kill that buck instead of just shooting the first yearling they see. Far fewer bucks will survive to be 5+ years old because they'll be shot at 2.5, 3.5, and 4.5 years old.
Seeing more and bigger bucks is a tall order for those people that like to hunt casually, near roads and camping areas. The only way is to create a higher buck:hunter ratio. So increase deer numbers or decrease hunters. The other way to see more bucks is to hunt where other people don't, but that requires a lot of time and effort.
These days we are putting maximum pressure on our herds and harvesting every buck we can. Roads have improved, speed limits have been increased and traveling is not as big of a deal. People are more desperate to find deer and they will drive further. The problem with a 3 point restriction now is that only the older bucks will be pressured, resulting in fewer big bucks. You may see an increase in actual 3 and 4 points, but a big deer is much more than just a 3 point. A mature buck by my standards is at least 5 years old. So if the average deer becomes a 3 point at age 2.5, MAYBE 3.5, you have every hunter on the mountain trying to kill that buck instead of just shooting the first yearling they see. Far fewer bucks will survive to be 5+ years old because they'll be shot at 2.5, 3.5, and 4.5 years old.
Seeing more and bigger bucks is a tall order for those people that like to hunt casually, near roads and camping areas. The only way is to create a higher buck:hunter ratio. So increase deer numbers or decrease hunters. The other way to see more bucks is to hunt where other people don't, but that requires a lot of time and effort.
