WI Minimum Antler Restriction Petition on Change.org

[AvidHunter88]

A friend of mine forwarded this to me last night. Thoughts?

https://www.change.org/p/wisconsin-dnr- ... r-size-law

[Chuck B]

This would be great.

[milkweed-militia]

I wish I had more hands so I could give this type of thing four thumbs down.

[timberninja]

I wish I had more hands so I could give this type of thing four thumbs down.

[Dewey]

I like the idea but don't think it should apply to youth hunters under 16. Let them cut their teeth on smaller bucks if they choose before getting them caught up in the antler craze. I hate to see that stuff pushed onto the kids. Let them have fun and shoot what they want early on.

Up north antler restrictions might actually be a good thing to repair the damage done to the buck herd up there. Short term it would be really difficult and the buck kill would drastically drop even more than it has but long term it would be nice to see a better age structure with more mature bucks.

Even though it wasn't popular with hunters back then I always look back at the Earn A Buck years and how many more quality bucks were around during that period. It's amazing if you give the bucks a chance to grow a few more years how drastically the numbers and quality improve. It was nice to see bucks reach their full potential for a change. This will only happen when the buck kill is limited to some degree and minimum antler restrictions would no doubt help tremendously.

Changing the mindset of a majority of the hunters is the difficult part. Most just want to kill any buck just to say they filled their tag. If they are patient and allow this to happen I have a feeling many of them would be singing a totally different tune in a few seasons.

[AvidHunter88]

I like the idea but don't think it should apply to youth hunters under 16. Let them cut their teeth on smaller bucks if they choose before getting them caught up in the antler craze. I hate to see that stuff pushed onto the kids. Let them have fun and shoot what they want early on.

Up north antler restrictions might actually be a good thing to repair the damage done to the buck herd up there. Short term it would be really difficult and the buck kill would drastically drop even more than it has but long term it would be nice to see a better age structure with more mature bucks.

Even though it wasn't popular with hunters back then I always look back at the Earn A Buck years and how many more quality bucks were around during that period. It's amazing if you give the bucks a chance to grow a few more years how drastically the numbers and quality improve. It was nice to see bucks reach their full potential for a change. This will only happen when the buck kill is limited to some degree and minimum antler restrictions would no doubt help tremendously.

Changing the mindset of a majority of the hunters is the difficult part. Most just want to kill any buck just to say they filled their tag. If they are patient and allow this to happen I have a feeling many of them would be singing a totally different tune in a few seasons.

I agree with you Dewey. I think that youth hunters should be excluded. I also agree the hard part would be changing the mindset of of a majority of hunters.

I was looking at the last annual whitetail report from the QDM and they showed trend for "Percentage of Buck Harvest by Age Class" in Wisconsin and the percentage of buck harvest for 1.5 year old bucks was 2014 - 48%, 2015 - 55%, 2016 - 65%. Percentage of buck harvest for 2.5 year olds went from 31% to 18% and percentage of buck harvest for 3.5 year olds went from 21% to 16% during the same time period. I'm not sure what the "correct" make up should be but my gut tells me that't not a good trend.

[milkweed-militia]

If antler restrictions were supposed to help declining deer populations, then I'd be more inclined to agree. But, states should not be in the trophy deer management business. I'm sure it's the conservative in me talking, but the states' concerns should be on a healthy deer population and that's it. I enjoy hunting big bucks as much as the next guy, and I pass on a lot of young deer that might or might not get shot by the next guy across the hill. TN boys love their spikes!

If you started a post here about how great going to a 35,000 acre outfitter or a 10,000 acre high fence operation is, there would likely be kickback on it with many comments on how that "takes away the challenge". But when it comes to statewide antler restrictions, people seem to jump all over it. Would many of us like hunting mature bucks if they were around every corner?

If the deer population is in trouble, then I'm fine for restrictions to help with that.

I've heard Dan and others say plenty of times, "If it was easy, everybody would do it".

[dan]

Every place I have seen an antler restriction in use the hunting over all got better, and safer when people needed to know what they are shooting at.... Our management needs to address the low population and the un-needed doe seasons more than an antler restriction though.

[dan]

If antler restrictions were supposed to help declining deer populations, then I'd be more inclined to agree. But, states should not be in the trophy deer management business. I'm sure it's the conservative in me talking, but the states' concerns should be on a healthy deer population and that's it. I enjoy hunting big bucks as much as the next guy, and I pass on a lot of young deer that might or might not get shot by the next guy across the hill. TN boys love their spikes!

If you started a post here about how great going to a 35,000 acre outfitter or a 10,000 acre high fence operation is, there would likely be kickback on it with many comments on how that "takes away the challenge". But when it comes to statewide antler restrictions, people seem to jump all over it. Would many of us like hunting mature bucks if they were around every corner?

If the deer population is in trouble, then I'm fine for restrictions to help with that.

I've heard Dan and others say plenty of times, "If it was easy, everybody would do it".

Lets turn the tables once... How would you like musky fishing if they let guys keep 10 inch muskys? Its common sense to make laws to protect the in mature animals, and its horrific management to have a heard where 90% is "babies". It should be managed for a healty balanced heard, just as we should not manage for 10 inch muskys on all public lakes.

[elk yinzer]

Best thing that ever happened in PA.

I agree states shouldn't manage trophies. Getting some bucks to their second birthday is far from trophy management. We used to have 95%+ bucks killed as fawns or yearlings in some areas. That's gone way down.

It's not perfect but it's a heck of a lot better than before.

[hunter_mike]

I can't say that I'd ever sign this petition. And I'm not going into whether or not it would work. And I totally understand why people would be in favor of it.

The problem i foresee is that the WI DNR will inevitably screw this up and further restrict hunting and harvest opportunities from hunters. Look at how they destroyed late season bowhunting in an attempt to "fix" things. I am convinced something like this would hurt WI hunting as a whole.

[Dewey]

Every place I have seen an antler restriction in use the hunting over all got better, and safer when people needed to know what they are shooting at.... Our management needs to address the low population and the un-needed doe seasons more than an antler restriction though.

Totally agree that this needs to be fixed first. I cringe at the thought how many nub bucks and shed bucks especially during the Holiday Hunt are taken off the landscape every year due to this nonsense.

[milkweed-militia]

If antler restrictions were supposed to help declining deer populations, then I'd be more inclined to agree. But, states should not be in the trophy deer management business. I'm sure it's the conservative in me talking, but the states' concerns should be on a healthy deer population and that's it. I enjoy hunting big bucks as much as the next guy, and I pass on a lot of young deer that might or might not get shot by the next guy across the hill. TN boys love their spikes!

If you started a post here about how great going to a 35,000 acre outfitter or a 10,000 acre high fence operation is, there would likely be kickback on it with many comments on how that "takes away the challenge". But when it comes to statewide antler restrictions, people seem to jump all over it. Would many of us like hunting mature bucks if they were around every corner?

If the deer population is in trouble, then I'm fine for restrictions to help with that.

I've heard Dan and others say plenty of times, "If it was easy, everybody would do it".

Lets turn the tables once... How would you like musky fishing if they let guys keep 10 inch muskys? Its common sense to make laws to protect the in mature animals, and its horrific management to have a heard where 90% is "babies". It should be managed for a healty balanced heard, just as we should not manage for 10 inch muskys on all public lakes.

I agree with this. If it's a herd health issue, I'm for it. The petition seems to read like he just wants it easier to kill bigger bucks though. I used to be all about the antler restrictions and reducing the buck limits (in TN where I live). What I learned here was that there were some decent bucks to hunt and I just stunk at finding them. I don't think it's the state's job to help me kill a better buck. If the herd's health is at stake, make some restrictions or different limits. If the herd is healthy and thriving, maybe the guy needs to buy some of your DVD's like I did!

I'm not familiar with WI's population at all, so this may be something that is needed. I was stating my general opinion on the matter.

[Dewey]

Anybody here from other states that have experience with Antler Restrictions want to chime in? Would be interesting to hear your thoughts on how it has helped or even hurt hunting in your state.

[headgear]

Don't really care for them, we need to remember this is about food more than antlers. I do think it would be a great management tool if/when areas needed to have their population reduced. Not that I would complain if they happened in my area but the thought of telling others what they should shoot for food based on antler size just seems to be getting away from the roots of hunting.