Where Have All the Big Bucks Gone?

[ridge]

Where Have All The “BIG” Bucks Gone?

And Why?

Recently while grocery shopping at Meijer, I visited the magazine rack to view all the hunting related materials available. While I rarely buy anything, I like to peruse the pages of those I do not receive at my home. The February-March issue of Field & Stream caught my eye, especially an article entitled, “Our State of the Whitetail Union”. On pages 50 & 51 under the heading “Deer Downturn” and the “Trophy Buck Bust”, it states, “Amongst states with 25 or more Boone & Crockett and Pope & Young entries in 2014, all but one (Arkansas) are down since 2010. Five of these states including Michigan are down over 50% in the “trophy” buck category. We must ask ourselves why?

Now if you ask the “professional sportsmen” this question, they will answer with many excuses. Weather, predators and overharvest of yearling bucks would all be at the top of THEIR list. But, what is the REAL truth? In my humble opinion the responsibility for the decline in their prized “trophy” bucks is something they have created and pushed for years, MANDATORY ANTLER POINT RESTRICTIONS! How so you might ask?

It is very simple. In their desire to create a “trophy” buck behind every tree, they have removed yearling bucks from the harvest by forcing state agencies to mandate APR’s. In doing so they have put added pressure on two and a half year old bucks and older. By over harvesting this advanced age class, they have unwittingly caused the reduction in bucks reaching the four and a half and older class. They have nobody but themselves to blame. With yearling bucks off the table, you will always have a supply of two and one half year old bucks available but few will advance to the B&C and P&Y class animals.

With MAR’s being advanced in most states now the rallying cry is, “if you want venison in your freezer, SHOOT A DOE”. This too has backfired on the pro-MAR’s enthusiast. With the overharvest of antlerless deer, resource populations have dropped drastically in most of the former great deer hunting areas. They will NEVER admit that their flawed agenda of MAR’s are responsible for the decline, but WE know the truth, don’t we?

Concerned Wildlife Resource Advocate,

Curtis Stone

[e-mail]

3-17-16

[daappleknocker]

Thanks Ridge. From what I have been reading the pro-MAR's, QDMA, people are aware of these developments concerning MAR's. I think their solution is going to be, increase the MAR's restrictions to include protection of an older age, 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 YO class and go with minimum width requirements and more points. They just do not quit.

[ridge]

They will definitely be throwing more mud on the wall to see what sticks.  The restriction crowd or at least some of it is now saying that our pro-choice group is happy over CWD and some imply more than that because we might try to use it to interfere with their positive improvements in deer management.  

Yup, everyone knows that I went to Colorado and I found a diseased animal, dragged it back to Michigan, and dumped it in the middle of Lansing just so I could stop the restriction crowd from harassing hunters.  

I don't know what that group will do between now and the re-vote but nothing they would say or do would surprise me.

[daappleknocker]

Ridge, I remember last summer when the first case of CWD was found in East Lansing, someone on the MSF asked how far it was found from the SMART headquarters, implying that we did just what you intimated. Anything to put us in a bad light. I have a copy of the post and will try to find it.

[ridge]

We have a headquarters?  I want an air conditioned office with a lazy boy, walnut desk, up-to-date PC and a 120 inch flat screen.  To get there, I will need a limo and driver, better yet make it a helicopter with a cabin that can pick us all up!  We can land on the heliport on the roof.  The SMART World Headquarters must be Awesome!