Re: Potential 3 point Rule -- United Hunters of Florida (UHF)

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Date Posted: 04/20/07 10:11:38pm
Author: Russ Chastain
Subject: Re: Potential 3 point Rule
In reply to: Casey 's message, "Re: Potential 3 point Rule" on 04/19/07 7:59:32am

I see no advantage to this idea. They say buck kills will fall and then climb. If that is true... then so what? Why make the ruling? Who really cares whether their deer is 1.5, 2.5, or 3.5 years old? I don't.

Last December I shot a small-rack 5-point on a Florida WMA. It aged 2.5 years, but it was a fairly small deer for its age and it had a small rack.

Two things stand out in my mind about that... 1) I sure am glad I didn't have to count his points before I shot - it had been a looooong time since I bagged a buck on a WMA, and 2) I didn't give a hoot how many points he had.

I have hunted on a WMA that has point restrictions, and I had to let two very fine bucks (IMO) walk away. That sucked. "Get them next year," some will say, but getting drawn for those areas is next to impossible for those of us who are honest with the quota system.

Wayne is right that taking does will make for a more healthy buck-doe ratio. All healthy whitetail herds have a good balance of bucks to does. It's foolish for Florida's wildlife managers to think it our state is immune to that rule.

But I personally think a 2-buck limit is too low, unless you're also allowed to also take some does.

Russ

>Guys,
>
>Let me take a minutes to explain a few things they
>have told us. Mind you I am not agreeing with them
>just want you to see their reasoning. FWC Biologist
>that is on the Deer Management Team believes we have
>over harvested bucks in Florida overall. He mentioned
>breaking the state up into Management Units instead of
>the zones we have now. Rules may be different from
>Unit to Unit like in other states. He has said that
>the initial harvest of bucks will drop when and if the
>3 pt rule is put in place, but will gradually go back
>up as the younger bucks live longer and more of them
>make it to maturity.
>He also said they have found that when they go to a
>fork horn rule they end up hygrading or killing off
>the bucks with the best possibility for nice racks
>which they may do with any kind of Horn Ruling.
>Knowing that deer biology is different from South
>Florida up through the Pan Handle, there are deer in
>this state that are spikes from 1.5 years old through
>2.5 years old because of being born late in the
>season. Some does in the panhandle don�t even drop
>fawns until late August. Their philosophy/theory is
>if you hold off and don�t shoot a deer until it has at
>least 3 pts on one side, you can be assured it is
>between 2.5 to 3.5 years old. Thus giving the younger
>bucks a chance to mature and get smarter. Also the
>body size will be bigger on 3pts than spikes or fork
>horns.If you shoot a fork horn, you�re still killing
>bucks that are between 1.5 and 2.5 years old.If you
>take out Does just to be taking meat, your cutting
>back on the number of fawns born for recruitment. The
>FWC isn�t willing to go full blown QDMA and put out
>food plots on public land because of cost, they are
>convinced that roller chopping and burning provide
>more food per acre for deer. They aren�t willing to
>make a horn ruling law so people on private land would
>have to follow it too. So everything you have to let
>walk these guys on the property next door can shoot.

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Replies:

Re: Potential 3 point Rule -- Markm, 04/22/07 10:46:50am