ARE ANTLER RESTRICTIONS REALLY WORKING?

By Tom Fegely

Time was when passing up a buck anywhere in Pennsylvania was a rarity. No matter if it was a hat-rack 10-pointer or a scrawny spike, it didn’t stand much chance of getting by an alert hunter.

Last year, however, all that changed as some 40,000 bucks that might have been shot in previous seasons were let go to grow at least another year, some longer. It wasn’t necessarily a charitable move by any of the Keystone State’s near-million deer hunters, rather abidance to a new, controversial antler restriction regulation in its first trial season that had game managers and serious deer hunters from across the nation keeping close watch. Like Pennsylvania, many other states also kill a disproportionate number of yearling bucks each fall.

Harvest statistics from the last bow, gun and muzzleloader seasons stretching from late September to mid-January strongly indicate that the move to save young bucks was a colossal success. Consider that in 2001, 203,247 antlered deer were tagged by hunters. In the 2002 seasons, the buck harvest dropped to 165,416, the result of a new 3-points-on-one-antler restriction imposed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Previously, Pennsylvania’s only antler-related regulation was that any buck with spikes of three or more inches or two or more points to an antler – no matter what the length – was legal. The regulation was in effect for 50 years. The 3-point-on-one-side antler restriction has been in effect only one year.

The most restrictive antler minimum in the nation is in a 10-county region of northwestern Pennsylvania woodland, farm and swamp country south of Lake Erie where a 4-points-per-antler restriction is enforced. Studies here, in habitat perfect for growing big and old whitetails, show that as many as 56 percent of yearling bucks sport eight or more points at age 1-1/2, hence, the more stringent regulation.

40,000 Bucks Spared

“We were expecting a large harvest (of bucks and does) last year and we got it,” said Dr. Gary Alt, chief of the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Deer Management Section. “However, about 40,000 more antlered bucks made it through the winter than in years past and that’s what we hoped would happen.”

Although pleased at the eventual acceptance of the antler restriction program by a vast majority of Pennsylvania hunters – followed by fewer small bucks hanging from meat poles around the state – Alt had hoped for an even bigger “save” of the state’s young, antlered deer.

“We fully expected the number of bucks making it through the season to at least increase by 2-1/2 times but we only roughly doubled it,” said Alt. “However, we are extremely pleased with what was accomplished in the first year.”

Alt, formerly a black bear biologist, spent the better part of two years traveling the state with a slide show on his new deer management plan, appearing before overflow audiences and greeted by everything from cheers to jeers. By the time the 2002 seasons were on the horizon, however, Alt’s support had mushroomed to a welcome 75 percent, Game Commission surveys showed.

Mississippi and Arkansas lead the way

Pennsylvania may be making the biggest buck management news but historically the state yields to Mississippi and Arkansas, which began their antler restriction programs in 1995 and 1998, respectively. Also showing interest in setting new standards via antler restrictions are nearly 20 other states that have adopted antler minimums in experimental regions or on specific wildlife management areas. This year Mississippi hunters will be honoring a minimum 4-point (total) antler point requirement for the eighth year. Arkansas has protected young bucks with a 3-point-on-one-antler rule – like Pennsylvania’s – for the past five years.

As in most states, Arkansas hunters have historically killed more yearling bucks than any other age group. Prior to the institution of antler restrictions, 79 percent of the buck harvest was composed of 1-1/2-year-old deer. Afterward, the harvest of yearling bucks plummeted to 28 percent. Furthermore, the percentage of 2-1/2-year-old bucks – sporting an average 7.3 points – has doubled and the percentage of older age class has grown in recent years.

Mississippi hunters have had a longer period in which to analyze buck harvest figures and make up their minds about the effectiveness of point restrictions.

“The program had widespread support after the first year,” said Larry Castle, deer management coordinator for the Mississippi Dept. of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. “There was also a tremendous increase in 2-1/2-year-old bucks.”

Biological Backlash?

Although Castle declares his support for antler restrictions, he is quick to note that studies carried out in cooperation with Dr. Stephen Demarais of Mississippi State University show a possible biological backlash. In one study, conducted at the Sunflower Wildlife Management Area, an average decline of 19 inches of antlers in the Boone & Crockett scores of 3-1/2-year-old bucks (shot since the 4-point rule was imposed in 1995) was evident. The reason, says Castle, is that smaller antlered yearling bucks were protected because of the 4-point rule but other yearlings with larger antlers and more points were legally killed. The bigger yearlings, said Castle, are the bucks that should have been spared. In a related study using penned deer, select harvests were simulated by physically removing certain deer that, in the wild, would have been shot. Similar declines in the antler quality of older bucks were evident.

Alt has also noted the great variation in antler sizes of 1-1/2-year-old bucks, although he forms different conclusions than in the Mississippi study as to whether it makes any difference if a spike or a thin-tined 8-pointer is taken by a hunter.

“There are a lot of factors affecting what kind of rack a deer will have in its second year” explains Alt. “But the size of a yearling’s (first) antlers does not correlate with what it may become.”

Alt’s contention is that “environmental factors” strongly influence the development of a buck’s first antlers.

“A 6-inch spike is not necessarily inferior to a 12-inch, 8-pointer,” said Alt. “The spike may have been born late, maybe it was raised in an over-browsed forest or, perhaps, was one of three fawns raised by the same mother.”

The 8-pointer, conversely, may have been born with the proverbial “silver spoon,” ideally the product of a lone birth with no siblings with which to share milk and living in farm country surrounded by apple orchards, cornfields, alfalfa pastures and woodlots raining acorns.

Yearling Dispersal

Completing the young buck’s natural urges is the tendency to disperse, perhaps offering the aforementioned spike new habitat and sustenance and the opportunity to catch up or surpass its 8-point counterpart. Pennsylvania studies show that 50 to 80 percent of young bucks will disperse an average of five miles from their natal ranges, although shifts exceeding 30 miles have also been documented. Currently the Pennsylvania Game Commission is conducting radiotelemetry studies on 500 bucks that are expected to yield more information on a little known aspect of whitetail behavior than ever before – including dispersal, aging and antler growth.

Yet another factor entering the buck survival equation is the identification and conservation of button bucks, some of which never reach antler-production age. In some states where special permits are needed to hunt antlerless deer (note that the hunting regulations are labeled as “antlerless deer seasons” and not “doe seasons”), bucks going into their initial winter produce nothing more than hair-covered “bumps” on their noggins. At close range or when viewed through binoculars, most experienced hunters can pick out the “bumps” atop the head of a button buck, bowhunters in particular, and pass on them even though in most states they may be legally tagged as “antlerless deer.”

A substantial 20 percent of Pennsylvania’s antlerless deer kill each year is composed of button bucks. Passing on them will account for more yearlings come the next hunting season.

Doe Bonus Control

Point restrictions have brought an additional benefit to deer management programs. As buck kills drop, doe kills are rising. Hunters who may have once shot smaller bucks for venison are now filling their licenses or permits with antlerless deer that, with few exceptions, are at the core of deer overpopulation problems. Prior to 1998, end-of-year figures showed that Arkansas hunters took 70 percent bucks and only 30 percent does. In the first year point restrictions were enforced the doe kill increased by more than 60 percent and the buck take fell by almost 40 percent. In Pennsylvania, antlerless deer harvests jumped from 283,000 in 2001 to 352,000 in 2002. A change in the traditional bucks-only season was necessary to permit filling county-issued doe licenses during the two-week, post-Thanksgiving season.

Do antler restrictions really work?

The answer is… maybe. Antler restrictions appear to improve quality at least in the short term. But many states are proceeding with a bit of hesitation. Unlike Mississippi, Arkansas and Pennsylvania, some states are first sticking their toes in the pond with experimental studies before instituting antler restrictions statewide. Georgia, New Jersey, Florida, Alabama and others are utilizing state-owned management units for point restriction research. Mississippi State University is delving into findings that older bucks in antler restriction areas are losing length and mass of their antlers. A Kentucky study is focusing on restrictions that include beam widths. Even in Arkansas, after five years of antler restrictions, some initial supporters of the concept are questioning whether the management plan is actually improving buck quality.

Antler restrictions will continue as the most contentious and controversial of deer hunting issues this season and in the years ahead. Look for variations on the minimum antler size theme that will sooner or later affect every one of us who hunts whitetails.