re: Should some parishes in Louisiana adopt Antler restrictions?

Many counties in TX have the 13" rule, my primary deer lease included. 2 buck limit. Allowed one buck that must have 13" spread and one buck that has at least 1 unbranched antler (e.g. spike or 3 point). I don't mind it at all. We don't have a shortage of deer. I can count one 1 finger the number of mature bucks I've passed on due to this rule.

What about just limiting the buck harvests in your states instead of an antler size limit?

I hunt in Oklahoma and you're only allowed 1 buck with a rifle. You are allowed 6 deer total during the season (depending on your zone). In total, you're allowed 2 antlered bucks, but only 1 can be harvested with rifle.

There are no shortages of trophy bucks in Oklahoma. I am not sure on exact numbers, but I would assume you have 8-10 times as many hunters who only rifle hunt which in turn, just numbers wise, limits the amount of bucks in general to be harvested during an entire season.

Meat hunters can still get their meat by shooting 3-4 does. Trophy hunters still have their shot at getting that trophy with bow, muzzleloader, or rifle.

It has to go back to the days when people were so dirt poor they had to shoot the first thing they saw.

No.

Again, who determined that trophy hunting is the "right" way to hunt? There are plenty of deer in Louisiana.

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Again, who determined that trophy hunting is the "right" way to hunt?

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The industry.

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Again, who determined that trophy hunting is the "right" way to hunt?

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I don’t think it has to be about trophy hunting. But as a whole we should try and shoot more mature deer instead of just shooting everything that walks.

I hunt in an area where you would never really see a “trophy buck” due to the genetics and nutrition. But I also don’t think that just because of that people should just go around rolling every 1.5 year old deer they see. There can be a balance that would result in a healthier overall deer population

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But as a whole we should try and shoot more mature deer

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Why? If the heard population is at healthy levels why does the age of the bucks killed matter?

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There are plenty of deer in Louisiana.

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Actually there is not, a quick google shows that deer density per sq mile is very low.
Driving roads in Louisiana versus Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Missouri shows we are well behind those states. And it matches what the data shows

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If the heard population is at healthy levels why does the age of the bucks killed matter?

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Total deer population is a false equivalence to healthy heard population.

A healthy deer herd isn’t just defined by how many deer are on the landscape but by how those deer are distributed across age and sex classes. In a well-managed herd, the age distribution statistically should follow a bell curve with most deer fall within the 2½–4½-year range, with fewer fawns on the left and fewer old deer on the right. When that curve skews toward younger deer, the herd may look “healthy” by numbers, but it really isn’t.

And my point isn’t just on the bucks. It’s applies to the does as well. Healthy mature does are statistically much more likely to produce twins. That same mature doe also does a better job raising and maintaining those twins.

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When that curve skews toward younger deer, the herd may look “healthy” by numbers, but it really isn’t.

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How much killing does it take to make this happen?