Arkansas "no button buck" rule

[Pinefarm]

Arkansas has a new "no button" rule. Anyone see this? Why do their biologists feel it will discourage the taking of buttons, but ours don't? Here's part of the rule and the link. The link is good because it has more info. Scroll down about half way. Here's the rule...and link...
www.agfc.com/rules_regs/hunting_regs_deer.html

Regulations for Button Bucks
Button bucks and young male deer with antlers shorter than two inches long count as bucks. Button bucks are male fawns and often their antlers have not broken the skin. The term "nubbin buck" is used by some hunters.
The significance of this rule is that any male deer will count as a buck in the bag limit and any female will be counted as a doe. The category of "antlerless" deer no longer applies and has been removed from AGFC deer hunting regulations.

A hunter is limited to two bucks for the season, taken by any method. By including button bucks in the more restrictive buck bag limit, it is hoped that hunters will be motivated to reduce the number of button bucks taken while continuing to take does and legal antlered bucks.

[Eastern Yooper]

I would be against further complicating any of Michigan's hunting & fishing laws. This includes deer regulations.

Things are already restricted enough; we need fewer laws, not more.

With regards to button buck harvest: It makes for a good debate, but in reality I feel that its a fairly negligible issue. I believe the vast majority of deer hunters already try and make a concious effort to avoid dropping buttons..... and on the flip side, I'm sure that some have a 'brown its down' mentality.

But to mandate the use of a buck tag is opening a pandora's box and an enforcement nightmare.

If we really want more bucks and an increased buck-to-doe ratio, the first step should be to eliminate the 2nd buck tag. Period.

[Pinefarm]

MDNR already admits that some 20% of the antlerless harvest is button bucks. To me, this is a simplification of the rules. A buck is now a buck.

[Eastern Yooper]

Between the hunters that I know, those I meet locally at sportsman's meetings, and those that I encounter afield, I have to tell you: 95% of them don't shoot buttons.

In my experience, those that admit to it are either first-time hunters or the type of guy that considers himself 'lucky' to kill a deer every 2 or 3 years.

And yes, unfortunately I've met some that think just because they have tags, its their 'god-given right' to shoot whatever they please. People like that will never change, no matter what the regs are.

[Hunt_n_Fish]

i agree with BOB

[Bob S]

Arkansas` biologist also feel a buck should have at least 3 pts on a side. Why don`t ours feel that way?

"Three-point rule: To be legal, a buck must have antlers shorter than two inches or have at least three points on one side of his rack before being taken. Since the end of the main beam constitutes one point, two additional points at least one inch long must be present."

[swamphunter]

Let em go, let em grow;)

[Swamp Ghost]

Can we dumb down the hunter and hunting anymore?

Complicated? Nothing complicated to it, if it has nuts you have to use a buck tag. Simple as that. It doesn't get any easier.

[Chuck]

I agree with Eastern Yooper,

Most of the hunters I meet wouldnt shoot a button on purpose. Some have made a mistake in the heat of the moment or its there first deer and they dont know what to look for.

I have a friend who cuts up around 250 deer every year. He said that Button heads are few and far between and that they are brought in mostly from younger hunters.

The unlimited doe tags are what he says have hurt the deer more than anything.

The wierd thing is he gets around the same amount of deer in each year, he gets around the same amount of bucks every year too. But he said does seem to go up and down. The last few years does have been going down in number.

[One Eye]

"Most of the hunters I meet wouldnt shoot a button on purpose."

WOW, in other words, those that do shoot buttons don't know what they are shooting at, right???

For those who think the button buck harvest is negligible, you need to spend some time at a deer processor's (especially during the late firearm season). I would bet that 80% of those deer taken are button bucks. If you are truly interested in fixing the buck:doe ratio, then there needs to be a "cost" asscociated with shooting a button buck.

Perhaps Arkansas' approach would work. At least they are willing to try something different. Lord knows Michigan already knows so much that they simply dismiss all of these ideas out of hand.

Dan

[Pinefarm]

One eye, I copied this from the QDM forum...

There is something we can do about it!!!
http://mudh.org/memberAccount.php?newMember=Y

On this link, MUDH is lobbying for just such a button buck rule in Michigan.
http://www.mudh.com/issues.htm
A sub-legal buck is defined to be a buck with one or more antlers each of which is less than 3 inches long. A button buck has the pedicels for antlers but has no antlers. Bucks are bucks whether or not they have antlers. Harvesting a sub-legal or button buck on an antlerless tag typically means one less antlered buck for hunters in the following year. Further, when one of these bucks is harvested, the DNR considers it to be antlerless thus distorting deer management tools by over inflating the number of does harvested. One senior Michigan big game specialist estimates thousands of young bucks are included in the doe harvest numbers.

Unlike other selective harvest regulations and laws on the books, it is important to note that requiring the use of a buck tag does not make harvesting these bucks illegal . . . it merely adds a little consequence to it.

Proper identification of game and knowing your target and beyond are two principle rules of hunting. Requiring hunters to use a buck tag on a button buck or one with less than three inch antlers will encourage hunters to make proper game identification and improve hunter safety. Requiring the use of a buck tag should give pause to hunters who may be tempted to shoot "brown" simply because they carry unfilled buck and antlerless tags.


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[holzy]

A buck is a buck.....period, and should be tagged as a buck.

[bentduck]

I don't understand why some feel the button buck issue would be a "law enforcement nightmare". The DNR has already approved the language making the use of buck tags on buttons' a voluntary" decision. (last season)

The language would only have to change from "may" to "must" in order to make this law. Hardly a bureaucratic nightmare as some would suggest. I maintain this law is a "no-brainer"...and the vast majority of hunters would go along with it...

Bentduck

[Garret]

Welcome to the site bentduck! I agree, it should be a no-brainer.

[Fred Bear]

the deer processing shops are no compairison to how many buttons are shot. Most guys I meet cut a button up themselves because it costs too much to get 60 lbs of meat. Most of the hunters that I see in the feild shoot if it is a deer then figure out what sex and size they shot after the fact. I dont think they are particularly unsafe, just that they shoot any deer they can. Most of them dont even tag buttons and does. The DNR is too few and far between to do much about this in Jackson county. I even heard about one guy shooting a small 6 point then shooting off his antlers on purpose to make it antlerless because he was out of buck tags! All of this activity happens on private land. Soooooo many buttons are shot each year that go unreported, untagged and they dont even make to the butcher shop. I agree that a buck is a buck and a rule to tag a buck with a buck tag only makes sense. I wish the DNR would make this rule and have the power to enforce it. This would also reduce the amount of "jump" shots that slob hunters seem to take all of the time. I think the tag a buck with a buck licence rule would solve many problems and teach our youth to hunt properly. (positivly identify your target before you shoot)
I am now off my soap box.

[FREEPOP]

Originally posted by Swamp Ghost
Can we dumb down the hunter and hunting anymore?

Complicated? Nothing complicated to it, if it has nuts you have to use a buck tag. Simple as that. It doesn't get any easier.

What about antlered female deer?

[Pinefarm]

We'll figure out what to do about the 3 or 4 antlered doe's that get killed every year. It's the yearly 30,000 button bucks that worry us. :p

[Pinefarm]

PS, nice fish!

[FREEPOP]

Thanks, nice business ;)