[Positrac]

Originally Posted by waterninja

So, as promised I am putting forth some suggestions for changes that I would like to see happen with our regs. This time I will not try to defend my suggestion or argue my position. In my mind this suggestion has merit. This is how it works in BC, but that does not mean that I think all of BC regs. are better then ours or that I will move to BC if none of my suggestions are implemented. Actually I'm kind of hopeing that someone at F&W or AEP that I am sure read the threads here on AO might pass my suggestions along to those who make policies and or reg. changes. Anyways......
..4.. Regulation on whether a Deer is Antlered or Antlerless. Right now if you are trying to harvest an Antlerless deer and you shoot one that has one antler 2" long and one a little longer then 4", you have committed a crime. I think this is backwards. In BC (yeh I know, flame away) and probably other places if ONE antler is less then the legal length then it is considered Antlerless. So, if you are glassing that deer and see no antlers, or just a small nub and shoot it thinking you have shot an Antlerless deer and then walk up and see that on the side that was facing away from you it has a 4 1/2" antler then here in AB you can be in big trouble. You can argue that the hunter was irresponsible by not waiting to glass or scope both sides, or he shouldn't have shot at all, but in the field a lot of times you have an animal standing broadside to you and have to make a decision based on what you can see. Just seems to make more sense if the reg. was written the other way around. Much less chance of error, and I doubt it would hurt the spikers out there.
Here is a pic of a Whitetail "buck" that a hunter shot thinking it was Antlerless. The small (and legal) 3" antler was hiding behind the ear that was broadside to hunter, and that 5" antler was sticking straight out away from hunter and could not be seen. Legally, in AB this was an Antlered deer.
Feedback welcome on this reg suggestion but I will not type another word on this thread. Flame away guys.
P.S. I'll leave it to the ussual suspects to speculate what tag was put on this animal.

In BC to be considered antlerless a deer needs to be less than one year old and have no visible antlers of any length. A deer is considered antlered in BC if it has anything more than a nub with hair still on it in the way of antlers.