I would agree with the slug gun vs. rifle explanation IF it weren't for Kansas. It seems like every big deer I see in a magazine anymore comes from that state. Kansas does have the December gun season in common with Iowa, so I might lend more weight to that factor. But they use rifles there, too, and it doesn't seem to hurt their big buck numbers.
I think the two biggest problems we have in North Missouri are 1) Shooting too many young bucks, and 2) Poaching.
To me, the gun season in the rut hurts the overall buck numbers more so than it does the mature buck numbers. The majority of bucks taken here during rifle season are 18 months old. After that, I would say the remaining vast majority of bucks taken are under 3 1/2. So overall, we are really taking a small percentage of the mature deer out of the herd each year. Putting such a big dent in the young buck numbers simply eliminates the number of deer which have a chance to get big. I know there are still a lot of really big deer around, we see them in the summer and during bow season. Very few of these deer get taken, legally, during the rifle season. The big boys just learn how to hide, most hunters settle for a small buck, and the big boys make it another season. I don't lend much weight to the argument that shooting a big buck during the rut has a devastating impact on the overall quality of the gene pool, but I am no biologist. Aren't genetics just that? Are they like wine in that they improve with age. If a genetically superior buck is the sire of an 18 month old deer that breeds, isn't he still passing on superior genetics? I've also heard that the doe's genetics matter equally as well, but I don't know for sure.
There are so many does here that the big bucks aren't doing all of the breeding anyway. Actually, in the past few years, the "chase" phase of the rut has been over by gun season anyway. You might jump a buck with a doe, but the crazy phase is usually at least a week prior. The old bucks still do most of their moving at night. In theory, if we could somehow capture the ten biggest live bucks currently roaming Missouri and Iowa, I think they would be pretty comparable in terms of antler size. So, I think the genetics are pretty decent. We simply don't have as many of them because we kill so many young bucks who are running hells bells all over the place because the rut is in full swing during the gun season. Until the MDC (Missouri Department of Conservation) implements some sort of QDM, limits the total number of hunters, or hunters change their ways, we will continue to have the problem.
Around my hunting area, my other major concern is poaching. Many, and I do mean many, of the biggest deer we attempt to hunt are taken out of the herd prior to gun season by poachers. I don't know if you guys have the same problem up there, but it gets old finding 250 lb. - 300 lb. carcasses with no head during bow season. We have a definite epidemic of big buck poaching and that has a major effect on the number of deer that get entered into the "book". One example is two years ago a friend and I were hunting a deer we thought would gross between 180 & 190 typical as a 10 pointer. We hunted him during bow season but never got a shot. We hunted him very hard during gun season and saw hide nor hair of him. Come to find out he had been killed on the Wed. night BEFORE gun season. He netted 186 typical. How do I know that, because the poachers had the audacity to check him in opening morning, stiff as a board. They were so bold as to bring a picture of him with them to the check station when they brought their mom to town to buy a tag so she could check him in. I later found out through the grape vine where & when they had killed him. That is not the first time it's happened, won't be the last, happens all the time. The most discouraging thing is that the poachers are well known, have even been in and out of jail, but just won't stop. We have just tried to move as far from their normal poaching area as possible, which worked last year as I got lucky and took a 190" non-typical. (By the way, he was by himself and headed for heavy cover at first light.)
Anyway, I've gone on long enough, sorry for the long post. You just touched on a subject that I am very passionate about, more big bucks to hunt. I don't know what Missouri's answer is, but I do know that I am contemplating moving to Kansas and buying a farm in Iowa!
