I know this is not 100% apples to apples comparison, but here in PA, F & G put an antler restriction in place a few years back on our whiteys. We heard all of the arguements posted above and alot more. Now, four or five seasons later, there's still a bunch of whiners crying about how there are "NO" deer left because of the increased opportunity for does and the "decreased opportunity" for bucks (more on this group in #4 below). A few things to note:
1. I've never seen or even heard of a "shoot first, count second" incident yet, though I'm sure it's happened on occassion by the indiscriminate shooter (not a hunter if you do that), and we have some 500,000+ hunters out on the opening day. That's the equivalent of every other man, woman and child that lives in Montana, out hunting on opening day.
2. Guys who would blast the first deer with a 3" spike by 7:15 am on the opener cannot seem to beat their chest and tell the stories of the good ole days when they bagged a buck every first day before 8:00 and had not one set of antlers kept because after the hangover burned off, they would have been embarrassed to even set them on the coffe table, let alone hang them on the wall. Those horns only ever were used to make custom handles for 1 1/2" blade paring knives, and toothpick necklaces. They now have to actually have clear vision prior to the shot.
3. In the second year and third year we saw the change really begin to become visibly established. When I was a kid through as little as four years ago, it was very common to see deer mounted and proudly displayed in the den that were six-pointers with 10"-12" spreads (that's eastern count six, 3 x 3). 8 pointers with anything over 14" were "once in a lifetime" deer, even for guys that lived to hunt. I know, I've got a 15" 8 pointer that'd probably score 100" stuffed and hanging. Two seasons ago we killed a 148" buck. Last year we killed one that touched 150". Four years ago this was completely unheard of. There are more bucks in general and it is clearly visible to anyone that spends any time afield that there are more bucks. "Average Joe" hunters are now even passing up basket rack 8-pointers becuase they've seen the monsters on their scouting trips. First year hunting kids are passing up spikes, 4's and 6's even though they're legal for juniors and shooting whopper 8's and 10's for their first bucks.
4. Even though these rules worked wonders for our deer herd, there are still a whole bunch of whiners, crying every time they get a chance. The funny part is that as soon as I ask where they hunt and they tell me the same farm and the same treestand that they've hunted for the past 25 years, I ask - "Does the farmer still farm?" -- "No". "Do you put any food plots in?" -- "Nope" "Is there a new development nearby?" -- "yep, 1/2 mile away" "Ever see any bucks there?" -- "Yep, slammers, every morning that we drive through it" AND, they still can't connect the dots!
At least for whiteys, antler restrictions work wonders. I actually look forward to hunting season in PA. Not sure how it would work out west for muleys, but I cannot imagine the results being that drastically opposite. Less tags may be filled with antlers, but those that are will be filled with better quality. The key, IMO, is to offer increased doe tags to offset the reduced buck harvest numbers and give meat opportunities to those strictly in it for the meat.
Just my $0.02.
Ed