read the question

same thang, no change

wow, im glad i put in a "I just want to veiw the results of the poll" button, or 9 people wouldve just clicked something random....

That is why I hate polls that you can't view without voting.

BTW I voted improved.

i voted just want to see poll....

reason being....our deer herd has been improving for years. AR's may or may not have aided in the help of antler size. I can remember not seeing deer for multiple hunts a year. Now, its unusual not to see atleast 5.

Just wanted to see the results but I still contend IMO the
AR's are in place more for age structure than anything. The growth of the antlers is just a bi-product.

Antler Schmantler......it's all about antlers.....Out of all the buck mounts on my wall, 1 has been since ARs were implimented. I really can't tell a change in overall antler size myself. We got wide antlered bucks and narrow antlered bucks, same as always, only now, we can't shoot the little antlered bucks.
That's on my lease and my

It's about the health of the deer.... still wondering why the 3.5 yr old I shot last year that weighed in very close to 190lbs only had a 9" spread.

tpwd says its about health and age structure....but cmon, its about antlers.

9" spread? I take it that it wasn't an AR county last year? Congrats on a lot of venison though!

A wide antlered buck is a healthy buck from a healthy herd!

lol, yep curly

i dont like the ones that u can view befor voting because i feel it will skew the way u vote, which is why i voted a "view results" button

wow, 66% say it helped......

lol...actually that county just went AR this season, but the particular property is MLD3 and has been that way for a good while. Place has great brush bucks

well, i think the poll speaks for itself as far as ARs affecting antler size.... now with 73% saying it helped

I hunt in a county that just went AR this year. We are a 2 buck, 2 doe county and I think to improve age structure, all they had to do was change from 2 bucks to just 1 buck!!!

I like the option to just view poll because on many of the polls I don't want to vote because it doesn't apply to me but I am interested in the results. Thanks for that option.

On this one, our county just went under AR for the first time and I have wondered what the effect has been on counties that have been under the restrictions for several years.

This way I get to see "opinions" of the effect.

Thanks for posting the poll.

Same hear seadog, i think ar might work but need a smaller bag limit. The deer have been pretty much wiped out because of the liberal bag limit. Used to see lots of does and small bucks now after 4 yrs we hardly no deer at all, bucks or does! Saw my first buck of rifle season and he had a broken back leg and had to let him walk and suffer or become a outlaw and put him out of his misery and put some venison in the freezer.

Yes and No. Yes, antler size has improved (my vote), but it was also improving before AR, as some others have noted.

Hard to say what effect it's had in my county except the deer numbers are still increasing, and that includes spikes in spite of the additional 'spike' tag (we were a 1 buck county before).

Now they've added another doe tag and extended the season, so maybe we can get the overall population to level off too?

it can ONLY HELP,PASS THE SMALL BUCKS,THEY WILL BE BIGGER NEXT YEAR..........

Not if they kill four instead of one... it can hurt.

Run the poll about the numbers of deer see how that helps?

i hate the AR i killed a 4 pointer last yr beefore AR and aged him at 4.5 and now these bad breeds i cant touch....

I voted just want to see the results since the county our ranch is in just went to AR's... It won't matter on our ranch since it is family only hunting and we are horn hunters anyways. I do like that it went from one buck to two bucks. Last year I passed a huge spike several times because I was hunting a particular buck and I was hoping the my little cousin could shoot the spike... The spike never got shot. This year the spike will take a dirt nap one way or another

I'm hunting my wife's family's place in Ranger. I showed some trail cam pics to her grandad of a deer I'm after this year... Its the biggest deer they've ever seen on the place (over 30 years).

He also says that the bucks have been getting bigger and bigger the past 5 years or so.

How long has Ranger been in the AR's?

I first starting hunting there in 2005... If I can remember correctly it was under ARs then.

well i think as far as antler size of a deer goes, ARs are preffered by most people that have had them for a few years. cna anyone disagree with that?

In DeWitt county the AR's have been in place for a few years now, and I've hunted there the last five, on a place my neighbor has hunted on for over 35 years, and when I first hunted there I was told not to look for anything huge, and that the if I see a buck I'd better shoot it, because the neighbor will if I don't.

Then the AR's finally took hold, and after two seasons we were seeing more deer than before and the bucks were getting more plentiful and bigger racks. Every year we each took one buck, and no does off the 400 acres, and every year they kept getting bigger both body and antler size.

The old man I hunt with couldn't believe it, and said it reminds him of when they first got the place and all the big bucks that used to be there and soon dissappeared.

I took a 9 pt just last Monday that would score 135 gross, and another buck was with him that was nearly as big with a high heavy rack, but a smaller deer, so I took the 9.

You don't have to ask me if I like them or not, but I'll tell you I had my doubts at first, so give it time.

The key is everyone has to play by the rules, and if they don't it won't work. A Game Warden can't be everywhere and most people know it, especially the residents of those small acrages.

yep jimbo, i also have been hunting dewitt county also, except ive been doin it for about 10yrs. drastic change in the size and numbers over the past few years!

Have had them in Nac Co, for a while now.... don't care for them.

Friends place in Gatesville. They have hunted appox. 20 hunts so far and not a legal shooter yet. This is on 600 acres of thick woods and going on fourth season out there without a buck harvest. AR really work don't they

well, theyve worked for almost 75% of the people that voted on this poll, so ya id say that they do.

Dang we have been hunting my little 40 acres for 3 years with AR's and we have taken 5 legal bucks, and I could have taken one this year already. Saw another nice little 7 point this afternoon, that was just shy of 13", but he was very young.

From what I see its 31%

And 3% on the negative side. Yep, they seem to work!

He is taken out the people that voted just to see the poll. He only wanted info for people that have actually hunted under AR's.

u gotta do the math like helo said.

I'm gonna make up some T-Shirts that say:
"Curly says AR's are #1"
and send them to everyone on the forum. Wacha think Curly??

I wear a XXL!

I clicked improved but we have been trying to manage our place better for awhile so it may not have anything to do with it... It def. did help keepin certain family members from taking young bucks with good potential though!

I clicked to see the results.....

I think the poll needed more options or second questions... what about deer numbers?

Was there a problem to start with?

Do you like the state telling you what to shoot and not shoot?

They do that with or without AR's. You have a season, you have limits, you have doe days, and so on and so on. This is just one more thing.

not in ar county

AR works. Williamson County is now in its third year and we've seen good results. Shot a 130 class buck off our place last year and that was the biggest we've ever got. Customer deer are bigger too now coming from AR counties. From the counties without AR we still get those babies coming in (2.5 years old). Amazing how nice the bucks around her can be if we just let them grow up a little.

dont worry, i thought about all that before making the poll, i decided i wanted a poll directly tied to improvement of antler size, which is what i did. and there is the proof that ARs make for a better herd of deer AS FAR AS ANTLER SIZE IS CONCERNED.

I don't think I'd call this poll "proof" or anything...

I would like the AR more, if you could shoot a mature buck, with a samll rack. My friend just shot an old 10, that had a 13 1/2 spread. He was legal, but think of the ones that are not. I don't think, you can effectively manage the antler size, in a low fence.
I watched a 4 point yesterday morning, and a 5 point yesterday afternoon, and started thing, if the AR was'nt in place, how many people would have shot them.

That being said, I have more deer on our place now, than when I did 5 years ago. Then again our poachers are in jail, and I quit hunting it.
I have never shot 4 deer in one season. We just don't eat enough deer meat for me to go out and kill everything.

In my area, some people are seeing alot more deer, and others have seen a decrease. The ones that are seeing more, are not shooting 4 deer a year though.

I have hunted there one year and killed a really nice 8 there are some nice deer there.