Oh guys I know that the management of east tx is going to be alot diffenent than the areas I hunt, but due to lower deer numbers if the bucks get protection. That area has to protectional to produce bigger deer than south texas if the genes or there. But I understand wanting more deer. To make change you must be heard and you must have a educated arguement

This is gonna get really good calling the guys arguements to the TPW "uneducated arguements".

Well going back to the way it was will not happen, so know what will get the results that the majority of hunters in your area will agree on

Antler Restrictions worked on my place. Hardly any deer were sporting them...

It's pretty obvious the AR's work since the program has been expanded over the years and not one county has been taken off of the restrictions.

That can only mean one thing, and that it's an overall success or TPWD would be catching so much heat they would do away with it instead of expanding.

Sure there are those who complain and have legit reasons to complain, because there are areas that have more problems than AR's can fix, but the fact remains until TPWD agrees with those in the minority who complain, it will continue to expand.

It sounds like the NE Texas guys were not seeing deer like much of North Texas. NW of Fort Worth, I didn't start seeing deer until the end of December and it wasn't because of AR's. The deer were there all along, they just didn't have to move from their beds to eat and only had to walk a short ways to get water. The action would occasionally get better around one of the ruts, but nothing like in years past. I know NE Texas has more hardwoods then I do out West, so this could be part of the issue of not seeing any of the mature deer or for that matter many deer at all. There were many a days I sat during bow season and didn't see a single deer. Would occasionally have pics of them at night. So wait until next year, I BET YA'LL HAVE DEER RUNNING ALL OVER THE PLACE and you will be saying, "THANKS TPWD, WE LOVE AR's."

Now that I have started trouble for the day, I'm going to Church. Love ya in Jesus.

338 ya gotta be kidding me! 5yrs into ar rules and regs and fewer deer than ive ever seen in over 20 years and its all because of the acorn crop? Ya need to think up a better excuse than that! All we need is for tha bag limit to be lowered and it being 1 deer buck or doe and your done and the numbers will go back up! Us meat hunters can shoot a doe and the horn hunters can hold out for your almighty antler quest and everybody is happy. Tpw is just like every goverment body, screw everything up and then wait till everthing is about as bad as can be before fixing anything. Some countys im sure are working just fine with ar but i sure dont want to wait another 5yrs before they lower the bag limit in hopkins co and the surrounding countys.

It's not a one year problem.

Funny how if ARs work for those that it does, they say ARs are great for everyone, those of us who it has not helped are just saying it's great for some but not for all. They will not agree. What is up with that?

I guess those that like it and have it do not want it taken away, so as far they are concerned it is great for all no matter what happens across the fence or county or state and those the do not like it want it to go away in their area and the rest can keep it.

Is Pennsylvania a county in Texas?

I changed the link to something that gets to the heart of the controversy, BTW. I am just wondering if this same thing applies to Texas.

I knew I could count on Hoytman to get fired up about that comment....

Yep ya got me. As you can tell im really passionate about this thread. 338 if you saw what hunting was like before ar rules and bag limits you would be right beside me on this.

That's the key.... when you get right down to it.

I can't speak for Hopkins County and the implementation of ARs on that deer heard, but I can speak for several other counties across the state, in saying that it has improved the overall health of the heard and age class of the bucks.

Like you said, a blanket rule will obviously not work all across Texas. I feel bad for ya'll, even though I don't agree with the management practice of shooting any buck that walks. Hopefully the TPWD will offer more specific management options for your region in the years to come. Even though the deer herd might seem desimated right now, it doesn't always take a tremendous amount of time for a herd to rebound. I hope it improves for ya'll so we don't have to keep having arguments on this thread about it. We can all brag about the deer we kill and how great our season was.

That would be great! Hope TPW is listening! Dont want to wait forever im getting to old.

338, this not aimed at you per se', but it's this belief that makes it hard for us to get anything done. So many people think that anyone that hunts North East Texas and doesn't want to manage for trophy deer, are just shooting whatever. And that may be the case, sometimes. However, not speaking for all, but for me, I haven't shot a DEER in east Texas since before AR's were implemented. Last deer I killed was an old 9 pt, roman nose, sway backed, that might have scored 100...

I run a large hunting lease and have a concern with the number of small,young does being killed. These deer represent the future breeding stock. Young bucks protected somewhat by their
antler spread but does can be harvested at any size or age. Is this a problem for anyone else and if so, how is it addressed?

Yes, and in unmanaged NETEX it's what is killing the herd off.

On our west and south texas places, does are killed, but we prefer to kill them late, and only if clearly larger than teh ones around them.

glad to see this is still going

The easiest fix is to go back to 1 buck and not put a limit on what it is. It allows folks on both sides of the fence to be as selective as they please.

actually helping out on former type2 land..it's a work in progress b/c there was a ton of access to the place. The inlaws also have a little land up against NF...they never have had any problems of not having nice deer on their place...even when TPW closed down season in that part of the county b/c of deer population problems.

Now that's what I'm talkin' bout!

Yep 1 deer any size or sex for that matter would be great!