I don't agree with AR's but I don't agree with blasting the young deer and you know that

I believe they were trying to protect some young deer from the indisciplined hunters that cause the avg age of deer shot in Texas to be 2.5 and I believe it has helped protect the younger deer, has it allowed some mature deer to live that should be shot absolutely but that is the exception not the norm. So it is not perfect plan it beats nothing.

I don't agree with blasting young deer either, if they are not legal and you know that.

Until ARs were forced on us, I didn't realize the Texas deer population was suffering so badly. Glad my eyes were opened!

I don't think it was for just the herd, it was definitely proposed by landowners at some point to try and assist with bigger racks so they could charge more for the land they lease. You know I am a bone collector so anything that might help the horns get bigger I am all for, but let me tell you the zebra meat is awesome if you want to shoot sumptin for meat.

Are there restrictions on shooting zebras with a certain number of stripes?

Shoot away no restrictions.

No horizontal stripes and you're g2g.... That would be a skunk.

get used to the AR's they are here to stay!! they are working ever where they are in effect. like it or not it's here. they will most likely be ever where soon. I look for them to start a trial 16 inch somewhere soon. LMAO!!!

No prob.. I keep a stash of bucks in the 16-20" range just in case that happens. They're younger than the 14-16" target group of deer I like, but surely they will taste better.

you're right, but it's not going to happen, so keep on griping.

They wont be everywhere. They are only in counties where 60% of the bucks brought in are yearlings.

And to people that are meat hunters. I have heard so many people say that they are mat hunters, but are you really? You'll pass on the herd of does sitting in front of you, but as soon as that first deer with a rack steps out, it's down. I'm not saying all meat hunters are like this, but I'm willing to bet that most are.

Let me see if I get this correct!!! In AR Counties, we are allowed to kill off does and young spikes and can't shoot mature narrow rack bucks so pretty soon all you have left are old narrow rack bucks!!! How is this going to help the health of the deer herd???

I have said it before and I will say it again. ARs have worked for my little section of the world in SW Nacogdoches Co. Texas has 254 counties of which, 113 have antler restrictions in place. That leaves 141 counties open to shoot any buck. Feel free to look for a place to hunt in one of those counties.

And I say they don't work everywhere!!! They could have accomplished the same thing by just lowering the buck limit to 1!!!

I would love to hunt elsewhere but some of us don't have the money to hunt better leases!!! I hunt in Tyler County because I can afford the lease and its close to home!!! Thats why I hunt in East Texas!!!

LONESTAR1955 They may be here to stay but they aint working everywhere! Aparently you dont read the threads very well or you would know better. I lost 3 hunters in my household because of ar bullcrap. My daughter or wife or dad wont hunt anymore because of this mature deer and big horns crap. I have killed enough deer in my time so i dont mind as much but when my family who loved to hunt wont anymore because there not willing to wait for a MATURE deer or want to shoot does, that pisses me off. I will hunt by the rules but i dont have to like em.

Somebody will no matter what the rules are

So get rid of the AR rules and work with the bag limits to accomplish same goals on a budget!!!

Been reading the AR debates and this is what ticks me off. First of all we own the land paid for it and then continue to have to pay taxes on it. The wildlife eats our grass and or crops drinks the water that some of us have to pay for because of no rain. The government wants to claim the wildlife as theirs?????????? We have to buy a hunting license to kill something that we already pay to support its way of life. Oh and god forbid a person shoot a deer that isn't freakin 13 inches!!! Give them the smallest chance and they will fine you for anything they can. I understand that our country is better than most but the way we set back and let the tpwd dictate to us the way we can hunt and the deer we can shoot makes me shake my head. When it comes to the point we can't make our own minds up the way we want to manage our own land that we worked and paid for is sad!!!!!! For you AR lovers you may want to set back and take a look at what's going on. No telling what the next bs law is going to be. That's my 2 cents...........

to2000 has it right in my opinion....this is unfortunately not about hunting, it is not about herd management, it is about more government control. What ever happened to common sense? What happened to managing your own land and make your own judgements.
I guess as a society we have become so lame we need more socialistic leadership.....NOT FOR ME.
AR's suck but lets face it the bigger picture is regaining our rights to make our own decisions.

So why didn't the ORIGINAL 6 (experimental) counties get this advice back in 2000?

That would have given the whiners 248 options w/o restrictions !!

Where you at in SW Nacogdoches County? We're about as SW as you can get