The last several posts on this subject, either way, have been good. DJs suggestion may or may not have merit but it’s definitely too much to remember for millions of hunters across the State.

You're telling the truth there my friend.

You and that redchevy guy are a couple of cavemen. What? You see a few numbers and start hyperventilating, and get a little dizzy do ya? You sure don’t think much of your fellow Texans. God bless the Texas Education System.

I’m gone!

I do not at all agree with the antler restriction, I think it’s a stupid idea to begin with , these issues did not begin untill people started marketing hunting as a sport, over the years now we have people hunting who can’t gut, skin, or quarter and animal let alone process it into edible meat, they pay $$$$ to go hunt on a ranch what they are calling”wild” deer that are behind a high fence ,not eating a native wild diet and producing gigantic racks and has people of distorted idea that they may come up on one of those giant deer in a likely scenario if they buy the right stuff to go “hunt” it . It’s ridiculous. …Put a reasonable bag limit per hunter per county determined by the people in those counties who know what needs to be taken to keep a good deer population, our kids shouldn’t have to be trained to study a buck for 10 mins to see if he’s 13” , by the time a good view presents its self and its figured out it’s a shooter , they usually hop off behind a hill or wood line or something and no shot is taken … totally ignorant idea , . do something reasonable to end poaching, that’s the real problem, our county has 2 game wardens , like they can possibly regulate all the fishing and hunting activities with 2 wardens? 2 game wardens and probably 30,000 illegal immigrants that could care less about game laws .Geez. Let hunters hunt and quit listening to some idiot who heard from a college professor what it will take to manage deer , those same college professors also think you came from an ape in years past and that life began by a big bang, you can’t honestly say that you trust their teaching can you? They also say we r going to burn the planet up in a few years if we don’t buy battery cars and that our cows farts are destroying the environment … seriously these are the people yall are trusting your information from ., apparently these people don’t read their bibles. My point is that people discovered ways to market and make big bucks off big bucks years ago and their feeding that line to you now too. Let’s get back to basic hunting and leave the fluff to the pretty boys with pretty hair and nails that don’t eat meat anyway .

Yet dozens, if not hundreds of kids successfully harvest legal deer every season in AR counties. Simply amazing.

Sick burner account

In the counties I hunt, the ARs did what they were intended to do I guess, whatever difference it makes. We were overrun with forked fours and small six points. Now we are overrun with 13-15 inch 8 points. And for whatever the reason may be, more quality trophy 150+ deer were taken before ARs. They are at a point were something else needs to be done, but I’m not sure what without making hunting more complicated than it already is.

Id like to know if you have factual evidence to support that statement, and if you’re also taking into account the 5-6 horrible drought years in the last decade+ that could also easily account for some of the drop-off.

Apologies, I was referring to what we have witnessed on our property that we own in one county. (1150 acres with equal and larger tracts surrounding) Not making a multiple county wide statement, as we hunt on some small leased tracts.(less than 100 acres). In which things happen around that we do not have any control over. Has the quality of antlers increased overall? Yes. Did the deer become “trophy” quality? No

😂

Yes they sure do. Absolutely amazing WOW

Rowdy, you’re brand new on here so its gonna be hard from most to take much from your opinions without getting a better feel for you.
Welcome to our forum.

So Im a caveman, dang, and redChevy too. And I was really trying to like you. You seemed pretty intelligent until you threw shade on a couple of the more level headed logical thinking guys on here……

Well truth is I wondered how others felt about this. Subject so I looked it up and this forum popped up , so I figured I would weigh in on it . As I’ve stated I dont agree with it at all , been hunting since way before it was ever established. From my observations I’ve seen less and less quality bucks each year since they have established it which makes sense given that everyone is killing the larger spread bucks now instead of filling their tags with the smaller ones they see first , end results are less larger bucks left in the woods which seems counter productive to me. It’s plain to see many people don’t take well hearing that someone doesn’t believe in the reasoning of those powers that be but it is what it is. My minds made up and apparently theirs is too, I’m not here to attack anyone, just stating my stance on the subject. Not even gonna defend it. I’ve said my belief about it and don’t need anybody to validate it nor do I feel any need to argue back and for to try to change someone’s mind, that’s not why I said it. I simply stated my thoughts and that don’t set well with some folks here. Kinda funny actually. How some people can’t take an opposing view . Not here to make any enemies just wanted to give my thought on it

Rowdy, did you read the entire thread? There are lots of other threads on the subject in the past on here as well. You said your minds made up so it probably wouldn’t matter if you read up on it or not. For anyone that has an open mind I would suggest you read the many threads on this.

When looking at matters such as these, its best to look at things objectively and focus on the facts, not feelings.

The reason AR's were implemented was to reduce immature buck harvest. It was not to increase antler size to trophy proportions. That was just a by product of a herd with property age class structure. In the original AR counties, it was determined that 90-95% of the buck harvest was yearling deer. So your killing 9 out of 10 bucks in their first year, leaving only one to make it to 2 years of age. The goal and intent of the AR was to get bucks to 3 years of age before being able to be legally harvested, which is the age the majority of them reach the 13" minimum.

You can't kill what does not exist. People are killing larger bucks now because they are not getting killed as yearlings due to the implement of AR's. Same deer are getting killed as before, just at a different age. Your argument that there are "less larger bucks" in the woods is contrary to the data prior to AR's which in many counties had a very small number of bucks over 2 1/2 years of age. Same deer were always getting shot, but they were getting shot at 1 and 2 years of age instead of 3, 4, 5 & 6 years of age. Your counter argument that the reason the bucks are getting smaller is because people are killing the big ones instead of the small ones is proof that big bucks exist, whereas before its highly likely that mature deer did not exist in any appreciable numbers before. No management plan exists that recommends shooting young bucks to let the remaining ones get older....in two or 3 years you will run out of old bucks because you killed them all as juveniles.


So many hunters today do not understand basic herd dynamics, life cycles of whitetail deer or how to age a deer. With the information out there today, there is no excuse as to not have at least a basic understanding of deer management.

My first buck had a 12-inch spread, but I couldn’t tell. I was so excited to see him I didn’t hesitate at all to shoot him. Luckily I was in a county with no AR. Good meat!

Txtro knocked it outa park again.

Like I said previously your full of “data “ and my stance on the subject remains unchanged it’s a ridiculous rule that does nothing but make the hunt less enjoyable for most hunters and is baseless and of no value. Who really cares if the deer is killed at 2 or 5 or whatever age as long as it’s not a fawn or yearling I personally dont mind . other than the “trophy” hunters. Most of the rest of us don’t care or have any issue with it . All it does is reduce the number of legal shooters. If people wanna manage their herds in ranches have at it., more power to you and have a blast raising them but for public hunting a reasonable bag limit and enforce illegal activity is all that’s needed. There will be plenty of big bucks that survive iand plenty of smaller good eating deer taken as well. Your just cut from a different mold than me and a lot of others and we don’t agree on the why and reasoning . It’s nothing more than excessive regulation geared towards big money and greed on the part of trophy hunters and the “industry” . Same things it’s always been, greed that ruined something this time it’s greed for big bucks , Back in the days when there were few deer it was due to too many people taking too many deer . They effectively helped that with liscenses tags, enforcement etc which was good and needed. But they stopped short of good enforcement of that and this is gone too far and it’s negatively hunting most hunters. Illegal hunters will still run wild and and take a bunch of them all this does is limit what law abiding hunters can shoot. If you don’t want to shoot a small 4 point in your place or whatever fine. But we should be able to shoot it on our land if we want it’s an over reach let us fill our bag limit and don’t worry about how many or how big the antlers are in its head it’s unnecessary

Assuming that your own feelings are aligned to the majority of hunters with Texas is a factually incorrect statement

You are failing to comprehend what I'm saying. It was not about limiting opportunities for hunters, it was about herd health and allowing the opportunity for a buck to reach 3 years of age. You can claim greed or commercialization but the fact is that most if not all AR counties are located in areas where there is large habitat fragmentation (I.E small tracts of land) that are not commercially hunted. So there is no dollar benefit to the landowner or anyone else. And I'm not aware of one single outfitter who runs hunts on public land here in Texas for whitetail deer, so that is a non-issue as well. And there won't be "plenty of big bucks that survive" if 80-90% of the buck harvest is yearling deer, (which you admittedly don't care for) which is the reason for AR's being implemented in the first place. That is the Data I was referencing to. Antler restrictions are about nothing more than creating a healthier deer herd within a county that has a history of immature buck harvest. Nothing else.


But lets be honest....your grind is you don't like the state telling you what you can or cannot kill on property you own or lease, even though its a public resource. You want to be allowed to shoot whatever deer you like, even if there is a negative repercussion that could be felt by someone else. Personally, I don't want to shoot small 4 points, but if all my neighbors are doing it, I'll never be able to kill a bigger deer because they shot them all as yearlings.Is that fair? So then you run into the topic of high fences which really get peoples hackles up. Some other people might also feel that bag limits in general are an over-reach, or that they should be allowed to kill does in a buck only county. What about minimum lengths for fish? Should I be allowed to keep a 13" bass, even though the minimum is 14", because plenty of fish will survive even if we all keep 13" bass? What about my kid who is going to cry because he couldn't keep an undersize fish? Are minimum lengths implemented by the state to make fishing less enjoyable, or is it about managing a public resource in the best way possible?

Would you agree that prior to AR’s the vast majority of deer hunters in the AR counties had never seen a mature buck in the woods while hunting? Agree or disagree the overwhelming majority didn’t know what a post adolescent buck looked like? I say that both of those are fact. I will go a step further. It was because well over 95% of the bucks never lived to see their third birthday. Most of the AR counties had buck/doe ratios around 1/8 or higher. In your opinion were bucks over harvested? In your opinion did natural selection, which is nature’s way to keep the species strong, have a chance to play out with adolescent bucks doing all the breeding?

I for one don't like the AR rules. I run 3 cameras on different areas on over 3000 acres and may have 2 or 3 bucks over 13" per year on camera over the last 5 years due to our narrow gene trait. There are a few bucks killed each year that meet the over rule but not by a whole lot. Not sure if the other places around us are MLD Harvest with buck tags, we are MLD Harvest and only get Antlerless tags so the narrow bucks get a pass.

I would love for the state to have a license option (A) for 1 buck (Branched Antler, at least 5 points to protect spikes & forks) or option (B) as it is now for 1 unbranched and 1 over 13" in two counties. That way I could take any buck I like but also give up the ability to take 3 bucks in a year. The antlerless tags could stay the same.
This would let the non Trophy hunters to take a buck and would also reduce the buck harvest for those wishing to just take an antlered legal deer.
They could also make Option (A) ARCHERY ONLY if needed to restrict it even more. Yes we are archery only. If someone that chose option (B) and hunted where I hunt, they would still be bound by the 13" rule but could take 2 deer to my 1.

This has been cussed and discussed for years. I like AR regs. I also agree with the fishing side regs on bass sizes. But, there may be need for some some amendments in the coming years.

I’m old (80), killed my first deer at 23 yoa, and remember “It’s a buck! Shoot!!!.” We did too much of that and I’m as guilty as the next guy. The bucks on my place show more potential than they used to. All of of the bucks I’m seeing on cams and while sitting are too young to have a wide spread. Not hearing a lot of shots in the area like in the past on opening day.

In the past, I’ve planted wheat, and fertilized, in the Fall. Due to drought, I wasn’t able to again this year. That drought kept me from planting and fertilizing wheat for the last 4 years. Without rain, our deer crops aren’t going to be good. I’m not seeing a lot of forbs. The deer I’m seeing are in ok health but that’s all.