Mule deer restrictions

[Mudslinger]

NM issues a certain number of bull elk, cow elk and archery elk tags to private land owners that have elk on their property or have migrating elk, at least that is what they use to do when I ws guiding up there. All of this is done by survey and they can give the tags away, burn them or sell them as they usually do. I believe antelope is done this way also.

Might work for mule deer in the Panhandle to alleviate hunting pressure since all you can do is shoot bucks and can hunt as many people as you want on any size acreage.

[Abctx]

Instead of AR, I think it would be better if the state issued permits to each landowner, and that's all the deer that could be killed on that place. Pretty much the same as MLD, but just do it for everybody. If a place that is 1,000 acres only gets 1 or maybe 2 buck permits, then it'd be pretty hard to find 6 guys from Dallas to join the lease.

I understand what you're saying. I'd just hate for it to get SO limited, that it ends up being like Texas Pronghorn hunting, which is so limited that it's dang near impossible for most hunters to do. My hope is that the AR would perhaps improve things enough to avoid that, but perhaps not. I wouldn't be surprised to see more and more of the landowners up here allowing day hunts, like down in the Hill Country, and really start hammering the population..

[Shane]

You can get doe tags, but like David said, lots of them don't get used because they're only good during the buck season and most hunters don't want to shoot a doe before they get their buck. Under MLD for mule deer, you get a longer season. Regular landowner doe permits don't come with any extra season dates though, right?

[Shane]

I understand what you're saying. I'd just hate for it to get SO limited, that it ends up being like Texas Pronghorn hunting, which is so limited that it's dang near impossible for most hunters to do. My hope is that the AR would perhaps improve things enough to avoid that, but perhaps not. I wouldn't be surprised to see more and more of the landowners up here allowing day hunts, like down in the Hill Country, and really start hammering the population..

It's a limited resource though. They're trying to balance hunter opportunity, landowner revenue, and health/growth of the deer herd. It seems to be leaning too far toward landowner revenue lately. If they don't do something different, numbers will continue to decline, and that would suck for everybody. Limiting opportunity sucks, but fewer deer numbers limits opportunity for sure. No easy answers.

[trophy8]

People shoot way way too many mule deer and really young bucks that don't get a chance to breed. One trophy per 3000+ acres would be more ideal In some areas. All depends on where you're at. I agree 100% with the restrictions. Western Gaines county gets absolutely hammered by anyone that owns any land.

[letsgoboys8204]

In hall county where we hunt i have only seen 2 deer in 9 years that would be legal then plus we have not harvest on the doe unless you try to get special permit .

[Shane]

In hall county where we hunt i have only seen 2 deer in 9 years that would be legal then plus we have not harvest on the doe unless you try to get special permit .

That's a pretty good argument for the ARs. All those yearling and 2 yr old forks and 3x3s getting killed young every year means no mature bucks with decent racks.

[JeffK]

If they are basing it on the success of the whitetail program, why no unbranched MD?

That's not the successful part of the program. Plus they want to increase the buck population and age class.

[texan4ut]

I hunted this past weekend. I was covered up in Mule Deer does. Had as many as 16 at the feeder at one time. They have just about run off all of the Whitetail deer. I only had two Mule Deer bucks both look like the middle picture and have looked like that the past 3 years. Never going to be anything but a cull. Although the restrictions would not effect our county I think if you could harvest either a doe or buck many would choose a doe. I know next year when bow season starts I am waging war on Mule Deer does. I did take one of the cull bucks, it weighed a little over 200#.

[txarcher]

First, I think that the antler restriction would certainly be a good thing. Secondly, I think that extending the season through the month of December for Bailey, Lamb, and Cochran counties would be even better! Our season is only 9 days long and A-LOT of young deer are killed because of that. There are only 9 days to hunt and nobody wants to go home empty handed. If the season was extended to include even part of the rut, when the old big boys come out of hiding, a lot of the younger deer would get a pass early in the season.

[Guerrero88]

I'm in Hall County. I haven't seen one yet that would make the proposed ar. I'm all for bigger mature deer with wider racks. If they do implement the restriction I would like to see the season extended out. Some of the bigger mature bucks don't really start showing up until late November into December.

[Shane]

A hunt during the rut would bring higher success for sure. Might mean even more bucks got killed though if they kept it open ended on how many deer could be killed on a place. If they'd issue a fixed number of permits for each ranch, they could extend the season through the rut to allow better opportunity on the mature bucks without worrying about too many bucks getting killed.

[Shane]

I'd also like to see them allow unlimited year round hunting of whitetail in mule deer country, but that's just me. There's plenty of places to hunt whitetail. Mule deer need all the habitat they can get.

[Guerrero88]

Here's one that needs to go on our place

[Shane]

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Here's one that needs to go on our place

For sure. Dang!