What year did Grayson County start Archery only hunting?

[jruss]

This is 6 years old. Why are you bringing it up?

Grayson County didn't take away anything....
this was your post so i looked it up and posted it.

OP I dont know when it first became A/O. My google wont tell me.

[M16]

Does anyone know when or why?

Word is some rich and powerful lawyer up there didn't want to compete with rifle hunters and had the change enacted. He wanted a private reserve for bowhunters only.

[jruss]

Word is some rich and powerful lawyer up there didn't want to compete with rifle hunters and had the change enacted. He wanted a private reserve for bowhunters only.

forgot to mention he was from Dallas

[BTLowry]

This is 6 years old. Why are you bringing it up?

Kind of relevant isn't it?

Only thing I don't agree with in that old post was the judge using stray bullets striking livestock or people being a valid reason


I think a lot of Texas counties would see great improvements in deer numbers and quality if they went to short (1-2 week) gun seasons and archery seasons for the rest of the current season dates.

Not pushing for that but just my opinion

[R Herline Jr]

Kind of relevant isn't it?

Only thing I don't agree with in that old post was the judge using stray bullets striking livestock or people being a valid reason


I think a lot of Texas counties would see great improvements in deer numbers and quality if they went to short (1-2 week) gun seasons and archery seasons for the rest of the current season dates.

Not pushing for that but just my opinion

I agree

[Passthrough]

Old news....several counties in TX have archery only seasons now. Grayson county was just the blueprint proving it works in populated counties!

[Grayson]

Grayson County didn't take away anything....
this was your post so i looked it up and posted it.

OP I dont know when it first became A/O. My google wont tell me.

The state of Texas created the archery-only season. Like I said, Grayson County didn't take away anything.

[Boomer57]

Prolly archery only was pushed through by a pollititian how had a lot to gain, owned a lot of land or something.

[bowhuntntxn]

Old news....several counties in TX have archery only seasons now. Grayson county was just the blueprint proving it works in populated counties!

Don't get me wrong when I say this, because I think Grayson should be archery only for eternity, but there are a lot of counties with much higher populations than Grayson that have no weapon restrictions for general season.

Personally I think they did it mostly because the highest population of larger mature deer that everyone wants to kill are in and around the refuge. And if bordering properties were allowed to use rifles they would hammer the big bucks as the jumped the fence, sometimes before they did.

Keeping it archery only keeps the hunter success rate to about 25% and keeps the herd in tact. There are deer in other parts of the county, but the majority of the hunting is from between Whitesboro and Sherman.

[eliteweldingco]

Grayson Cty has a great thing going. Lets hope they never screw it up!

[friscopaint]

Deer aren't everywhere in Grayson county, very few around my place, not even worth hanging a stand.

[TXBlkCld]

Hey, I know that Benson fella. Kindly shady though. You gotta watch him. He's go those shifty eyes.....

[muzzyslinger]

Was in the 1980's....just can't remember exact year. And we prefer to keep it archery season

X2

[Fmjag64]

Bow only in Grayson Co. is the best thing that ever happened. We have free ranging deer on our ranch that are absolute freaks because they got the chance to mature. You don't this near as much in rifle counties.

[Bobcat]

JRuss, sorry just seeing this thread. So the question is why and how did Grayson become archery only?

Let’s go back to the 60's. The state determined there was no longer a recreationally huntable population in the county. Let that sink in for a moment.

In the 80's the draw hunt was developed as a means of managing the deer population in the refuge. This doesn't mean the population was recovered or large, simply that a density existed IN THE REFUGE that required a harvest to IMPROVE THE HABITAT there. Remember, the refuge is primarily a migrating waterfowl area.

In the early 90's the state reinstituted a legal harvest within the county by means of archery, using the Hagerman hunt as a template... for a reason.

Passthrough, HuntnTx, GRAYSON and a few others are correct. The state reinstituted the harvest by means of archery and the success of Hagerman's hunt provided a template. The citizens protected that self-imposed means of harvest by petition and vocal representation. So nothing was taken away. In fact... Grayson County stands as a great example of how a smaller herd in highly fragmented and agriculturally developed (plowed/planted monoculture/year-round grazing) lands among highly fragmented properties (development and property division) with diverse "management perspectives" can sustain a high degree of recreational hunting pressure, while maintaining healthy buck to doe ratios and even better than average maturity within the buck population. WHEW, that is a lot! Fewer deer with greater available resources plus maturity equals more bone... and that occurred by happenstance.

In fact, if you look at Hagerman with its nine days of hunting and realize that NO ONE is feeding protein or aggressively harvesting perceived inferior deer... you might simply start managing towards the correct carrying capacity for your land and towards improved buck maturation. Drink deeply of that thought too.

The plan is one that has worked so well both biologically and socially that has it become adopted by other counties dealing with the same issues. Also keep in mind that firearm hunting is permitted for other large mammals like varmints and hogs.