Antler Restriction Question

[tl1197]

Quality and quantity are both benefits of AR. I've seen great results where I hunt.


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[em1_crew]

I just wish the people across the street obeyed the AR seems like they shoot anything they see but the game warden always seems to come to our camp

[Etxbuckman]

Ask anyone in the original 6 counties if AR has worked. Even the hardest headed Bohemians have seen the light.

My in-laws have a ranch and one of the original six counties. They’re “Bohemians“ and I can vouch for this statement.

[IkemanTX]

In the counties I hunt in (Cooke, Grayson, Fannin) AR’s have worked wonders. (Grayson excluded, that county has always produced good bucks due to the archery only season and “haggerman effect”)

Fannin County has had the most dramatic shift I could have ever imagined. Deer numbers have always been VERY low in the county, and anything with antler was always shot. Now, it isn’t uncommon for a good hunter to be able to shoot a 130” buck every year or two on decent ground. I have eaten tag soup 3 years in a row on public land due to AR’s. I had at least one or two opportunities on bucks that were very close to qualifying, but didn’t. Had it not been for AR’s I would have shot them.

Even having missed out on harvesting a buck for 3 seasons now, I am a big fan of the restrictions.


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[BolilloLoco]

Id like to see another inch added to the law myself. 14" minimum would be great for my areas.

[krod777]

X2 on 14"

[gtsticker]

I was told while in Sonora this weekend by a lontime wildlife biologist that when the AR was first introduced to to Texas that there were 3 restriction options that were proposed. 1) 13" inside spread 2) an unbranched antler 3)If the deer had at least 8pts then the 13" rule did not apply; but he said for some reason Texas chose not to add the 3rd option to the regs. I dont know how true that is, but the guy has been a wildlife biologist for 25+ years and a guide for the last 10+ so he really seemed to know his stuff. Anyone ever heard this or something similar?

No the third shoot factor was 6 points on one side. I worked in one of the first 6 counties it was introduced in!


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[Rtsimp89]

I took a guy from Baton Rouge out hunting on a nice place in south Texas once. We had a 3 year old 10 point mid 140's deer come out about halfway through the evening hunt. I asked him, "If I wasn't here, would you shoot that deer?" His reply "Nope, I never woulda seen that deer, I woulda shot that 6 point an hour ago"

This got me good ha

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[cva34]

I think the reasoning is good But in most cases Hunters gota rely on there eyes at various ranges/lighting...GW uses a Ruler...and then a point is 1 " while not a point is 7/8"..Heck most people can't measure that close wirh Horns and Ruler in Hand....Just my 2C

[bowmansdad]

I’m hunting a AR county for the 1st time, deciding if a buck is 13+ is not easy by any means. I’ve had TC’S out since October when I got the OK to hunt and have 5 or 6 bucks that are mature and possible shooters. I also have 3 or 4 young bucks that are legal but I elected not to shoot them. 4 or 5 more that are mature and won’t make AR. I managed to shoot a 15” funky horned 7 pt. cull with no teeth. Since it’s a 1 buck county, I’m done but happy with the big cull. It would be nice to shoot one more of the mature culls but I can see why the law reads as it does. Landowners shot 2 3 yr. old bucks, a 18” 8 and a tall tined 10, they would have been really nice in a couple of years. We have been discussing age since my old cull outweighed their 2 by a good 35 pounds.

[brokeno]

The biggest problem with ar is you are harvesting your best deer with the best genetics and the letting the poor genetics deer survive breed and pass on more and more poor genetics. Let's say I have 100 head of cattle and 1 stud bull that sires the best calves every year and 3 other bulls that sire inferior calves every year. I need to make hamburger to feed my family so I am going to kill my stud bull and let the 3 other inferior bulls keep producing inferior calves. The same thing is happening to deer with only the best deer being harvested. there needs to be a way to harvest the inferior cull bucks without using your only buck tag.

[Traxx]

The biggest problem with ar is you are harvesting your best deer with the best genetics and the letting the poor genetics deer survive breed and pass on more and more poor genetics. Let's say I have 100 head of cattle and 1 stud bull that sires the best calves every year and 3 other bulls that sire inferior calves every year. I need to make hamburger to feed my family so I am going to kill my stud bull and let the 3 other inferior bulls keep producing inferior calves. The same thing is happening to deer with only the best deer being harvested. there needs to be a way to harvest the inferior cull bucks without using your only buck tag.

This

[RutnBuk]

The biggest problem with ar is you are harvesting your best deer with the best genetics and the letting the poor genetics deer survive breed and pass on more and more poor genetics. Let's say I have 100 head of cattle and 1 stud bull that sires the best calves every year and 3 other bulls that sire inferior calves every year. I need to make hamburger to feed my family so I am going to kill my stud bull and let the 3 other inferior bulls keep producing inferior calves. The same thing is happening to deer with only the best deer being harvested. there needs to be a way to harvest the inferior cull bucks without using your only buck tag.

Exactly this!

[IkemanTX]

This

Exactly this!

The biggest problem with ar is you are harvesting your best deer with the best genetics and the letting the poor genetics deer survive breed and pass on more and more poor genetics. Let's say I have 100 head of cattle and 1 stud bull that sires the best calves every year and 3 other bulls that sire inferior calves every year. I need to make hamburger to feed my family so I am going to kill my stud bull and let the 3 other inferior bulls keep producing inferior calves. The same thing is happening to deer with only the best deer being harvested. there needs to be a way to harvest the inferior cull bucks without using your only buck tag.

The problem with this argument is that it has been shown time and time again that hunters can not change the genetic pool in low fence herds. The two things we can controls to a degree.... age and nutrition.


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[jshouse]

The biggest problem with ar is you are harvesting your best deer with the best genetics and the letting the poor genetics deer survive breed and pass on more and more poor genetics. Let's say I have 100 head of cattle and 1 stud bull that sires the best calves every year and 3 other bulls that sire inferior calves every year. I need to make hamburger to feed my family so I am going to kill my stud bull and let the 3 other inferior bulls keep producing inferior calves. The same thing is happening to deer with only the best deer being harvested. there needs to be a way to harvest the inferior cull bucks without using your only buck tag.

I know there are exceptions, I think I have one on my hunt county place right now, but I have a hard time believing that there are places covered up with <13" MATURE bucks. IMO it all comes down to the hunter and/or the lease rules, you have to get guys to shoot the mature (4.5+) bucks even if there are some 2-3yo's that are legal and bigger.

again, assuming a large percentage of mature bucks are >13" anyway, hunters need to see the benefit in killing a buck based on age and not score and not be scared/ashamed/embarrassed, whatever, to kill a 5.5yo 120" buck and let that 3.5yo 130" walk.