Has anybody else been seeing fewer deer than past few years? I have a small property north of sulphur springs and every year since AR became the law of the land and the bag limit changed i see fewer deer than ever before and this year was the worst even tho i did take my best deer ever at my place. Been on my place for 30yrs and always had plenty of deer just not alot of big bucks and when they changed the rules it got worse. I guess im asking is it worth the bigger horns to only kill off the herd. Before anybody chimes in about how it works in other places i want to hear about hopkins co. landowners. I hunt my place every year and see whats happening around me but really having second thoughts about bag limits in our county and have sent letters to TPW with my concerns only to fall on deaf ears.

I'm in NW Hopkins county. The "quality" and number of deer I've been seeing over the last 14 years kind of dwindled ...until this past season. What changed was cows gone, rain, real food plots (2), and neighbor moved. Could be a coincidence that this past season I saw many more and better deer, but I don't think so. Long story short is the habitat and pressure improved.

The neighbor who moved has been replaced by a neighbor who doesn't hunt. Helped last year for sure. However, last week she told me she leased her back 80 acres to 3 deer hunters. I nearly threw up on her...

swmays we have had the same amount of pressure for years and we didnt see a decline in numbers till they raised the bag limit and antler restrictions came into play. I like a big buck as much as the next guy but would be alot happier seeing several deer at a sitting like it used to be than maybe not seeing deer at all like this year. I hunt alot and take one deer a year to eat and thats it and this year was the tuffist year of all.

Yes, I agree that the numbers dropped after the limit change. However, when I was able to improve the habitat the numbers increased. I don't know your layout or situation, but could you improve the habitat?

I have two food plots on the property and two feeders on 47 acres. most of property is young hard woods with mature hardwoods on two sides with a powerline rightaway on one end of the property.The property gets lots of hog abuse as soon as food plots get going good.

Not at the mess you are in but the response.

I'd do all I can to remove the hogs...they will impact the deer hunting.

we have been seeing fewer numbers but we also are harvesting more does under MLD permits. This past season was rough due to all the rain, lease flooded multiple times and was hard to get to many stands on the lease. The water pushed a lot of the deer out of the area so hunting was slow. We are on the White Oak Creek near Saltillo. We do have some trail cam pics of some very nice bucks though Sept-Oct

I have land in both Hopkins and hunt counties. I mainly stick to my place in hunt county so I will speak to that. I would say overall from 6-7 years ago to this year I see about half the deer. HOWEVER, where I used to may sit and see 30 deer and maybe only one or two bucks, I now may sit and see 10 deer, but will see at least 3-4 bucks out of those 10 deer.

I have seen a few bigger bucks but wont even shoot a doe anymore around my place. we did have alot of flooding last year that i would like to blame the lack of deer numbers but after being there as long as i have and hunting it every year thats not the answer. Have had hogs for years too and shoot every one i can is not the answer either. Sure would like to see the bag limit lowered to 2 deer and not 4 like it is now.

Hi, I have lots of deer down here in Wimberley. If one of yall have lots of quail I'd be willing to swap for does and cull bucks.

Sure miss the quail! Havent seen one on the land for close to 20 years.Used to have a couple of coveys but not anymore. Things sure do change over time, the quail are gone, the jack rabits are gone and didnt have any hogs. Now we have the hogs and we have road runners and lots of cottontails and even a few small patches of cactus starting to grow.