Got a letter saying LAMPS was going away and I would have the option to choose MLD tags for doe harvest only, which is what I currently get with LAMPS, or for doe and buck. Upside is the season for the doe/buck option would run through the end of February. Downside is that my property would be limited to the number of tags issued by the state and no more. Anybody have any insight with MLD tags?

Got the same letter for my place. I am interested in what to choose as well.

I'm interested in the extended season but I don't want to end up getting 1 buck tag and 2 doe tags for my place. We are in a low density county, but I have a ton of deer on my place.

We are in a low density county but always get at least 1 buck tag per 800 acres. They will base it on your property not the county.

I'm on a MLDP level III lease and we got an email basically stating the current MLDP program was ending I believe after the 2017 or 2018 season and the new format would only have two options a harvest option and a conservation option. I believe both would have doe and buck tags but only the conservation option would have the extended season. Sounded like the conservation option would be pretty much the same as MLDP level III in that it requires 4 habitat improvement practices.
To speak to one of the comments the number of tags you get are based on the density of the deer on your property not in your county or area of the county. You'll be required to perform a minimum of three population surveys and the biologist makes harvest recommendation off those along with other data he or she requests.

Where can a person get more info on this change if they were not already involved in the program?

A friend recently switched to MLD tags from LAMPS or something similar. They made the change because MLD was going to give them more doe tags. First year they got issued their tags... and no buck tags were issues. Needless to say they were a little upset.

In most of the MLD places I have seen none of them were scared to issue tags! I would probably pursue MLD.

I'm currently on my 2nd year of MLD level-1 Just to help you some of you that are interested in the program I will explain some things with the old program and what I know about the new:

With the old you had to start on level -1 for a minimum of 2 years before you can move to level-2. An ideal buck to doe ratio for the program is 1:2 so level-1 is to make an attempt to move your herd to this ratio. Level 2 you are issued doe and spike permits but not forked bucks in an attempt to continue to get to an ideal ratio. Level-3 you are issued doe and buck permits to maintain the 1:2 ratio. The number of permits issued each year is based upon your population density per acre. This information takes time to gather (years) and is based upon observation reports (from the previous year), spot light surveys (from the current year), harvest data from the previous year (jawbones, weights, antler scores etc.) and maintaining a list of certain management goals. I have 2347 acres and this past season I was issued 15 doe permits and I was recommended to harvest 3 bucks which I had to use state tags. I think the buck harvest recommendations are just so I don't get upset with not being able to kill any bucks.

Here is what I know from my biologist about the new program:

The new program starts this year 2017-2018. As stated above there are 2 types: Harvest Option and Conservation Option Also my biologist said a change to the program is there is a minimum amount of acreage you have to have to participate. He did not clarify how much as this was not a concern for me.

The conservation option is going to be a combination of the old MLD levels 1 & 2 and the Lamps.

The Harvest option is going to be sort of like the Level 3 where you can harvest forked bucks and doe---but you still will need data before you can choose this option (observation reports, harvest data, spot light reports)

So from what I have been told if you are starting out or want to start the program you will have to start with the Conservation option and work your way to the Harvest option. If you are interested go to tpwd.texas.gov and find out who your biologist is for you county and give him a call.

I hope this helps with some of you. If any of you guys hear any more info about the new program for if you find that my info is incorrect please post here.

Thanks

Wow almost 2400 acres and only get 18 tags? What part of the state are you located in?

Last place i hunted was mld 1. The group had 32 doe tags on 380 acres. At the time, the county didnt have a doe season at all.

I'm in Hardin county in east texas---we bought the land in 2013. The land was under the management of a hunting club and was over hunted in my opinion so my goal has been to get my population up! This past season is the first time that we harvested a deer on it---and it was a 3 year old 3 pt that wont amount to anything---we have also harvest some doe this year for the first time.

In my opinion the observation reports and the spot light surveys are not enough data to determine my population density and buck to doe ratio for east texas where it's so thick you can only see 5 yds in some areas.

They only want you to include deer you have seen with your naked eye when hunting in a stand, driving around, or spot lighting. During my 2 years of spot lighting all I have seen is 2 doe---that's BOTH years combined! The vegetation is too dang thick, but my biologist says they have a formula to compensate for this.

I have approx. 15 trail cameras that watch scrapes, trails and baited sites. On camera I see a lot of mature and young bucks but we hardly see them with the naked eye. This year I was after 4 mature shooters that were nocturnal all season. The only way I knew they were there was my game cameras. Unfortunately we are not allowed to include camera observations with our data. It's common for me to see 15 to 20 doe, and a spike or a young buck during one morning hunt... and my dad will see around the same in another stand...but we don't see a lot of the bucks that we know are there. So to me it's biased, but I'm not the expert!

LAMPS was a pretty benign and unobtrusive program. MLD is not.

Think I'll keep the government boys' fingers out of my little pie.

forgot to mention for those of you that are not familiar with the program and may wonder why you would want to participate:


-you get an extended RIFLE hunting season---from the start of bow season until the end of February
-you use state issued permits instead of your hunting license tags. so you can use your state tags else where if you wish.
-eventually you will be issued more and more buck and doe permits if managed correctly over the years
-there are no antler restrictions so you can take out those mature bucks that are less than 13" or have less than ideal genetics

We don't have the east texas tall trees but encountered the same thing with our place in south texas. We have lots of brush and the grass grows 4-6 foot tall (no live stock). Spotlight surveys are worthless. We do quite a bit of camera surveys, blind counts, and we mow a strip of the place and do a Hahn walking line survey to get most of our population data.

Like you, our place was heavily hunted prior to our ownership, only saw 3 deer first year counting in person, and cameras on feeders. Within 3 years the numbers were back in force.

I was told that generally trail camera's cannot be used for data collection---but they do have a method where you place bait and a camera at a specific location, that is nowhere near where bait has previously been placed, and you record what comes to it within a 10 day period.

I have never heard of Hahn walking but I will ask about it.

The camera surveys we do you put feed out in random area away from any permanent feed sorce with a camera on it and observe. There are multipliers and such... but ill admit I leave the calculations up to my brother/dad for the most part. We have found the camera surveys to be our most reliable surveying method and try to get as many in as we can a year.

The reason for the change in the MLD program is because of its overwhelming popularity and growth beyond the state's resources. There are not enough wildlife biologists statewide to administer the 3 MLD levels, so the state has changed to the two options. Harvest will be for landowners wanting more of a self service plan without the required management practices and assistance of a state wildlife biologist. The conservation option will be very similar to the current level 3 with required management practices (1 less than tne current level 3 I believe) with wildlife biologist assistance. Tne conservation option will allow the extended season by any means (gun/bow) for bucks and does from opening of bow season to the end of February.

Deer census info only has to be done once a year under current MLD programs. We use the camera method and if is by far the most accurate. It is best done around the first of September when bucks are done growing antlers so you can identify the unique bucks. There are formulas to extrapolate the number of does as well as the number of deer that the cameras do not photograph.

Thats awesome!!! Thanks for the explanation between the two options.