Is East Texas the new South Texas???

Been some bruisers killed this year!!!

Wish I could join the list, lord knows I have spent enough time in the stand

I have seen several great deer the last couple of years. Something is defiantly going on. I guess I owe TPWD an apology for criticizing the AR's.

Same here....hasn't been a deer killed on our East Texas lease YET this season.
Even during the "doe days" and we have some doe killers, including me.
I have an invite to go to Bandera after Christmas and take 2 or 3 whitetail doe instead
of going back to my lease and hoping that a legal buck finally walks out on me.
I think I'm opting for the Bandera doe hunt.
I want venison. All I can get.
Although I also have a chance to go back and hunt the chalk mountain area too
with a fellow THF member and very good friend.
I think they have an extended doe/spike season there.

Pin oak crop is killing us this year. Deer don't have to move to get their groceries.

I personally am not for ARs. I am more for a judgement call from the hunter. But something has happened recently, or at least in my eyes seeing more big deer come from here.

Saying that, I do my meat hunts else where and my doe live a long healthy life until the neighbors pop her.

This year has been a wet year and I guess maybe the foliage has increased antler growth.

I dunno, but seems like this year I have seen more pics of bucks that are in the 140-160 range then I ever remember seeing.

Hope it keeps up, cause I want a real bruiser for the wall

We have some nice bucks on pics too. Mostly all night time pics though....plus I've never seen a recipe
for cooking a pic.

I agree.

I also dont agree with not being able to cull what is obviously a not good for management.

But you have to admit, it seems like the herd is improving

It's called rain, rain & more rain since 2012.

I have to agree, RAIN. But it still make's my whatever hurt. I can not even take a doe but with a bow. Does anybody else have the same? I just want some meat in the freezer. Am I just a complainer?

Sorry East, didn't mean to hi jack your thread.

That was me last season. Never saw a buck that would make the 13 inch rule, and only one legal spike. This year has been just the opposite. Spikes, fours and small eights, not to mention two that would have met the rule that I passed up.

You didn't hijack anything. This thread is up for discussing, arguing, yelling. Whatever you heathens want to discuss



IMO the rain is what helped but this warm winter pushed them nocturnal

Thank's East. I'm still not 100% for the AR.

Nailed it rifleman

I don't see why not. The deer were pretty much shot out of East Texas by the end of the Great Depression. TPWD started stocking East Texas in 1938 with deer trapped in South Texas. This continued until the 1990's. That means the genetics are the same. Just have to let them grow up!

Acorn crops and rain makes them not have to move, good summer rain made racks big. 1 more wet summer and you'll have 3yo bucks that don't know what hard times are.

I understand that Palehorse, but how can it work for the whole state, I mean they do not even do survey's to make sure that what they did really work's. Not getting on your case, just wondering?

I wasn't talking about AR's, just genetics. I guess I kinda jumped in a later conversation with an earlier point.

The rain IS amazing I have had more quail here than ever, and I have lived here for 18 yr's. No problem Palehorse, it's all good!!!

I have had a really good year in East Texas. 8 shootable bucks on cam during the day. More bucks than does including small baskets and spikes. Took my 10 pt in the first week of November. Only one group of hogs which has been great. So I can't complain but I have felt your way in previous years.

Mambajeep have you had more rain over the last three to four year's, I mean better than say 2011 or 2010, cause here where I am at it's been a wet year this year and the last two year's, not a drought buster. But thing's have BEEN so much greener, my tank has been full, yee haw. But it has been better!!!

You're correct we have had more rain closer to fall, and the 18" 5.5 yo I took this year was in the middle of a 48 hour soaker. When I took him to the processor, he said "you're hunting in this?" lol. I'll never miss another rainy day in the future!

Mambajeep I understand that it work's in east tx, or is to this point. But east tx is a long way from where I am, just cant understand the way they do thing's sometime's. TPWD.

The deer herd is improving statewide.

Yep. It's getting better across the board

SHHHHHHH! I wish that comment could be ommited. It is hard enough to find a good lease in E. Texas, and when you do, you pay a premuim for it. Most of us pay more than our buddies West and South of here and have half the bag limit that they do. Don't get me wrong.I am a big fan of the AR rules and practiced the same principals on my leases before TPW made it a law. I see a big difference now that everybody has to do the same thing. My main concern is, as the deer herd improves here, landowners will price a lot of us out of a lifetime love.

big bucks = big buck$
What was once a simple way of life will is turning into an expensive and competetive "sport".
Progress......gotta love it.

If you paying more for a East Tx deer kease than South Texas something is seriously wrong, no where near the quality of deer. Dont get me wrong East TX has had more big deer than ever before this year but they dont have the 160+ numbers like south tx.

i dont know of this "rain" you guys speak of...the 3 lakes around me are all 10-12ft low but the deer are still getting bigger. age is the major player here, when bucks are hitting 6 and 7yo you will see the genetics shine.

No rain? You must be in North Tx.

ah yes, i forgot, hunt county is so bad even east texas dont want it

you gotta know what rock to look under

I remember when just seeing any deer in Smith County was a major event. When I was 15, I shot the first deer I'd ever seen here, a young spike near the community of Starville.

Now, I see deer every day from my home office on our little 20-acre homestead. I have two feeders and have identified 5 different bucks this year. My place is a no-kill zone as per my wife. And besides, I'm at the point in my life where I mainly observe, rather than shoot.




It's getting better, no doubt.

one theory i've heard is that huge hurricanes from 2005-2008 really "disturbed" the canopy throughout east texas allowing for what is now a much healthier ecosystem with immensely better groceries for the deer. i actually read an article after ike in 2008 i believe that stated in 4 or 5 years to expect to start seeing some monsters come out of the area. makes a lot of sense though the theory maybe be overthought...

But South Texas is not as close to Houston and Dallas with their large concentrations of deer hunters.

My greatest fear with AR's is that the increasing numbers of great bucks coming out of East Texas will make every landowner believe they have them, and expect more from those who want to hunt them.

On average AR's are having the desired effect. I don't like them because I don't like laws dictating stuff like that. But you can't argue against their effect.

However, management, AR's and rain aren't the source for the big giant multipoint nontypicals. That is a direct result of deer from the breeders and stockers escaping into the general population.

AR's don't effect a buck's geneteics anyway.

Please explain how >13" inside spread antlers equals higher quality venison ???? TPWD has yet to answer this question....can you ?

rick

It doesn't, nobody ever said it did.

Nope, but they allow a deer to express them better.

When they say ARs improve deer herds, they don't mean the taste of the deer herds.

So they can show off better.

The dollars coming in from hunters chasing antlers >>>> the dollars coming in from people trying to sustain themselves with meat at this point. It was never about meat.

Dang right, they look better on my wall with expressed genetics!


if I could only kill one....

Im on a lease in Jasper I paid 535 for and shot a 135 buck this year. Its going up to 800 and staying there. I don't think that's a bad price at all. After a crap lease I was ob last I'll probably never get off the one I am on now. If everything goes as well as it has been my 3 year old will grow up hunting in East Texas too.

We keep hearing how much better the genetics are with AR...guess I'll try grinding the antlers into my sausage...oh hell can't do that because I haven't seen a shoot able buck in two years...

rick

There were more bruisers killed last year but this year ain't been to shabby, the AR's work!

i dont think the argument is that the genetics get better, its more that the herd gets older, healthier and more balanced.

do you run trail cameras? hard to believe you havent seen a >13" buck in 2 years, not calling you a liar, its just crazy to think that could be true. and sucks if it is.

jshouse...guess I should have been more clear...have not seen a shoot able buck in two years during shooting hours...have seen two on camera a few times...midnight to 3 am...we have seen many 4 point, 5 point, 6 point and a couple really narrow basket racks...no spikes...and this year darn few does...the does we have seen have also been at night...guys I am in the minority on this subject...I just wish that my grandson & grand daughter could shoot their first deer while I am above ground...this is my last year to hunt and I don't need to get fired up about something that isn't going to change...

rick

[quote=sparrish8]If you paying more for a East Tx deer kease than South Texas something is seriously wrong, no where near the quality of deer. Dont get me wrong East TX has had more big deer than ever before this year but they dont have the 160+ numbers like south tx. [/quote

Club leases are inexpensive. Been there, done that. I quit those when problems with local poachers and thieves caused too many headaches. To find a private lease in my area IS difficult and if you find one, you do what you have to do to keep it. I looked several years before I found the one I am on now.When I say, a lot of E. Texas hunters pay more than our buddies in the Hill Country or South Texas, bear in mind, that at 20.00 an acre you are paying for 1 good buck and in most counties no does unless you bow hunt. Factor that in with the counties that have 5 deer limits, turkey, quail or javelina and you will see why I would hate to see leases here get harder to find or afford.

Club leases are inexpensive. Been there, done that. I quit those when problems with local poachers and thieves caused too many headaches. To find a private lease in my area IS difficult and if you find one, you do what you have to do to keep it. I looked several years before I found the one I am on now.When I say, a lot of E. Texas hunters pay more than our buddies in the Hill Country or South Texas, bear in mind, that at 20.00 an acre you are paying for 1 good buck and in most counties no does unless you bow hunt. Factor that in with the counties that have 5 deer limits, turkey, quail or javelina and you will see why I would hate to see leases here get harder to find or afford.