I know you didnt know, I do, I was 16 at the time and deer were thick. We had 1 to 8 on our land in 87, now we have 1 to 26 and we have less hunting pressure than before. Being the minority doesnt bother me. I know of what I speak. Like you, Im not someone who is here on the land a few times a year. I live on it and work it everyday. Im thinking AR and no doe days.


Joshua would kill me if I had a hand in closing his deer season for a day, much less a year.

never said i was for govt getting into our business. in fact, im very against it. all i have stated is that for the most part, ARs have helped the deer pop. and have enabled many deer to get larger. Im against a lot of game laws, i just dont believe they should be able to tell u what to do to the extent like some laws are. for example the "legal shotgun" law i think it is dumb. but i abide by it and i have no idea if it has helped the dove pop. but i doubt it. do i think they should be able to tell u not to shoot a 12in deer??? no i dont, but the fact is that in the areas I have stated, they have improved the situation.

Also, there are a lot of other laws that most of us would see as imposing the long arm of the law into our private lil cookie jar like the ones u stated above. When ARs came out, i did not like em, not because of a political reason like i do now, but because i thought they were crap. now i dont think they are crap, but dont like them from a political stand point lol.


and as for the last request, no, no i would not.

Do you believe the minuscule amount of votes received on the poles in relation to the total % of the hunting population of the state as a whole actually represents the statewide hunting conscience on AR's.

If every one of the 18613 members voted on these poles I doubt that would represent 2% of the total deer hunters in this state. Somehow this represents a consensus?

I really am not trying to pick on or insult you but this same mentality started the whole BS AR thing to begin with.

Funny, back before ARs I don't remember folks on this Hunting forum Threading about the state of Texas deer hunting sucking and that we need to do something about it....where were all the AR lovers then? Why weren't they hollering that Texas needed to improve the state of it's deer hunting? It's a simple question.

nope, i dont think that it should cause a consensus. However, i can say that the people that voted are hunters from all over the state. Also, it wasnt a small majority , i want to say it was something like 70% for both polls voting that the herd got better. That vast win has to stand for something, and there was barely any of the rest of the 30% that said the herd got worse, most of that percentile said the herd had not changed. Not a consensus, but when u have 70% of our small sample sayin it made it better...


and no ur not insulting me.

There's no way of knowing if the voters were actually affected by AR's. Several of the experts here that tell us to shut up and go away and AR's are great and just kill a doe hunt on grandad's ranch in the valley....

That said, you definitely had only hunters voting and probably were more than what most could say.

It's also true that with any survery there's the chance of outliers that need to be discounted.

I think the survey was a decent picture of the questions asked... I just might like to have seen different questions asked... I don't remember them exactly but I remember thinking I wish I had another option or two.

In places with ample active populations, able to survive and flourish with the harvest in place, AR's would allow certain branched antler deer to get older...no doubt.

What if in your county they increased the bag limit from 5 to 20 deer per hunter? Would they still flourish?

Just speaking for a red river county guys, but it has made a huge difference. I hunted there 10 years and only saw 5 deer 10 points or better. Seemed liked all the harvest were 4 points, spikes basket 6's and the like. An 8 point with a 12 inch spread was a trophy. Got one in ten years. Last two years got a nice 10 and a 11 point. Been seeing way more bucks than ever before. East TX is thick and most guys shot the first thing with horns because if they did'nt the next guy would. I would let smaller deer walk only to hear my neighbors gun go boom right after that 4 point went by me. But it is hard to measure a deer at 200 yards as a 12 incher. A game warden would jack you up for an 11 3/4. Although I don't like the way government can tell you what you can do on your own land. In Virginia you don't even have to buy a license if you hunt your own property, at least it was that way a few years ago. It's a fine line for sure.

Are we done?

Does anyone believe you can manage a deer herd on low fence property? If so what is the minimum acerage to even try?

Everyone should just highfence their property and that would solve a lot of problems.

Im with sig! How can killing 4 times as many deer make the herd better? Let the young bucks walk but kill twice as many BIG bucks so we can have more and bigger bucks? I must be missing something or went to the wrong school. Course im east tx so maybe i just dont get that kind of math.

I think you are all missing the big picture here. AR doesn't stand for Antler Restrictions, it stands for Accelerated Revenues. The same thing is happening to deer hunting that happened to bass fishing. Tournament fishing became BIG BUSINESS and to placate the big money makers TP&W started imposing slot limits to grow bigger bass. Too bad for the poor Joe Smoe that just wanted to go out in his John Boat to have a little fun and take some fish home to feed his family and friends. Joe Smoe don't buy $40,000 boats, $500 reels and no company is going to spend millions of dollars in advertisements on a TV show that films Joe Smoe with a stringer of 14"-15" fish. I quit bass fishing years ago because I like eating fish as much an I liked fishing.
The same thing is happening to deer hunting with ARs, it's all about dollars not antlers. If Joe Landowner can grow bigger deer he can attract the people with bigger incomes who are willing to pay more to hunt big antlered deer. Too bad for Joe Smoe deer hunter that can barely afford to pay $10 an acre for a place to hunt and take some meat home to the family. Joe Landowner can get $1500+ a gun from Joe Antlerhunter. Joe Antlerhunter can afford $1500+ for a hunt, can afford a $1200 rifle with a $900 scope and since Joe Antlerhunter don't care about eating the deer he killed he can affort to pay someone to field dress the deer for him and donate the meat to the poor unforchanants that show up a at charitable organizations food kitchen looking for a free handout.
These days no matter what the branch of government, it is going to placate the wealthy.
Deer hunting is becoming a rich mans sport just like bass fishing. It's all about money, not improving Joe Smoe's hunting success.
Just my take on the situation, but what do I know, I only started deer hunting 5 years ago.

TB

On page 11 now.
If I'm not mistaken a dear has a five sq. mile roaming area.