My buddy sent me some pics from the lease im joining this year. Just thought I'd share a few.

on third pic NICE deer, but inside the ears, thats why AR's suck, from 100 yards in the fog/rain/low light/ bright sunny day, thats still a good deer

Nice bucks Brad. Thanks for sharing and good luck with the new lease.

Nice deer, good luck this fall.

Second and last pic is a nice buck

nice east texas bucks. what county?

very nice!

I believe its in red river county

To me, he looks like a good example of where the AR's can really help. He is nice looking, but still appears to be a young deer. By the AR's holding the hunters off of him for another year or two he will be even bigger and probably add the little extra spread needed to clear the AR's.

Nice pics Brad. Thanks for sharing.

Nice looking deer - good luck this year

good looking deer!

That is what management is all about!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looking good!

Yep, take a GOOD LONG LOOK at pic #3 Tall and NARROW! That is what the AR's have in store for East Texas. Shoot all the wide bucks and let the narrow racked bucks multiply. LOL! If there are any does left for the narrow bucks to breed.

hmmm where at in Red River County? Must not be close to me!

AR's or no AR's, that deer is legal.

in east texas the rut is in full swing around the 1st of november every year.....those deer will have enough time to spread there genes before becomming a target.

also, lets just throw it out there and say that a typical deer will be 4 years old before meeting ar's(which probably isn't the case) he still has teh same genetics at 2 and 3 years old that he has at 4, in most counties before ar's it was yearlings and 2 year old deer doing the breeding anyway.


I just don't understand the argument, ya'll are afraid of the woods being filled up with mature narrow racked bucks, but most of you haven't ever killed a deer that was older than 3 years old anyway,in a AR county, so really, ya'll aren't speaking from experiance. its a rare exception that a deer won't make 13 inches.

txtrophy85 I have killed many deer over 13" and at least 8 pts. In fact a 135" 10point with an 18and3/4" spread on a timber company lease where if it was brown it got shot at. We even ran dogs for MANY years.
I saw a MATURE 6 pt this year with less than a 12" spread. This deer had very heavy mass, at least 5" circumfrences, HUGE body, and I HAD TO LET HIM WALK. He was chasing a doe when I saw him. He stopped and looked at me like"HA! HA! You can't shoot me".

Biologists need to apply the SAME lessons learned from CENTURIES of livestock breeding to deer management.

biologists can't do that, because there are too many uncontrolable variables in the wild, as opposed to breeding livestock. we have to deal with the X factor, the doe, which unless you have raised her parents and know exactly what stock she comes from, your always goin to be guessin how good her 50% of the genetics are. it just dosnen't work like that in the field....in a breeding pen, yes, but thats why there are 300 inch deer in captivity and nothing close to that in the wild

I dont understand, you say you have killed many deer over 13inches, and your complaning because ONE 6 point cull made it past your stand and you could't shoot it? what about the dozens and dozens of IMMATURE 6 point deer that will be given a little lease on life due to the AR's

were a little southwest of avery, not sure exactly since this is my first year out there.

What he is saying is what about all the deer that dont have the genitecs and just grow tall and not 13" wide??They just keep breeding the same ole genetics and never become shooters.I think the AR is for the horn collectors anyway,just so Texas can bring in more hunters from other states for the trophy.Becoming a money thing instead of hunting for deer meat.Sorry i dont eat horns never found a way to get them soft enough.

Out of state hunters are going to keep comming to south texas and the hill country, and other managed ranches around the state. 95% of managed ranches in east texas are MLD which circumvents the AR rule. I don't think that was the states goal in ARing counties, so more out of state guys will flock to the piney woods and gulf coast praries.

as for the tired "you can't eat the horns" statement, if you like deer meat, and have no use for the horns, then shoot a doe or two. that way you have meat and the guys who like horns both are happy.

if you can't eat the horns whats the sense in shooting a 2 1/2 year old buck?

yep...seen a cpl places where if 13" was the golden rule on the place, not a whole lot would get shot. I shot an 8pt that went upper 120s on one that was only 10.5" wide....there are a lot of similar deer shot on thre place. This past season a guy killed a 10pt in the 140s with a 10.75" spread. Along the riverbottom in the naturally regenerated hardwood forest it is difficult to find one 13"...usually even harder to find one that stays typical as it reaches maturity. Those brush bucks are usually tall, narrow with lots of extra trash on them. Move up a cpl miles where the pine plantations have been in place since the 60s, it's gets a lot easier to find those deer with the 13" spreads.

A deer is deer regardless now at least over 13".Meat taste the same.

To the OP nice deer in the 2nd and 4th pic! hope he steps out for ya this year.

As far as the AR issue, if you have them might as well deal with them because all the bitch'n in the world is not going to change it. You can till you are blue in the face.