Fixed it for you.

thats the problem...too many folks trying to fix something and screwing it up worse.

There, I fixed it for you....

Well at least if they are messing up my deer here, they aint screwing with my other place.

At least we can all agree on one thing.... we all like to kill deer. PEACE OUT FOR THE NIGHT.

Well, I believe it was broken. Sitting in a stand all year (for multiple years) and not seeing anything but little dink 2.5 year old bucks is not right to me. I don't have to see a 150" inch but would like to see something that would approach 120". This was my experience prior to AR's.

Now that AR's are in place I will see at least one mature buck every weekend. Again, it seems some of the AR haters think we are all after trophy deer and nothing could be farther from the truth. I just want to see mature bucks and everything that comes with them - fighting, dominance, rutting activity, etc. This was something that I did not see prior to AR's. I have finally seen all this in the last couple of years due to AR's - something I did not see in the previous 20 years of deer hunting.

I did not pull the trigger this year but passed on 12-15 bucks that would easily go over 13" and hell 200+ does. This was our best year ever thanks to AR's.

Letsgo we would like to see all the things you mentioned too but thanks to ar and the bag limits we dont see anything like that. If you truly see all the bucks and does that you say you are seeing i can see why you are pro ar! Now look at it in our position and how the numbers have crashed in the last 5yrs of ar rules and bag limits and you would understand OUR problem. Every time i go to this thread its painfully obvious that as long as its working for you its ok and the rest of us are sh@#$t outta luck. JMO.

I'd just like to see deer there.....

I hunted the Red River Counties and let me tell you, Antler Restrictions are working WELL there. Years ago, you were lucky to see deer, now you see them all the time.

The ONE thing I disagree on is the Doe's. Why in the heck would they make it a two doe limit, but your rifle season is from Thanksgiving to Sunday. Four days? From my experience, people would shoot any doe, regardless of size on those four days. Why not change the rule to ... One Doe, all seasons combined? That way people would be picky and shoot a good sized doe rather than fawns.

What part of Red River? I hear good things from the northern part, bad from the south where we are.

It's shear numbers game to me.

You said huntedd, what years where you there and why did you quit?

PRO AR ! Hamilton co has improved due to AR. Jack co got put on this past year and I promise It will improve the hunting there. All you east tx guys< how many of you agaist it, are in a bad hunter to land size situtation? This is the problem! If yall want alot of deer and big ones to go to the state and get your county put on lottery system. Then and only then will those areas be what you all say it should be numbers and size. It is hard for 12 poeple to have slice of pizza when there is only 8 slices.

our situation is 2 hunters to 652 (only 1 buck can be shot) and 8-10 on 5000 (only 8 bucks can be shot). PArt of hunting is that if you want to kill nice trophy class deer (for a given area), you have to be willing to lose...a lot, some folks just don't have it in them & b/c of that we have a 13" rule.

It still wasn't broke if you never was an exclusive trophy hunter.

it wasn't broke even if you were

I've hunted Lamar County, Delta County, Hopkin County, and Franklin County. All four of them have GREATLY IMPROVED with Antler Restrictions.

I've hunted those counties over 10 years. Like I said before, 10-12 years ago, you were LUCKY to see a deer, now you see lots of them. I'm so glade they put Antler Restrictions on and OUTLAWED deer hunting with DOGS. (I liked East Texas because it was easy to get to). Over 10 years ago, I swear people just shot whatever they saw. It also didn't help there was a bunch of poachers out there also.

Over the past 2004-2009, I've tagged out in those counties (I didn't hunt the same county each year). Usually I got my Buck within the first 3 weeks. Only in 2009 I didn't tag out, I passed on a buck that I thought would get better, and I didn't have a opportunity to get another.

Why did I move? I do not agree with the Doe rules in those counties. It really sucks to have to go Thanksgiving Day to Sunday to shoot your does. I would have MUCH preferred the state to Reduce the number of does from 2 to 1 and allow you to shoot the doe anytime you wanted than over 4 days. Plus I felt it was time to hunt a different part of the state (I went to Hill Country). BIG difference.

I have hunted hopkins co. 22yrs and the numbers HAVE NOT IMPROVED! I dont know where you get your info but the biologist who weighed my deer and aged it said the numbers of deer brought in to the meat locker are way down and the numbers of deer overall is down. Some areas are better than others but overall there down. Dont believe me ask the game warden or the local biologists. Cant say whats happening in the other countys but in hopkins they are DEFINATTLY DOWN. Doe tags and spike tag need to go.

how have yall's fawn crops looked? We've been up and down since '04 it seems, with more down than up.

rifleman ours is down but also overall doe numbers are way down.

that's going to create some problems then, not only now, but on down the road.

Yep i agree! Without those does, no bucks or does will be born. Wish they would make does archery only in hopkins and back to 1 buck only and the numbers will come back in my opinion.