He was the main resource the writer used for his article, Bill Miller talked with Mr. Stein extensively. And he is the resident historian of the Buckhorn.

Deer were very far and few back then. Like posted the terrain looked much different. Rainfall went much farther in grass country than in brush as it is today. If you research the record books on deer you will see that the Edwards Plateau produced some of the biggest nontypicals in the record book. Why? Habitat was the main reason back then and grazing practices. That area is and was rich in forbes and deep rooted forbes. Overgrazing removed many of the forbes and ground cover. Drought let the less desireable plants take hold. Screw eradication along with mast producing trees taking over led to a population explosion in that area. Also due to lack of predators from livestock practices. South Texas was not different back then other than it lacked rain. The areas down south were grassland praires also with only brush in the draws and drainages. Over grazing and drought led to more undesireable brush and weeds moving in. But also some great browse species took hold helping out. Stories I have heard from old timers is that due to the lack of deer in South Texas most ranchers hunted in the Hill Country back the due to the quality and amount of deer. Old time ranchers in the Hill Country talked of very fertile soils but lack of depth in them with very good seasonal rains. I think the good old days of hunting are today. Overpopulation of deer, lack of prescribed burning as a management tool, undersireable species of plants taking over that are poor quality water sucking species have turned some deer herds in a downward trend. The money to improve the habitat is not there any more with land fragmentation. Increased hunting pressure in some areas is part to blame also to help make the family farm/ranch stay alive in todays economy for areas that have lesser quality of animals.