AR is a county wide program that increased tag allocation and implemented an antler width restriction on existing the existing buck tag while also creating a second buck tag, it also increase doe tags for some counties.

It’s much more the 13”

For a 650 acre place in an AR County we only have about 10 different does on camera with awesome habitat. We are low fence and trying to encourage more animals to take up residence with protein feed which we will do all year this year for the first time. Most of us believe we should not shoot does until we have many more but in a round about way ARs encourage us to shoot our does or barely legal bucks if we want meat. For all who say they work for the most part, I am not really convinced that a blanket law is a very good idea after letting multiple bucks that should have been culled walk because of the law.

Need to look seriously at the MLD Program. I read about it briefly the other day but it looks like it will require some study time and then some cash to make it happen properly.

All I can say it I do believe AR is working the majority of the time.

I've witnessed it first hand time and time again the last 3 years.

Does it always work, no rarely anything does but it has me convinced it was a good law.

It would of worked better if tag numbers stayed the same and it moved the ruler to 13” on the one existing buck tag.

Then it would of pushed increased deer populations in areas that where already struggling with low age structure and numbers. But that’s more of a scientific approach then appeasement

This is one of probably 3 examples I have. This deer I have watched prob half dozen times this year.

5 years ago and I have no doubt someone would have shot him.

I think he will make it for at least another year with the AR's.

Do I think he will be a 160 at some Point?

No, but he at least gets a chance.

According to TPWD that deer was most likely a spike and should of been killed with your spike tag. He is to narrow at his age to have been a branch antlered yearling.

I think he is a great deer but per the spirt of the program he should of been killed before his second birthday, it’s a fundamental flaw in the program.

Maybe TPWD could add another extended weekend for bucks and that they can't exceed 13"s?

That way a man could legally take those genetically inferior deer from the herd.

It would be a spirit of the law deal I suppose but deer like i posted would surely be shot.

But I would hope the intention of it would be to take those 2 year old 4 points w 12" racks.

Idk, I do see where there are going to be some issues with AR's but overall I believe they work.

I always find posts like this interesting. What area of the state are you located in? Do you know what your carrying capacity is?

If you only have 10 does on 650 acres there has got to be a reason for that. Hunting pressure, drought, HF with only 10 deer inside, predators? If you don't have a carrying capacity problem or any other problem keeping the population down then with 10 does in 1 years time you should have a lot more deer provided there is one lucky buck somewhere around there.

Here is what I call a problem buck, he older that the last but legal I believe.

I believe he is 13-14"'s but is too close for my comfort zone.

Anything to keep the a-hole neighbors from shooting young, immature bucks. Now we need something similar for does.

And that may be my biggest reason for favoring AR's.

We have a 150 acre family place too and the neighbors to the north were big time Brown and down types.

It went on for a decade or more

I tried to do my part but it was whizzin in the wind when a family of 5 tags out on their 50 adjoining acres every year.

Denton County, two major creeks, lots of hardwoods, some pasture land, and winter wheat. Capacity is much more I am sure based on a few things I have read. We do have a bunch of hogs which of course use the same food sources and they are shot on sight. We also have predators that we hunt regularly to try to keep them in check. What I think we have mostly are hungry neighbors that if I had to guess shoot all the does they are allowed and then some. Just speculation on my part but that is why we are trying to entice the animals to move onto the property and stay there. We would like to have a nice population on the property at some point that is carefully managed. Part of managing that herd would be removing undesirable genetics through harvest which in our case can not happen under current law.

Yeah, if you have that few deer, then probably only one person should be hunting the property. But leasing doesn't work that way normally. We have 1,100 acres with 6 hunters. Should really only have 2 hunters for the deer density but I don't want to pay $5K each so we just hope to get a deer. We didn't shoot a doe last year, had good rains and it does seem we have a few more deer. We did have one neighbor remove everything mesquite tree, one side is HFed and rest are surrounded by hunters so it is what it is.

Just had a thought, we could be in one of those states where the only way you get ONE deer tag is if you are drawn for it! We are blessed!!

I was on a lease near Stephenville for over 10 years. Before the AR were in place, we saw only a fair number of deer, mostly doe. The few bucks seen were mainly spikes or basket racks. The lease was 330 acres, so we had very little control regarding the deer numbers. Some years there was heavy hunting pressure around us, sometimes not as much. The AR were a major improvement. We started to see more deer, and some quality mature bucks. Every property is different, however, on this one, they did work.

Genetically speaking!! I've seen deer on a property produce 95% all nice racks and two miles away the racks are 95% stumpy short beamed non trophy like racks. The AR. is in affect in both areas and it is like two different species of deer. It's genetics!! The bucks are not going to automatically sprout out giant racks because of AR, but they may get a fighting chance to with more age. That's your 18 yr. Survey on two different hunting spots only 2 miles away with one being better bigger racked bucks with the same exact management. The twist is in the story is that the worst of the 2 has produced 2 of the biggest bucks with the other better property, antler wise has consistantly produced clean cemetrical even beamed bucks year after year. So, all that I can say is that the good genes will leak out even in a questionable hunting area sometimes. Dont slaughter your herd with hopes of a miracle. Just role with the punches. 170" free range east tx deer are rare, but at 5 years old anything is possible.

Some might disagree, but the slope of a heavy neck that runs into a full, rounded chest and stumpy front legs tells me this is a mature buck that's starting his downhill slide.

Some are just upset the sport has moved from hunting for food to hunting for sport with food as just a by-product, thats just the way it is. Same reason lots of guys bowhunt all season long its more difficult to take an animal with a limited range weapon, its for sport.

That sums it up pretty well. I remember what I was seeing on game cameras(the old film type) before AR's and what I'm seeing now, absolute night and day difference, alot bigger bucks because basically they're allowed to get older, deer population has gone up too and I attribute alot of that to a more compact rut and then fawning season because there are more bucks to breed the does quicker. When you have all the fawns drop at once more survive.

How long have you hunted your place? Good chance 20 years ago there weren't near as many deer in your part of Denton county. Deer population is going up in alot of AR counties and part of that is results of the AR. People like to bitch and moan about the current regs without realizing how it used to be, like hunting all year long just to see 2 or 3 deer.

This debate has always intrigued me. I grew up hunting in Fayette county, which was one of the first 5 of the AR trial period before extending to other parts of the state. We were pretty irritated at first, barely breaking the 13" mark. 3 years later, we were turning down 13-15" wide bucks with the intent of 16"+, and of course they needed to be mature. We were never shooting monster bucks, but I caught myself on multiple occasions letting bucks walk that just a few years prior I would've flung an arrow at.

The one common problem as mentioned on this thread, is the tall and narrow bucks, or the always prevalent "trash deer". Overall I support ARs, but wish there was a better way to be able to take the mature bucks that never make it to the 13" mark. As much as I wish it could be left up to the landowner, there are way too many landowners/lease members that will start shooting anything with a rack again.