For starters - I fully understand not everyone likes the scoring system of B&C. Net/gross etc.

However it IS an indication over many, many years of what areas of the state trophy bucks come from. Some will say that not everyone enters their deer in B&C - no disagreement there. But over a 50-60 year period the law of averages says that those who do enter will even out across different counties and areas.

I have access to all of the records. Not only for whitetail but for most other species. Not only Texas but all of the USA and Canada.

Soooooo..... as a starter I thought it would be interesting to see how the Texas counties rank in typical and non typical book deer over the past 68 years and the past 20 years. If anyone wants to know a particular county just say so or a different species - elk, mule deer, etc. Hope you enjoy the data

1950-2018

Typical

Maverick 63 entries
Webb 58
Dimmitt 54
LaSalle 46
Kleberg 22

Non Typical

Maverick 21 entries
LaSalle 17
Webb 16
Kleberg 14
Dimmitt 12



1998-2018

Typical

Maverick 50 entries
Webb 37
LaSalle 31
Dimmitt 26
Kleberg 16


Non Typical

Maverick 18 entries
LaSalle 10
Kleberg 9
Dimmitt 8
Webb 7

What was the state record from say 1970. Interested to know how things have changed. I'm guessing back then it was probably a 160 or so but it will be interesting to see.

Sorry it does not show state records - just shows B&C entrees - I can plug in any date time frames, any county or state, and any species. Or if someone provides a hunters name I can look up where their deer or animal ranked in the book.

Of course the entries in the last 20 years are overall better - however you would be surprised how many incredible book deer were taken before all of the management practices -

Just for fun, can you see what the entries were for Harris county back around 1970 or so? There were reportedly some ungodly number of deer here then.

I ran 1965 to 1975 typical and non typical - nothing showed up in Harris County\

Does not mean the deer were not there - just means the hunter did not enter it in B&C

Thanks for checking. I don't recall hearing the term "b&c" until about 1975. I'll bet a lot of great deer were never entered from that period. Appreciate ya!

How does Parker County look?

1950 to 2018 both typical and non typical I show no entries from Parker

Big chunk of that prior to 98 stuff is high fenced and/or broke up into smaller places now.

I agree - it is pre-protein, pre-cottonseed, pre-heavy management, pre-HF's, and the like.

So IMO, back in the day when things were totally free range and wild the browse and genetics in South Texas was awesome and grew big deer. Maybe not as many as now but nevertheless there were tremendous free range bucks back then

I always figured with the increase in protein feeding and agriculture that LF deer will get bigger. It is only a matter of time till the next free range record is set.

With the proliferation of high fences, it is amazing that the entries increased. Driving any of the roads through those counties causes you to wonder if there are any low fenced ranches left.

For those unfamiliar with the B&C rules; "North American big game harvested by the use of the following methods or under the following conditions are ineligible:
IV. Confined by artificial barriers, including escape proof fenced enclosures"

WT and Mulie Dickens county?

Great information. Thanks for posting tlk. What it tells me is the counties that were best before high fences are still the best today. That's because those counties have the best of everything needed to produce book deer. Soil and minerals, plant communities, great genetics, low deer densities and the ability of animals to live to maturity.

I checked 1950 to current. No entries in Dickens for either species. Texas has very few Mulies in the book either typical or non typically. When I went 1900 to current there was one typical mulie in Dickens

Typical state record IIRC was 199” and some change in 1970.

Non typical was 286” ( the brady buck)



There has always been big deer in Texas there are just more of them and in more areas now

Lots of areas producing nice bucks nowadays didn’t even have deer in 1970

I had family and friends that lived in the cypress/spring area around thst time.

From the way they tell it deer were few and far between.

I lived in pearland in the early 2000’s and there are much, much more deer in the area now than then

I grew up hunting the confluence of Spring and Cypress creeks and there were a lot of deer back then. Not so big, but lots of them. I still see a lot of deer even near downtown off new 90 and on the Hardy toll road. They don't seem to notice all the humanity around them.

for me the pre-management/feed/ culling world (20-30 years ago) is facinating. Check the record books - some of the most awesome bucks in Texas were killed back then. IMO the difference now is that more good bucks are being taken due to management. But when everything was natural there were some amazing free range bucks being taken

Google the Brady buck - there are a number of deer like him taken back in the day with Zero manipulation. Witness this 2011 thread

http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2274098/1

How many entries for Grayson County?

Rank is based on all counties in Texas, Entries is how many book deer were taken during that time frame. I show the last 68 years and then the last 20 years. I can show any time frame needed all the way back into the 1800's

1950 to now -

Typical

Rank #17

Entries 5

Non typical

Rank 6

Entries 8




1998 to current

Typical

Rank # 12

Entries 5

Non typical

Rank # 5

Entries 8

For being an "non south texas county" grayson has done well over the years

There has always been somewhat of an indirect manipulation ever since this country was settled. Windmills keeping water consistent. Minerals and feed left for live stock. Crops making a food source year round and protein levels higher. Even the famous Hanson Buck was shot in a farming community. Texas is no different.

With all due respect I have to disagree. The records show that south texas has produced the majority of the book deer over many many years. Farming areas have produced some great bucks now and then but the facts show that the south texas brush and genetics is unmatched as far as numbers of trophies taken from the 1800's to present. If you review the number of book deer taken in the south texas counties versus all other counties in Texas there is no contest

For example: from 1830 to present the number of typical book deer taken in south Texas counties is 309. They make up the top 10 counties in the book - all south texas counties.

The next 10 counties total 55 entries and they are mostly outside of south Texas. No contest

Wouldn't it seem that areas that are hunted are also farmed and ranched? If not why is anyone there? Settlers didn't show up only to hunt. They had to do something else to stay alive, farming and ranching are at the top of the list. By the time B and C was established (1888) Texas was already fairly well settled.
The influence may have been minor, but to think there was zero influence is a stretch.

Was very little if any farming in south texas ever - no water. It was ranching and cattle country. No irrigation back then and very little even today