I am not a fan of state mandated antler restriction for any reason. A landowner can do as they wish on their own property but I don't like some faceless person in state employ telling me what buck I can shoot or not shoot. Once a hunter buys the tag from the state he/she should be able to tag whatever legal deer they want. If I want to fill my tag with a tender young forkhorn or 6 pt then that is my business and not Austin's. If I want to hold out for a big racked brute, then that is also my business.

I have never taken a deer due to antler size and am a meat hunter. If someone wants to make a personal decision to hold out for old bucks with a lot of exposed bone on their head, then I wish them success. I hope they take a monster but I care little about that and feel that I should be able to use my tag in the manner of my own desires. It makes no sense for a buck with a 12 inch spread to be illegal while a buck with a 13 inch spread is fair game. In a biological stance, that inch means nothing.

Save your typing fingers since most who complain about AR's have never experienced what you described, and if they had they wouldn't be so vehemently against them.
I know they aren't the complete and final answer, but after all these years TPWD has lost a lot of credibility in my opinion for not tweeking the rules when it comes to AR's in certain counties where blanket AR's aren't working.
TPWD seem to be good at muddying the waters and then walking away!

No they aren’t the complete answer. For instance I don’t like the idea of shooting yearling spikes that may have been born late or just a bad year for growing. But the old narrow horn bucks that I’m sure are out there,we just don’t see that many like that.
I don’t have anything against meat hunting but on my property I do like the bucks to get some age on them.
I don’t have anything against hunting high fence ranches but I prefer low fence.
We try to take no more than 2 mature bucks/200acres
I don’t hunt anymore but I take my grandchildren. After they are done hunting I will sit and try to take out a hog or a coyote and it’s enjoyable for me to see a really nice buck and just let him walk hoping he slips through the cracks for next year
To each their own.

I dont really have a dog in the AR fight so consider this question off topic.. How do you manage to kill two mature bucks on 200 acres? If you can do that over time and sell your secret then you would be rich.

These days it seems what hunters consider a "mature" buck can vary greatly.

Same with Freestone....

I would like to see some way to get rid of 5+ YO basket heads or tall narrow bucks....

I dont really have a dog in the AR fight so consider this question off topic.. How do you manage to kill two mature bucks on 200 acres? If you can do that over time and sell your secret then you would be rich. [/quote

There’s one side of us that’s a pretty good chunk that’s not hunted.
And when the grandkids hunt the definition of a mature buck changes I should have said legal buck
We do let legal bucks walk
My grandkids are getting pickier the older they get.
At our ranch in Coleman co where there’s no restrictions they won’t shoot a small buck and I like that

Well said, from both sides of the coin

Have you ever heard the expression "just because you can doesn't mean you should"- just because you can shoot a spike doesn't mean you need to. Life is a series of choices and you can choose to not shoot a spike if it is only to justify the lease cost. I know some that will shoot something they may ordinarily pass on because "I paid for the lease so I had to shoot something". I have gone several years in a row without shooting something and not for lack of opportunity- I passed on two nice eight points this year during bow season that more than qualified for the antler restrictions but were a little young and decided to pass.

This is where TP&W does the research on AR's.

https://tpwmagazine.com/archive/2020/nov/research_kerrwma/index.phtml

People shoot spikes for three very good reasons. It's legal, the TPWD recommends it, and you can't eat antlers.

I had the kids take this spike out of 3.



These better deer will get more groceries, We decided to take 2 deer from this particular section so the spike and a doe were chosen. They sure taste good.

I am a meat hunter, the last 3 deer I have taken were does, and I just wish that you could take does in all counties all season. When you can only take does on Thanksgiving and the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday after, that is silly.

I don't know if that is part of the ARs, but it is still silly.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

They do that so too many does don't get killed. Used to be all season in colorado county & herd got shot up bad. Too many small tracts shooting anything that walked through.

Gotcha