do you like mills county oneshot and do you think AR's will hurt that area.

I love where I hunt.
Wide rack traits galore in my deer.
Love to watch those 14 to 16 inch young bucks knowing that they will only get better.
That said I don't agree with AR.
I don't like the idea of having to let trash bucks walk to breed.
I don't like it that if I see something that won't improve the herd I can't shoot it without giving up my trophy hunt for the year.
As it was I could take him out and still hunt for a big buck.
Not now!
So piss on AR.
Wrong for my area.

I agree. I used to hunt in Zephyr and there were lots of young monsters walking around. The inferior gentetics (spreads of less than 13") were the ones needing to be culled.

what do you do if you shoot one that is say 12 3/4? We all know how buck fever can get to you. He sure looked wider in the scope at 200 yds, Mr Game Warden, but when we got to him, he was narrow. I couldnt just drag him and leave him in the woods, or should I have?

You pay a 1/4" fine. Dont think alot arent being illegally processed at camp.

I would not be surprised...I know what i have been through in gonzales and now AR is spreading like the indian corn thread. You figure after the 5 years i have been hunting down there, we would be over run. Plus, the land hadnt been hunted for several years prior to that.

Kind of a trophy hunter who also hates ARs....nice!

when you say trash bucks what are you talking about? I hunt northern mills county and hardly see any bucks that i would consider trash bucks. just a bunch of young deer.

Curly we got another friend in the AR

I consider things like a crab claw set of points on a beam.
I have seen at least three different bucks with very good antlers except that on the left beam they all have the normal G2s and G3s but the G4s are out on the tip of the beam and are shorter than the right.
Thats a trait that effects the uniformity of the horns and is undesirable.
Another is a buck that has 5-4 points on one side and a fork or three points on the otherside.
Under AR if I wanted to remove him to stop that trait from being breed I would have to give up any other forked antler buck the rest of the year.
Thats bad for my herd.
So either I lose out on a possible trophy that year or I become an outlaw and bust his as- and hide it and hope I don't get caught carrying him out.
I will say I haven't hunted illeagly before(that I know of) but that trash is coming out of the herd.
I'll become the outlaw that they apparently want to create.
They aren't going to screw up years of selective herd management because they do surveys at a locker and have a meeting with certain groups and come up with AR.

Easy there onespot.

Sorry!
I'll have another glass of tea now.
Thanks.

Here is a great reason AR doesnt work in mills county. My dad got his buck back from the taxi yesterday. 6.5 years old 6 point(2x4) with an 11.5 in spread, shot in mills county near priddy.

He definatley needed to have been taken out!

I consider that to be a trophy. I would shoot that buck anytime. Very cool!

So one picture of a buck that wouldnt meet the ar, im supposed to believe it dosnt work. That buck is not a good example of what is running around that area. I bet i can find a pic. of a buck with a spread of 11" and then i can cuss the AR's. And CURLY

Sorry wasnt finished. And CURLY i dont think he was shooting it to get it out of the heard, from the looks of it, he wanted that buck on the wall.

AP, we have so many deer that are exactly in the same gene pool as this deer. once again some person on this board speak without thinking or knowing the circumstances. Me and my father have gotten every buck we have shot mounted, its just what we do to show respect to the game. we both have much bigger deer than the one pictured above. That one was truly a trophy making it to 6.5 years old on a low fence ranch with neighbors all around. there are some many things I could say, ap, to show a lack of class, but I wont. Having AR's is like saying we need bigger government... Doesnt need to happen, its called personal responsibility, and its relevant in all aspects of life.

I hate to tell everyone, but unless you have a HF, you are wasting your time trying to "cull" deer out of a herd. Yes the "cull" buck that you take out of the herd might not have gotten any better over the next several year, but by removing him won't change the genetics in the short term. It would take 10-20 years to see the results if everyone shot "cull" bucks. Most people won't stay on a lease long enough to see the change. By shooting culls or does, you can help remove mouths from the herd.

The whole ideas behind AR is to try and protect the yearling herd. I would say for most low fenced places that the buck to doe ratio is so out of whack, that more does need to be removed. If you could balance the sex ratio, "culling" might have a better impact. But when you have 1 buck for every 4,5,6 does, the best buck can't do all the breeding. So even the "junk" bucks get to have fun also. It is easy to see how the sex ratio gets out of whack when a lot of hunters only shoot bucks and no does. Plus you have the old school hunters who think its wrong to shoot the deer that create the future generation.

I have 670 acres that has been high fenced for over 13 years. We have "culled" the herd and created a 1:1 sex ratio. We also have buck age structures between 1.5 to 7.5 years of age. We still get "cull" bucks every year and we are just now seeing "some" results from our efforts. It took over 6 years to see a deer that would break the 160" mark. He has been the only one until this year. Looks like we might have one more that will break that mark. And that took over 13 years with planting food plots and feeding protein and allowing bucks to mature.

I'm for AR even though I'm high fenced. I think it might make a more balanced sex ratio and will improve the opportunity to see more bucks(no matter what the size). Yes it might take a few years, but the results could be impressive.

He still needed culling, if you are into culling. I like to cull the venison in my freezer.

How is it you know that? Heck TPWD does harvest surveys, (dead deer) and THEY seem to be able to use THAT data to tell what is still alive walking around.

Then why do they allow yearling spikes and yearling does for that matter? !!!

They allow spikes to be harvest because of a study that was done on the Kerr WMA. They think that spikes are inferior to other yearling bucks. However, lack of rain fall and late birthing dates are more than likely the reason for the spike antlers.

Now about yearling does, WE HAVE TOO MANY! What would you say is the buck to doe ratio over most of Texas? I know my place in Eastland Cty had a buck to doe ratio of 1:5. Besides, does don't have antlers so they are not involved with ANTLER RESTRICTIONS. LOL

There are several different camps on spikes. That is not the point.
The question is: Is shooting young spikes helping with the TPWD Stated problem of too many young (bucks) are being shot?

Per TPWD the antler Restrictions ARE NOT ABOUT ANTLERS, the are about AGE STRUCTURE problme in the herd!!! (made up as it maybe)

They obviously ignore B:D ratio concerns. This does not have anything to do with BUCK:DOE ratio. Other than: How can going from one buck counties (with out-of-wack B:D) to allowing 2-bucks, (making B:D worse)? The doe harvest is still "doe days", by draw/tags, etc. The TPWD lack of logic is ALL OVER THE BOARD

They dont "encourage" the taking of does, the way they are "encouraging" taking bucks with bigger horns. !!!