I had 10 acres in Bandera. All you can do is proved feed & perhaps water to draw animals to your property. I was surrounded by other 10 acre parcels. i could hear their feeders going off and timed mine to try to draw animals to mine first. If you have cattle or hogs your feeders need to be fenced.

Age is key, and I know your neighbors will shoot them if you don’t. I’d at least talk to the hunting neighbors first just to see what kind of harvest approach would be wise. “The guys next door will shoot him” mentality gets a lot of 3-4-1/2 bucks shot. If they have 15” 8 pts with a 9 mixed in here and there nailed all over and hanging all in the rafters of the camphouse, blast away

Rain, it does a body (and antlers) good!

I leased a property that was only 24 acres across a creek from the other 64 acres, it had large parcels surrounding it that were either not hunted or only hunted once in a blue moon. This property had plenty of mature deer and some really great antler size due to the lack of hunting pressure and plenty of browse and a huge number of Oak trees for a acorn crop. I think that age was really the number one factor as I actually had some deer that had passed their prime and their antlers had started to decline. I did feed protein in late winter and all during antler growing season since they had access to plenty of water.







These are a few of the deer that were on this place and the year that I harvested the big 6 point, I opted to cull out one of the older bucks from the herd than to take one of the younger up and coming deer. This place was in a antler restricted county so I was very selective about what I harvested, I would still be there to this day if the property hadn't sold. I was paying $50 bucks per acre but it was dang sure worth it since I had the opportunity to kill a 160" or better buck and it was 18 minutes from my house and I could be in my blind in 30.

I grew that on 50 acres....close to town....protein, age, luck that someone else doesn't shoot him ....try to make your small place his security and keep does on it as much as possible....

That picture doesn't do him justice....G2's were 12 "....they grew kinda back more than up

The original question is how to increase antler size, answer is the same everywhere age + groceries + population control/culling. On 20 acres population and culling are not practiced. Feed and water all you can, pick you best ones and wait till they are ripe.

Some folks have a pickier definition of big, but big deer can be found across the state. If your looking for a 180 good luck if your just looking to maximize what you have, age and food.

Gettin them to mature age only

Let them grow

As others have stated, age is number one in my book. But protein and good food sources, definitely help.

My advice to kill above average bucks in a given area on a small piece of property..... Feed what they want, protein, all summer, and never, ever let the feed run out. You're not going to "grow" big bucks, though the protein does help them, the goal is to pattern as many deer as you can onto the place during summer with your feed program. You'll be hunting the one or two above average bucks (for the area) that are regularly visiting your place. Continue the protein feeding year around to pattern the new generations of deer as they grow. You'll be surprised how many deer you'll hold in an area by doing this.

Then hunt them in early bow season hopefully just before or as they transition into rut pattern, which isn't much of a pattern. You might only get one chance at that time of year because it won't take much to spook them and there's no time for them to get over it if you do. The wrong wind/stand setup, one wrong movement, missed shot, unusually high human traffic on the property, anything that spooks them at the wrong time can see it all be for nothing.

Once they break from the feed pattern all bets are off, everything starts all over again at the end of season when they get hungry again and you see what survived.

I hunt a smaller property, and employ this strategy. Doing so usually gives me the opportunity to take or pass on just about any buck we have regularly visiting during the summer pattern. Last season on bow opener I had 17 bucks of varied age pass within bow range in a 3hr window. took my 10pt the second weekend after being on stand less than an hour. After that weekend they broke up and patterns were nonexistent, like every season before. Once the bachelor groups break up they only care about one thing, food ain't it, and any hunter in a 5 mile radius has about the same chance at them as you. You're just looking to have first right of refusal.

Mama Nature can also get involved. I bought my place about 30+ years ago. 133 acres just South of Bowie. I had a lot of big bucks and actually had too many deer. Then, we got a 4 year drought that we really haven’t recovered from. That was 10 to 15 years ago. I now see an occasional trophy on game cams. I haven’t shot a deer in 4 years.

had something similar happen to one of my places too. We had one bad drought followed by a few years of floods resulting in over a decade of low populations that have just started to rebound.

I almost didn’t reply because I don’t want my answer to be misconstrued. 20 acres. Common scenario as larger tracts are fragmented into smaller parcels. Honest answer. Please don’t take my post as smarmy. It is not meant that way. Just stating the reality of trying to manage wild deer on 20 acres. You are at the mercy of what your neighbors do. You are hunting a transient deer population supported by the surrounding habitat necessary to meet their needs. You have received a lot of advice how to bait deer into the 20 you hunt to get an opportunity to kill them. The deer do not stay on 20 acres. If your neighbors let them get some age then you will see deer with some age on them.

we've got a little more than 130 acres in Cass County... we do what we can.. but the truth is, we're surrounded by a pretty big hunt club (about 2500 acres) that doesnt seem too concerned about managing the herds vs filling the freezers... so.. as others have suggested.. we just do our best to make our 130 acres the most attractive 130 acres in the area and bring in as many deer as possible (increasing the odds that a big boy will wander in at some point)...

we've got water on the property year round (a large pond on the property) as well as a couple of small creeks that are wet about 8 months out of the year.. and we run 6x feeders on 130 acres year round.. in addition to the feeders, we've got 3x high value food plots we maintain on the property as well that are about 1/2 acre in size each...

we work the land pretty hard and make improvements to blinds, food plots, the camp site, etc. through the spring and the summer.. but make sure the last time we visit the property is the 1st week of Sept each year.. after that we leave everything complete alone until opening day...

the end result is we have A LOT of deer on the property.. its never a problem tagging out if thats what you want to do... but.. truthfully we only see a few deer each year that are better than high 120's even with all of the effort...

Im not sure its possible to increase antler size on 20 acres if the land around you is being hunted by anyone that doesnt have the same goals and objectives you do in mind.. we bust our butts on 130 acres.. but have had very limited success..

I have 25 acres in Harrison County. New Gas wells and pipeline just went thru part of my property. Doesn't leave me much. All I have is spin feeders. What can I feed to help me out?

Rye Grass may help some in the fall/winter.

I hunt Missouri on my private farm, Cant feed deer its food plots only. I started with a Mossy Oak Biologic Pro Grazer Max and 300 pounds Triple 13 made a 2 acre food plot for 2022 and 2023 seasons. This will be my 3rd year with food plot I"m planting Antler King this June. I have planted freedom apple trees past couple years and has many persimmons all over land. The main thing is keeping them does around throughout the year and if you have food, bedding close by and water source nearby than you should have deer traveling come season. Harvest only does the first two or three seasons and let them bucks get to 5 or 7 Im more about harvesting a mature whitetail regardless of rack size. Pass them 3/4 year olds that's my experience. Cellular Trail Cameras are a game changer I have 4 active trail cameras year round. 20 acres or 5,000 acres its preparation.

Folks - I get wanting to grow bigger deer on 25-30 acres but it is next to impossible. Deer travel. You can feed all of the protein and cottonseed and corn you want but it is next to impossible to have big deer on a very small property - you may get lucky and have a better buck walk through your property but that is a rare thing to happen -

I hate seeing folks spend a bunch of money on feed when their odds of seeing a decent buck are slim and none - just my 2 cents

so how many acres do you have??

My property I hunt is 85 acres connected to the family farm land and neighboring property that's not hunted.

psycho0819 advice is worth a re-read.

pscho0819 is that 2 protein feeders in your picture? Is there 1 for corn?

Ya if your hunting Texas, you need to keep them feeders full year round and keep surveillance of herds. I have been there done that. Question was regarding antler size or mature bucks that takes deer management.