Was he legal?

Sorry for the bad pic.Holding my binos in one hand and phone camera in the other.

2017 sitting in a tree stand and this guy comes out and milled around in the field for 20 minutes. Henderson county so it's an AR county. Gun up, safety off and crosshairs on target. Could not make myself shoot due to AR. IS this a legal deer???

This deer never on any cameras and no one else saw him. Heavy horn. big split brows both side.

Another reason AR does not apply to all...

I think he might be legal. Close for sure

Legal for sure.

in the last pic, the ear on the left, if in alert position appears to be outside of the widest spread. It's definitely close either way

Mature deer usually have slightly bigger features/ears. I would guess he was legal.

Close enough.

Very, very close but no doubt a buck that should be harvested.
Hopefully our Game Wardens are educated well enough on this so that they use the discretion when mature bucks like this one are harvested that are maybe slightly under!
At least he looks mature to me from the limited view of him in these pics.

too close to call, mature and I would of gave the green light on him if I was guiding a friend or family member that liked him......

On a deer that's 4.5 or older I'd give anybody a pass if it was >12".

Ive never hunted in an AR county so Im curious if GW use any discretion. Im not talking in particular about this buck but if a buck is obviously mature but hes just a hair under AR guidelines. Anybody have a feel for that? Thank goodness I dont have to deal with that. Im not saying its not a good policy in the areas its used.

We hunt AR county, have had to judge a bunch of them, he easily makes ARs by an inch or so.

I lean toward those that feel he IS legal although it's very close.

Older mature deer usually have larger heads so you just can't go by the TPWD guideline of ears alert are approx 13". For this deer in OP pics, I say legal deer and over AR and if that is best deer for that area, he would have been tagged, processed at the house and in the freezer.

I kick myself for not shooting. I was a guest on their lease is the primary reason for not squeezing the trigger. I was trying to send the pic and get the members blessings. Good ol AT&T, you know more bars in more places, pic wouldn’t go. So, 270 back on safety and

One GW I know says if you have to guess whether its legal or not you better not shoot. I think he would issue a ticket even if it was only 1/4" short. I don't know that for sure, but as good of a guy as he is normally, I don't think he would cut much slack on AR.

This is the very reason I don't like AR's. I would pass on that deer where I hunt because of the 13" rule, I wish they would have made it 12". It may have changed some, but back several years ago at a processing place in Cass County I watched a guy get a ticket and loose his deer for being 12-7/8" wide. It looked to be a 3 to 4 year old heavy antlered buck. Dark hocks and one of the largest deer there.
I understand what they are trying to do, if it is so great then make the whole state AR, with South and West Texas a 20" minimum.

Yep, not worth it if there is any question. We have a new (young) GW in Montague County. I saw him and introduced myself the other day and told him where my place is. I've worked with the last 2 to catch local poachers. Gotta explain to grown Grandsons that newly minted cops, GW's, etc. don't cut a lot of slack.

I would say the deer in original photo is just legal. But also think I would have erred on side of caution just in case. I've passed on several deer that were close because I just wasn't sure. And by the way, at least in our area, I think it is beginning to pay off because we are seeing more legal deer.

As said above, if you aren't sure, hold off - and that probably is the intent of TPWD. If more hold off on 13, 13.5, etc., the program is maybe working as they planned.