Corpusfishing.com

[BALZTOWAL]

I HEARD THAT THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE IS CONSIDERING EXPANDING THIS RULE ACROSS THE STATE, I THINK IT IS A GOOD IDEA. WHERE WE HUNT IN GOLIAD IT APPEARS THE DEER HAVE GOTTEN BIGGER AND MORE MATURE SINCE THIS RULE CAME INTO EFFECT.

[cephus]

I am with you 100%. I have a small (300 acre) place surronded with other small places and I have not seen but one mature buck on my place for over five years. They never make it past 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 years old. However, I would support shooting spike bucks since I have read and seen evidence that a large percentage of spike bucks are inferior to bucks the have branched antlers for their first set of horns.
_________________
Off Shore Port Mansfield

[BALZTOWAL]

IN MY AREA IT USED TO BE 1 BUCK THAT IS ALL. SO PEOPLE WOULD ONLY SHOOT DEER WITH POINTS. WELL THEY FINALLY GOT SOMEONE WISE TO MAKE DECISIONS. NOWADAYS, IT IS 2 BUCKS NO DOES. A SPIKE AND THE OTHER 13 INCHES. I SAW 6 BUCKS ON MY PLACE 100 ACRES THAT WERE ILLEGAL TO SHOOT SO THEY GET TO LIVE A LITTLE BIT LONGER.

[CastnBlast]

I'm in 100%. This will go a long way to help the heard, especially in areas that are prone to overhunting. It will get rid of the "well if I don't shoot it someone else will" mentality. Let 'em walk.
_________________
Vegetarian (n)...Old indian word for bad hunter

[Fishnut]

Guys I can appreciate the good things about these rules but there are several things about it that could be much better. Such as exempting first time hunters (poss. have to get a free stamp once and then you can never get another one), children under age (whatever you want it to be), and possibly seniors and veterans. Also a lot more education needs to be done on how to tell the difference between 12.5 and 13 inches. Which is impossible by the way because there is a plus or minus two inch variation in the width of the alert ear position of a deer. So he could be 11-15" depending on the deer.
You all have mentioned some of the good points of this law. I understand the feeling of if I don’t shoot it my neighbor will. However we all have to remember that or neighbors are thinking the same thing about us. I cannot argue that anything that will make hunters more conscious of what they are shooting and what is good for the population is not a good thing. Because there will always be the sportsmen that will take as much as the law allows every time they have the opportunity and that is their right and perfectly legal. So to make those people limit their harvest to older more mature deer you have to make it a law so that they have no choice but to follow it which this law accomplishes.
One last nugget for thought is that this law really has no herd health basis. Some people will tell you that a more balanced buck age gradient is better. But everything I have read says that there is very little difference in the population if mature bucks are doing most of the breeding or if its all young bucks. Very long term there will be some decrease in average size of antlers if proper management is reinstated to the area but we are talking 50 years. We all want bigger antlers but this law has nothing to do with herd health which if I worked for peta I would use that to prove that TPWD has more interest in large antlers than the health of the animals that they are responsible for. They could at the very least tie up TPWD in court for a good long time and at the worst get the managing organization changed. I don’t think that will ever happen but it is something to think about when new regs are proposed.

I know its long and rambling so thanks for reading,

P.S. If you want more info on what we are talking about visit this site
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/annual/hunt/deer/index.phtml#special
_________________
Learn how to Fish Hunt and Golf then work the rest of your life to pay for it

[Mansfield Mauler]

Who in the heck shoots bucks less than 13" anyways unless they are culling?

Darn...let them grow a bit...we don't need more regulation..we need more common sense!

[Fishnut]

In a lot of places other than South Texas people unfortunatly shoot the first time that they see antlers on anything. Or at least everyone thinks that everyone else is going to do that and it leads to problems. It is much worse in areas with smaller property sizes. Down here there has been enough education of hunters on how to manage for mature deer and how to tell the difference between a young and an old deer. There has not been that education time in most other areas. And deer is south Texas are much wider than in other areas. I have seen deer less than 13" inside that have scored in the 160's.
_________________
Learn how to Fish Hunt and Golf then work the rest of your life to pay for it

[ehuntingdaddy]

Biologically, the antler restrictions, and the state's justification of them is a joke. It makes no difference whatsoever if mature or immature deer are breeding in the population. White-tailed deer aren't elk. Fact is young deer do a huge percentage of the breeding even if mature bucks are present in the population.

From a basic wildlife science standpoint, preventing the harvest of a segment of the deer herd with natural mortality approaching 50-75% (yearling bucks) is stupid, that is a segment that can be harvested with no adverse effect on the population, because they die anyway. Meanwhile these regulations promote the harvest of spikes-which TPWD's own factual evidence indicates that more than half of the yearling bucks in the antler restriction counties are SPIKES. I can think of no greater management contradiction in my lifetime than these regulations.

A greater concern to most of us with a background in wildlife management is the increase in bag limits in many counties with average land holdings of less than a couple hundred acres. In hill country counties where there is a hunter or leasee per every 100 acres, is it really sound managment and judgement to allow each hunter to potentially harvest 5 deer?

I forsee these regulations resulting in no great increase in antler size in most areas, deer will be harvested at 2 or 3 years of age, instead of 1. The change in antler size at this level won't get anyones blood pumping. To make a real difference in antler size bucks need to be protected to at least 5-6 years of age, thats where the real potential is expressed.

Increases in hunter populations, resultant increases in land fragmentation, and the inevitable meat hunter mentality of central Texas coupled with more liberal bag limits is bad news for deer herds.

I love Parks and Wildlife's statement for some counties that deer are moving to marginal habitat. When was the last deer die off in Texas? How many deer do just fine in marginal habitats such as urban San Antonio???? Most of these counties have a few less animal units (sheep and goats), more woody browse, and can support herds of deer far greater than they could in 1970 or 1980. We can't even reliable census deer, so they don't even know for sure how many there are...

Complete, unjustified B.S. that caters to the Texas Trophy Hunter windshield sticker deer cowboys, not the deer herd of Texas. I hope I'm wrong and everyone kills a B&C buck, but fact is the average mature south Texas buck on good habitat is alot smaller than most realize, and the buck of our dreams just isn't around every corner. The places that have them many times are the place that are very conservative in their harvest!

[Oil Field Trash II]

ehunting...

I think they should go to a permit system for all deer. I'm sure people would complain, but you're right about too many people shooting too many deer in some areas.

up here in east texas, I have a 230 acre lease by myself. I get ONE doe permit...that's it. I could theoretically allow 10 friends to shoot bucks on it, but only a single doe can be killed on this place (during rifle season) The real joke of the matter is that it's not uncommon to see 20-25 doe in one sitting, and not a single buck....