Long Term Effect of 13" rule?

[Big pig]

yep
10 years ago those deer were not there -because they got shot as 2 year olds.

What I have seen instead of shooting the first buck to come along, a Lease hunter shoots the best 1.5’s or 2.5’s of the herd. I would rather them legally shoot a little tight 6 or 8 three yr old and leave the ones with potential. Again. . . . . one buck per season.

But anything that limits buck harvest is a win.

BP

[Tex]

For those who are complaining about not having enough land to enroll in MLD (I’ve got a 10 acre place enrolled) I hope you know that you don’t really know what the overall deer herd is for your area. You may not want to enroll because you know you won’t get a bucks tag every year so basically your danged if you do and danged if you don’t so quit griping and enjoy your slice of heaven.


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[SRK14]

The only place that antler restrictions help are places where they are able to be enforced and the law is upheld. I can only imagine the people who own 50-100 acres behind their house who will shoot what they want because there’s literally no chance of getting caught by game wardens. You can see the benefits of ar on public and coe land because people won’t chance it.

[Tx_Wader]

We are a fan in Jackson County. The flood on the Lavaca River with Harvey wiped us out for all practical purposes. In three years our doe population is back to normal as are the bucks. But the bucks are really looking good. There is a monster 12 on my place but we see him; he doesn't go to feeders and pose for the camera lol.

[Johnny Dangerr]

The wife says SSSNP

Shoot shovel shutup NO PICTS..............

[jshouse]

For those who are complaining about not having enough land to enroll in MLD (I’ve got a 10 acre place enrolled) I hope you know that you don’t really know what the overall deer herd is for your area. You may not want to enroll because you know you won’t get a bucks tag every year so basically your danged if you do and danged if you don’t so quit griping and enjoy your slice of heaven.


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For the record, I'm not complaining, I was just told I couldn't enroll. The only reason I wanted to enroll anyway was to get some more doe tags for my kids and friends, we have too many. Never even thought about getting extra buck tags.

I hunt 3 places in 3 different counties and as far as I can remember have only seen 1 mature buck that was under 13". ARs have worked great where I'm at.

[brokeno]

I was president of our Gonzales county WMA which the 13 inch rule came about. I was totally against it and let the biologist and tpwd know it. Like all tpwd rules they already have decided what they are doing before asking for public input. The majority of the coop members were good about only harvesting older deer but we had so many hunters that weren't in any WMA coops. My argument was if you had 10 good bulls on your cattle herd and every year took the top of the herd off you leave less quality animals to bred your stock. That's what happening to one buck counties you are only shooting the cream of the crop and leaving a mature inferior buck the less than 13 inch to do the breeding. Anyways there is no doubt the ar has helped our county in growing bigger bucks. I've had to set crow. Within 10 miles of my place I've seen several 150, 160, and two 174 & 176 in deer in the past two years. I will also add that there is more hunters feeding cottonseed and protein now that weren't before. Deer just like always need good genetics, age and nutrition. Ar is working and one buck only is working becuase hunters don't want to waste their tags on a immature buck.

[tbgascorer]

What I have seen instead of shooting the first buck to come along, a Lease hunter shoots the best 1.5’s or 2.5’s of the herd. I would rather them legally shoot a little tight 6 or 8 three yr old and leave the ones with potential. Again. . . . . one buck per season.

But anything that limits buck harvest is a win.

BP

Agreed. And spread the harvest over all age classes. As it stands now, 95% of the harvest is the very best 3 year olds. Doesn’t take rocket science to figure out you’re high grading the herd. I see it . Every. Year.

[Deerguy]

For every deer you see that won't ever exceed 13", there are 100 or more that do, so the genetic argument doesn't really hold up well. There's nothing saying the narrow deer are doing a disproportionate amount of breeding.

[.243 WSSM]

Stop feeding pea gravel exclusively. You have to feed some corn now and then if you ever hope to have them branch out like they are supposed to

[fish4food]

We are a fan in Jackson County. The flood on the Lavaca River with Harvey wiped us out for all practical purposes. In three years our doe population is back to normal as are the bucks. But the bucks are really looking good. There is a monster 12 on my place but we see him; he doesn't go to feeders and pose for the camera lol.

Good deer!!! Any openings???

[PondPopper]

My only problem with the 13" rule is that it should have been 16" and State wide... There is absolutely no reason to shoot a buck with a 13" spread in MOST cases.. On very rare occasion yes.

[Tatom]

I’m a fan of it. I just wish there was a youth exemption. I don’t believe a kid needs to shoot a 130” deer for their first buck.

[Kossetx]

The answer is probably “not many.”

Antler restrictions are the best thing to happen to deer hunting in (specifically) East Texas since the q-beam.