An above average deer season

Although much of Texas is still in recovery from the 2011 drought, the 2012-13 deer season will go down in the books as above average. Most hunters had a pretty successful year.

According to Alan Cain, white-tailed deer leader for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), antler quality was average to above average, especially in the Oak Prairie Region from Bastrop to Houston.

“That area has antler restrictions and the total number of harvested deer was down, but antler quality was really good,” Cain said. “We also had good antler quality in South Texas and the Hill Country. Harvest was highly variable but nobody said it was a horrible year.”

Internet reports on hunting forums saw a large number of hunters complaining about deer not coming to corn because of the abundance of acorns, but, overall most were happy with the deer they were seeing.
In the Rocksprings area, TPWD biologist Ryan Schmidt said the deer harvest was way up over the past few seasons.

“Edwards and Val Verde County had harvest numbers that were up significantly,” Schmidt said. “There was a lot more age and antler weight. It was an average year for antler quality, but the deer are recovering from the drought, so that was predicted.”

In the San Angelo area, biologist John McEachern said overall quality was up in his area.

“I didn’t hear about any monster, native deer, but overall quality was up across the board,” he said. “Most hunters were pleased about what they saw. The deer didn’t rebound as much as people would have liked (from the drought) but antler quality was up and body weights were up.”

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