Our biologist weighs in on the question of antler restrictions.
QUESTION: Texas has decided that antler restrictions improve buck antler growth, but we have surveyed this for the past four years. When you take the trophies out, older deer with deformed antlers and those that don’t meet the restrictions do all the breeding. Then you never see a legal deer after that because we never shoot a young buck. Before restrictions we let our kids take out old deformed bucks, which kept us a supply of legal ones. What is your opinion?
ANSWER:Antler restrictions are not a one-size-fits-all remedy for improving antler quality. Each situation is different and may require different specific guidelines. However, in free range herds there is little to nothing you can do to control antler genetics.
One reason is a doe contributes 50% or more of the genetic information that will ultimately determine the shape and size of her offspring’s antlers. Another is there is so much genetic drift within the population that the influence of a single buck is minimal and would be quickly diluted in future generations. If you selectively protect young bucks, there should always be a sufficient supply of older bucks with antlers of greater and lesser quality.
Because different areas require different antler restriction prescriptions, Texas Parks and Wildlife tried a novel approach in the Post Oak Savannah region. With a dual goal of improving age structure and increasing hunting opportunity, they instituted a slot limit wherein a legal buck had to meet at least one of three criteria: 1) one unbranched antler, 2) a minimum 13-inch inside spread or 3) at least six points on one side.
This system offers several advantages. The one-unbranched-antler criterion allows for removal of cull bucks where other systems do not. Although culling spikes has proven largely ineffective and unnecessary in most areas, Texas research has shown some positive effects on antler quality in poor-quality habitat. The other two restrictions were to protect nearly all healthy yearling deer, and many in the 2.5-year age class that showed good antler development, effectively avoiding high-grading. High-grading can happen when a large percentage of all restriction-legal bucks is harvested, essentially the point you mentioned about inferior bucks remaining to do most of the breeding.
Under the Post Oak Savannah system, the yearling buck harvest dropped from a previous 10-year average of 52% to 36% after the first season of restrictions, then to 28% the next season.
Meanwhile, the proportion of 3.5-year-old bucks jumped from 16% to 25% the first season and 33% the second. And the proportion of 4.5-year-olds (4% under pre-restriction hunting), rose to 22% in the first two years.
After several seasons, researchers noticed that hunters seemed reluctant to burn their tags on spikes, particularly after observing the improved antler quality and availability of mature bucks. They addressed this by allowing hunters two bucks, one of which must have one unbranched antler.
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