RE: plight of the Southern Deer
The lease I've been hunting is in the Texas Hill Country, not too far from Fredericksburg,west of Austin, north of San Antonio. The deer tend not to get much past 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 years old, as I don't think the neighbors have management in mind, other than an "if it's brown, it's down" policy. We try not to take anything less than 3 1/2 years old. We'd like to get them older, but we then tend to lose them to the neighbors Bucks last year averaged about 150 lbs. The biggest was about 180ish. Antler size was pretty weak last year because of the drought. In good years, we get bucks in the 130-140 class. Does generally run around 100 lbs. Hill Country deer are quite a bit smaller, but more numerous, than deer in other parts of the state.