Elknewbie

Nice pics

TXhighrack

LOL, for all I care the bucks could have a live weight of 50#, aslong as they have a huge set of antlers

Now alot of people make fun of Texas deer because they have small bodies. I dont know if you guys know this, but us Texans dont give a damn. Down here in south Texas a mature buck can easily field dress over 200#. My buddy shot a "management" 9 pointer off of the ranch he manages. The buck grossed 142", had 43" inches of mass, had a live weight of 245#, and field dressed 207#. Look at the link to the local deer contest in this area, every buck who is leading or that is in 2nd place is going to field dress over 200#. One buck shot 2 years ago won the deer contest, when he field dressed 226#. THATS HUGE...

Of course northern deer are going to weigh more then South Texas deer, its the same reason why the women up there weight more then the ones down here It gets COLD up there. If a buck from PA was brought to TX he would die and vise versa. The deer up north have to be big or they will die during the winter. We dont have severe winters and they deer are never stressed during this time. We do however have severe droughts, and the deer must be "small" in order to survive them.

Jluke04

Long live Texas =P

avid_bowhunter2005

Look, sorry tx's guys, I didn't mean to be offensive, it's just that I prefer free-ranging *all the time*, big body weight *all the time* over a big, but usually skinny body/racked deer. I have a cousin from Houston, TX and he bowhunted there and loved it. I just think it deals with the fact of the first deer I seen in life was a big-bodied deer from Ohio. I think fair-chase is determined by the fact that a deer can run and not be caught up with, not cornered by a fence or nothing. Fair chase as I think goes, is when an animal was free-ranging and has the unlimited room to escape from danger if the case need-be. Sometimes even a low-fence can keep deer in, don't get me wrong we have a lot of regular farm fences here in Ohio, but a 8-12 foot fence is just making it kind of cheap; especially since the fact you guys in tx can use those high-powered rifles you shouldn't need the aid of high-fences. Again- sorry for any hard feelings toward ya's,


Your fellow hunter-
Avid_bowhunter2005

GR8atta2d

I just don't understand who said we have to chose between northern or southern or Southwestern deer. Give me the chance at a trophy quality deer and the funds to chase him and I don't care where he is.