In counties under antler restrictions, a lawful buck is defined as any having at least one unbranched antler or an inside antler spread of at least 13 inches. The bag limit in the affected counties is two bucks, no more than one of which may have an inside spread greater than 13 inches. The restrictions created what is essentially a slot limit for hunters wanting to take two bucks in the eastern and southeastern portion of the state.

Mitch Lockwood, TPWD whitetail program coordinator, declared the overall deer outlook for fall encouraging for both biologists and land managers across the state, and projected a season on par with those of the past decade, when more than a half-million deer were harvested.

"It sounds like the eastern third of the state has been doing well regarding rainfall and most of the state has been very dry until recently," he said. "Things are green in the Hill Country, but we don't have deep soil moisture in much of this area.

"I will say that the harvest was down last year, as predicted, so we should have some good carryover (for two years now, in much of the state) -- putting more deer into older age-classes. And I'll also say that the antler-restriction regulation currently in 61 counties is continuing to show positive results. We're extremely encouraged by what we're seeing."

Range conditions in various regions of the state seem to mirror one another in most deer seasons, and this year should be no different, according to two TPWD district leaders.

David Sierra, a TPWD district leader based in Tyler, said the Post Oak Savannah, like other parts of the state, has benefited from rains at the right time this year and last.

"The ample winter rains this past season have produced favorable range conditions throughout most of the Post Oak Savannah heading into the spring months and the spring rains have done much to continue this situation," he said. "As usual, the northern portion of the region, between Interstate 30 and the Red River, received more rainfall than counties farther south. The 2007 acorn crop was reported as good across the Post Oak Savannah."

Sierra asserted that while improved habitat aided the deer in his region, it also made for tougher hunting. "Preliminary reports indicate that the total deer harvest for the 2007 hunting season in the Post Oak is down from previous years," he said. "Mild weather conditions seem to have made life easier on the deer. Excellent habitat conditions allowed them to forage less and denser vegetation provided more screening cover. And again, better range conditions will spread the deer over larger areas and not concentrate them in the bottoms and other prime habitats.

"Population density data suggests that deer densities across the Post Oak Savannah have remained stable or have slightly increased for the past 10 years. Harvest data collected during the 2007-08 deer season indicate yearling bucks (18 months old) comprised about 27 percent of the total buck harvest. Also, harvest data from the past few years suggest a trend of increasing numbers of older bucks in the annual harvest. This trend was assisted again by the 13 counties with antler-restriction regulations."