Sherman resident Dustin Sandlin shot this great buck on a small farm in Grayson County. Really big bucks like this 178 4/8 monster started showing up early in the season and kept rolling in right to the end. Photo courtesy of Dustin Sandlin.

Signs point to the world's best white-tailed deer herd being better than it's ever been. By all accounts, Texas had a challenging 2007-08 deer season that rewarded the patient hunter with some of the highest-quality bucks ever taken. And that held true across every region.

"I believe the numbers will reveal our total harvest down slightly from the long-term average," said Clayton Wolf, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's big game program director. "A major reason for that is that we had excellent range conditions around the state. Our deer had lots of natural food available to them. And whenever that happens, harvest numbers are going to be down."

That summary pretty well captures the challenges that confronted hunters in the Lone Star State during the 2007-08 hunting campaign. Following: reports from biologists all across Texas.

PINEYWOODS
"Many of the hunters I've heard from have reported a tough season because they were hunting, but not seeing deer," said TPWD biologist Gary Calkins. "For some hunters, persistence paid off, but in general, it seems a lot of our deer were moving at night. And they just weren't hitting feeders when hunters were in the field."

Hard-mast production alone wasn't to blame. Calkins said mast was spotty, with red oaks doing really well throughout the region, but white oaks not so good. Other natural browse, however, was abundant.

"The early part (of 2007) was wetter than ever, it seemed. So there was a lot of browse available to our deer heading into the hunting season."

Calling it "tough hunting" for sure, Calkins added that hunters who did put time in were rewarded with quality bucks.

"One day alone, I scored three deer that scored more than 150," Calkins said. "That was kind of an eye-opener."

He noted that two of the three came from Pineywoods counties managed under antler restrictions, and Calkins noted that larger, more mature bucks are a sign that the regulations are, indeed, having a positive impact on the age structure of the herd.

"In some ways, this season might be the best thing that could ever happen to the deer in this part of the state," he said. "If we don't get into another extreme drought year, the overall health and quality of our deer will continue to improve."

In the Pineywoods last season, as in most other parts of Texas, outstanding range conditions made deer harder to hunt. One inevitable result of lower harvest is higher carryover. So think about it: In areas in that part of the state that have antler restrictions in place to help balance the age-structure of the deer herd, this carryover is only going to help.