POST OAK SAVANNAH
"It's pretty simple really," said biologist David Forrester, who works the region with biologist David Sierra. "Our acorn crop in the area I work was unprecedented. The overall harvest was down because of that. Our range conditions were in good shape, too, and they are still in pretty good shape because we got some rain at times when we needed it early in the year."

Forrester saw many first-quality bucks coming in during the season. "Our deer were extremely healthy last season," he said. "I personally saw a lot of deer in the field that were just of outstanding quality."

Once again, the recipe involved lots of natural food and management under antler restrictions. "Six of the counties in my district are the original six antler-restriction counties in the state," he noted. "They just finished their sixth season. The rest of my district has had antler restrictions in place for the past three years."

A similar situation was seen just a few seasons ago, Forrester recalled. "We had a lower-than-average harvest because many of the older bucks were protected by acorns," he said. "The next year turned out dry for the hunting season, and harvest was way up. There also were some magnificent antlers on the bucks."

Make no mistake: Acorns aplenty will protect bucks -- not only in Texas but anywhere. And they did that job last season not only in Forrester's area but also in Sierra's. "Our mast production was off the charts," Sierra said. "We got excellent rainfall at all the right times leading up to the season. Our deer were in excellent condition, and we had excellent range conditions." No matter what the weather does, he predicted, the harvest in his area could be down more than 30 percent from the long-term average -- once again a marker for really strong carryover heading into the 2008-09 season. And many of the counties he works in are heading into the third season of antler restrictions. "A greater percentage of the bucks that came in last year were older age-class," Sierra offered. "I estimate about 20 percent of the bucks harvested were 4 1/2 or older. There were some very good deer taken by our hunters."

And don't think hunters outside the restriction zone aren't taking notice. "I have worked at this for 31 years," Sierra said, "and this is the first time I have ever had people contact me asking for their county to go into antler restrictions. Heck, they're almost demanding it!"

Hunters in the restriction counties were able to take two bucks, but only one could have an inside antler spread of 13 inches or larger. "Some hunters ended up taking two spikes," Sierra said, "But many others took one small buck and one quality buck."

To hear Sierra describe it, the restriction framework sounds like a slot limit for largemouth bass. "Yes," he said, "a slot limit; it's very much the same kind of approach. And our landowners, managers and hunters are embracing it."