Hunters is Lampasas County and the Hill Country ecological region should have an excellent opportunity to bag a trophy buck this season, as range conditions are excellent throughout the area. “The rainfall has ben outstanding and couldn’t have come at a better time for antler production and fawn survival,” said Mike Krueger, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) Edwards Plateau district leader and former technical guidance biologist in Lampasas.
“Last year was the first year in which antler restrictions were in force in Lampasas County, and it looks like they met the intended purpose as many better-quality young deer moved up another age class,” Krueger said.
Derrick Wolter, TPWD Wildlife Biologist for Lampasas, Bell, and Coryell counties, agreed that the 2007-08 hunting season should be a very good one. “In our recent spotlight deer surveys, we noted an increase in fawn numbers and an increase in deer numbers,” he said. “Due to the antler restrictions and adequate forage available, hunter should see older bucks with larger antlers this season.”
The Hill Country region contains several counties in Central Texas that range from Coryell on the northeast, south to Comal, and then west to Crockett and Val Verde County. Lampasas County is included in the region. For many years, the Hill Country has shown the highest deer harvest numbers in Texas.
During the 2006-07 hunting season, TPWD estimates that 172,184 hunters harvested 185,920 deer in the Hill Country. Of these, 97,608 were bucks; does numbered about 88,320. Hunters success was 76 percent.
The region with the second highest harvest was the South Texas Plains with 77,784 deer taken.
Regions with the lowest white-tailed deer harvest were the High Plains (612 deer) and the Trans-Pecos (1,575), however these two regions have a good population of desert mule deer.
Reprinted from the Lampasas Dispatch Record Hunter’s Edition 2007