ANTLER RESTRICTIONS 2: Expanded antler restrictions 
proposed for Texas counties ... details ahead on Passport 
to Texas
___________________________________________________________

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the 
Wildlife Restoration Program

A Texas Parks and Wildlife proposal currently on the table 
could expand an antler-restriction regulation from 21 
Texas counties to 61 counties statewide for 2006-2007.

Right now these counties are all under a one buck bag limit. 
You can go out and kill one buck ... and basically what we're 
doing is harvesting almost all one and a half and two and a half 
year old deer - the young stuff. :11

Gary Calkins is a wildlife biologist based in Jasper. 

The hunter will be restricted to one deer that can have an inside 
spread of 13-inches, and that would be their mature deer. Or, if 
they elect, they could take two deer with un-branched antlers - 
spikes for a common name. :13

One of several important goals of the restriction is to 
encourage landowners and hunters to become more 
actively involved in habitat management.

We've been accused of trying to do trophy deer management, 
and that's definitely not the goal. The goal is just more age 
class, and a healthier deer herd, which leads to better fawn 
recruitment, and a better hunting opportunity. Just a better 
hunting experience overall. :14

Find more information about the antler restriction 
experiment on the TPWD web site.

That's our show ... We had help today from Tom Harvey ... 
The Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series ... 
and also helps to fund the operations of more than 50 
wildlife management areas. 

For Texas Parks and Wildlife ... I'm Cecilia Nasti.