Former Soil Conservation Service employee and longtime writer Mat Taylor offers his outdoors column for Dispatch Record readers. He can be contacted at (254) 518- 2262 or via e-mail at mntaylor@wildblue.net. I recently visited with Derrick Wolters, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologist for Lampasas, Bell and Coryell counties. He commented on the 2009- 10 deer season.

Wolters said according to his observations, the local white-tailed deer harvest was down a bit. He said the many deer processors he visited throughout the hunting season all said the number of deer they took in was down from last year.

The biologist said he suspected the slower economy may have decreased the number of trips hunters made during the season, or more hunters may have processed their own deer to save a few dollars.

Habitat conditions also may have contributed to a decrease in the number of hunters. The first half of the year was very dry, which resulted in below-average antler development, and deer were suffering from inadequate food supplies.

“During mid-September, it looked like all anyone was going to need to shoot a deer was a bucket of water,” Wolters said.

“However, just before archery season, it started raining, and we received a good number of timely showers during October. That transformed the poor to fair habitat into great habitat within a matter of weeks.”

Wolters added that the abundance of forbs caused by good ground moisture, combined with a good acorn crop, meant deer were eating well during October and November. “Deer were not dependent on corn feeders to fill the void in their stomachs because they were ankle deep in high-quality food.”

The biologist said during the hunting season, he heard from many hunters throughout the state who indicated they were not seeing many does. Wolters said does were not visiting feeders. Does often will neglect feeders when better, abundant forage is available. And during the rut, Wolters thinks does avoid feeders regardless of food availability because of constant harassment from bucks.

From a personal observation, many hunters call it quits by mid- December, as they have harvested a buck already or have given up on killing a deer. Wolters, however, said he talked to some deer processors who told him they received a good number of deer during the last weekend of the season. This is no surprise, as some hunters are procrastinators and wait until the last minute to harvest does.

Wolters periodically checks with deer processors to study the harvest numbers and condition of the deer brought in. He said most deer were in good body condition due to the late-summer and fall rains. Antlers were only fair, however, but that was could have been expected after the dry spring and summer.

On our ranch in east Lampasas County, only four deer were taken this season: an eight-point buck with an inside spread that was just legal, a spike and two does. The deer were in good body condition and very fat.

Other members of the family and I saw a number of bucks on our place throughout the season, but very few of them were legal. We saw several young four- to eightpoint bucks. I only saw one deer I would call a shootable buck. He was a nice 10-pointer with a good spread. He was not a large deer, and I estimated him to be only 4 years old, therefore we let him go.

In the long run, this is probably a good thing, as all the bucks we saw will live another year. With good range conditions they will have much larger antlers next hunting season.

I recently observed a white deer on our ranch. I will report on this in an upcoming column.