More intensive management of whitetails probably takes place in Texas than in any other region of North America. Trophy whitetail hunting in the Lone Star State is an annual billion-dollar business, and millions of acres hold huge numbers of whitetails that are rigorously managed for big racks. Texas already has produced a 196 4/8-inch typical in 1963 and a 284 3/8-inch non-typical taken in the early 1890s.

Consistent management that allows top-end bucks to live to full maturity helps to ensure maximum rack size. The multi-thousand-acre ranches in South Texas make this a unique territory for state-of-the-art deer management. The development and expanded use of high protein whitetail food plots has also bolstered this region's chance of producing bigger racks. Although Texas falls off the five-year chart, it certainly has what it takes to produce top-of-the-ladder bucks.

STRIVING FOR EXCELLENCE
Back to Pennsylvania. In early 2002, Dr. David Alt gave one of the best speeches on deer management I've ever heard. At that time, Dr. Alt recently had taken over the Pennsylvania deer program, and he was attempting to change the mentality of hunters and the dynamics of the deer harvest in the Keystone State. Previously, he had spearheaded the successes of the Pennsylvania bear program and now he was gearing up to do the same with whitetails.

Dr. Alt's talk was held in a large high school auditorium. By the time my son, Monte, and I arrived for the well-advertised meeting, there was standing room only. The crowd was volatile to say the least. We heard many grumblings like, "This guy isn't going to tell us how to hunt deer in Pennsylvania" and "I'll shoot whatever I want no matter how they change the rules." I thought Dr. Alt was going out of that auditorium tarred and feathered for sure!

Dr. Alt started with a personal introduction and some great humor. This eased the crowd. With a detailed slide presentation, he methodically described why Pennsylvania needed a change in its deer program. Over-browsing, corrupt buck:doe ratios, poor age structure in the herd and less-than-satisfactory trophy hunting were topics that he discussed and backed up with photos and statistics. The crowd listened to his every word and seemed to agree with his summations. I could not wait to hear what he had to say next. Here is a synopsis of three of his key points:

1) Quality deer management is a mentality as well as a management tool. The "got to kill a buck" mindset of harvesting any male deer only to throw its skull plate in a corner needed change. This mentality had put the Pennsylvania deer herd on the road to disaster. The state's buck:doe ratios were more corrupted than anywhere on the continent. The average age of a hunter-harvested buck needed to increase by at least one year. Less killing of young bucks meant a higher doe harvest and a more natural buck:doe ratio.

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