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Arkansas.“The minerals aren’t leached out ofthe surface soils as much as in Texas, somore calcium is taken up by the deerand the plants the deer feed on,” Baxtersaid. “The types of plants they have downthere are also extremely high in proteinalmost year-round, which lets them putheavy growth on their antlers throughoutthe spring and summer.”Arkansas AveragesIt’s not all gloom and doom. Plenty ofgood deer are taken each year on privateand public land in Arkansas. In fact,the biggest deer scored at Arkansas’s BigBuck Classic (the largest deer huntingexpo in the state) have been larger than200 inches on the Boone and Crocketscale during the last three years.“Those are some impressive deer,”Baxter said. “And we hear of plentyothers that people don’t take to thoseexpos or get officially scored. There’salready been one this year that greenscoredover 190 (inches) that was takenby a bowhunter.”Baxter said much of a buck’s antlersize depends on available forage and thenutrients in the soil that are transferredto the buck from the plants they eat.“Agricultural land is rich in nutrientsthe bucks need to grow good antlers,”Baxter said. “Typically, Arkansas’s bestdeer come from areas with richer soils,such as the Delta, Crowley’s Ridge andthe Arkansas River Valley. Every now and“Much of a buck’s antlersize depends on availableforage and the nutrientsin the soil that aretransferred to the buckfrom the plants they eat.”then a monster pops up in the Ouachitas,Ozarks and the pines of south Arkansas,but the average is always going to bebetter where the soil’s richer.”Thanks to years of data collected fromharvested bucks, Baxter can even give agood average of where deer in each partof the state will fall.“For 4½-year-old bucks in the Delta,the average Boone and Crockett scoreis somewhere close to 130 points, butfor 4½-year-olds in the Ozarks, you’relooking at an average score of 110 to 115points,” Baxter said. “You’ll still see someof those big deer that are much largerthan the average, like those on television.You’ll also have a few that are muchsmaller.”Balancing ActBaxter says there’s plenty of potentialfor an even better deer herd in Arkansas,but hunters have to help – the samehunters who complain about small buckshave no problem with does runningamok on their land. When wildlifeagencies were trying to bring deer herdsback from the brink, does were protectedto increase populations. Now that deerpopulations are at all-time highs, theherd must be brought back into balance.Baxter says some areas may have 12to 20 does for every buck in the area. Allthose does compete for food with maturebucks, which decreases the health of theherd and hurts antler development.“The carrying capacity of land isthe most deer an area will hold andkeep healthy,” Baxter said. “But if you’relooking to increase antler size, you needto keep the herd at levels that promotemaximum productivity, which is muchlower than biological carrying capacity.”Too many does can affect the rut.“If the herd is balanced, you’ll have anoticeable rut with deer being very activein a short window,” Baxter said. “Butif the bucks are running around tryingto breed too many does, the rut will belong, drawn-out and much less visible.”All that extra work also impacts thebucks that are left at the end of the year.When the rut is over in late winter, thosedeer will be in bad shape during thetoughest time of the year. Some of thosebucks that were protected may not makeit to the next season.Aged VenisonAccording to Baxter, three thingscontribute to a deer’s antler growth: age,nutrition and genetics.“Landowners can do some things to12ARKANSAS WILDLIFE NOVEMBER • DECEMBER 2011