I have no doubt, you can take a lot of credit for the size of those bucks. Even considering age - those are great bucks. Our bucks are on the way downhill at 6.5 years old. You may well be right about the protien feed adding 10-15% to your bucks. I read a study from Mississippi State U that showed protien feed did not improve the first generation deer very much but showed a big improvement on the second generation. I think you are experiencing that. A lot of folks provide high protien plant food sources like beans and clover, as I do, but we do not experience gains in antler quality - more gains in attracting numbers of deer. In addition, the fact that your neighbors allow those deer to age is also a rare thing in the south. How many acres do you have and how many protien feeders do you have out. What protien feed do you use? If you dont want to give out trade secrets - I fully understand.
Sorry for the slow reply. I was in Colorado escaping the heat but returned to batten down for Harvey,
I've seen the Ms. studies and know the folks that did them. I can elaborate in exhaustive detail about long term nutrition, epigenetic shifts, the maternal effect, social and stress pressure and how it all starts with the soil. I'll spare you though it is fascinating stuff .
My neighbor and friend from childhood has the farm adjoining me and together we have~ 2500 acres. We have been managing the property for wildlife for nearly 40 yrs. We have been feeding protein for 20 + years... I forget exactly. We have been growing food plots essentially from the beginning and probably have 250 acres between us.For over 30 years we were frustrated with the results we achieved. Despite doing everything we could dream of we weren't getting deer to the older age classes nor growing the quality of bucks I was able to hunt in S. Tx.
We had hunters with blinds overhanging our fences, neighbors turning deer dogs thru the farm and and year round perimeter pressure. Finally I had enough. About 10 yrs ago I began game fencing my perimeter then my neighbor connected and we put the entirety of the farm under a game fence finishing about 6 yrs ago. Best decision I ever made... short of my wife. It changed everything. Within a few years we started getting older class bucks and I believe we starting reaping the years of nutritional enhancement as the deer aged.Now we realize 100% of our management inputs ...good or bad. The hunting is just as challenging as ever but the quality of the herd we are hunting is incomparable
Today on my 1350 acres I have a protein feeder per 60 acres with my neighbor about the same. we feed from late winter thru August. Our feed is a proprietary blend I created that we buy from our local mill. I'm happy to share details if interested though it is more expensive than most commercial feeds. We include digestives, probiotics , essential oils and other potions that help with digestion, paracites and insects. Most commercial rations are good enough .
We grow year round food plots and after 40 years have gotten pretty good at it. Something is growing year round everywhere. I believe that we are seeing the effects of 3 to 4 generations of enhanced nutrition. Even though we didn't grow many big bucks years back because they were being killed young we still had the maternal effect creating the epigenetic response to the environment. Another thing I believe happens as deer are on a higher nutritional plane is that they live longer and can continue to improve in later years. Without question I have seen that on the ranch in Mexico.
Beyond the above we do all the things that stewardship propose. I am thinning 265 acres of hardwood now and there is some TSI every year. We place tremendous emphasis on herd management including ratio's, age structure, recruitment, etc. talk about it year round. While I don't believe culling has any effect on the genetic structure of a herd we do begin removing the lower end of the bucks starting at 4 yrs old. Most of the bucks we remove make the hunters really happy. We don't start hunting the trophies till they are at least 6 which means we find some % dead in the woods or simply disappear.
No trade secrets; happy to share anything.It's all a bit of a dream come true to live on the farm, get to be on it daily and watch the magnificence of nature.
