When I was the editor of Bow and Arrow Hunting Magazine, they sent me all over the U.S. and Canada hunting. Now, with one exception, I do all my hunting within 15-minutes of my house. I have a sizable deer population in my backyard. I don’t hunt them. My yard, joins 34-acres of woodland thicket. It holds a lot of deer and turkeys. Those I photograph and study.
The county in which I live and hunt does not produce large antlered bucks. A 130 buck is a good one. I have killed a couple of those but for the last ten-years or so, I have mainly killed does and when possible, yearling does-the most “expensive” deer on your property. And that is what this post is about.
If you are managing a deer population for hunting, your emphasis is put on three factors: (1) Total population control. (2) Sex ratio. (3) Nutritional or habitat manipulation.
To control the first two factors, the removal of the young or yearling does is the key. That deer is going to do nothing but eat for two years before she contributes to the population. By removing her, you aid in the control of both the overall population and sex ratio. For me, the ideal sex ratio is one male to 2.5 females. A hard ratio to attain and to maintain. As for age strata in the males, something most trophy hunters are overly concerned with. That can be achieved by a simple antler restriction, one that should be imposed only on carefully managed and controlled private land. That AR is eight-points and an inside spread of 16”. That will protect 94% of the bucks under 2.5-years of age. After that, they need little protection. Once a buck advances to 3.5-years of age, 90% will die of something other than a hunter.
Just for giggles, here is some data on one piece of property I have been hunting for five years. It is a total of 27-acres, four of which are in house, barn and two small ponds, leaving approximately 23-total huntable acres. In five years, I have killed 23-does and four bucks. One of the bucks was an accident. I thought he was a doe. The largest buck was about 128”. There are more deer on that property, now, than when I started hunting it.
When I was involved in the deer management of a 21,000-acre piece of property, a commercial operation. We routinely booked 400-hunters a year, and killed 450-500 deer a year. An AR of eight and 16 was strictly enforced. For 25-years, we kept detailed records-age, weight, dressed weight, antler spread, points etc. That information is now used at a huge University as a teaching tool. Here is the nutshell. That operation produced the very best of the bucks in that part of the state. In 25-years, only four were killed that measured over 165-inches gross. But 10X the number of 130-140 inch bucks. In short, you can only produce the best of what you have. You cannot produce Midwest-size antlers in a sub-specie that does not have that genetic makeup. You can only manage for the best of what you have. And the most expensive deer, is the young doe.
This is one of my backyard bucks-2.5 years old and a good, representative of this county.
The county in which I live and hunt does not produce large antlered bucks. A 130 buck is a good one. I have killed a couple of those but for the last ten-years or so, I have mainly killed does and when possible, yearling does-the most “expensive” deer on your property. And that is what this post is about.
If you are managing a deer population for hunting, your emphasis is put on three factors: (1) Total population control. (2) Sex ratio. (3) Nutritional or habitat manipulation.
To control the first two factors, the removal of the young or yearling does is the key. That deer is going to do nothing but eat for two years before she contributes to the population. By removing her, you aid in the control of both the overall population and sex ratio. For me, the ideal sex ratio is one male to 2.5 females. A hard ratio to attain and to maintain. As for age strata in the males, something most trophy hunters are overly concerned with. That can be achieved by a simple antler restriction, one that should be imposed only on carefully managed and controlled private land. That AR is eight-points and an inside spread of 16”. That will protect 94% of the bucks under 2.5-years of age. After that, they need little protection. Once a buck advances to 3.5-years of age, 90% will die of something other than a hunter.
Just for giggles, here is some data on one piece of property I have been hunting for five years. It is a total of 27-acres, four of which are in house, barn and two small ponds, leaving approximately 23-total huntable acres. In five years, I have killed 23-does and four bucks. One of the bucks was an accident. I thought he was a doe. The largest buck was about 128”. There are more deer on that property, now, than when I started hunting it.
When I was involved in the deer management of a 21,000-acre piece of property, a commercial operation. We routinely booked 400-hunters a year, and killed 450-500 deer a year. An AR of eight and 16 was strictly enforced. For 25-years, we kept detailed records-age, weight, dressed weight, antler spread, points etc. That information is now used at a huge University as a teaching tool. Here is the nutshell. That operation produced the very best of the bucks in that part of the state. In 25-years, only four were killed that measured over 165-inches gross. But 10X the number of 130-140 inch bucks. In short, you can only produce the best of what you have. You cannot produce Midwest-size antlers in a sub-specie that does not have that genetic makeup. You can only manage for the best of what you have. And the most expensive deer, is the young doe.
This is one of my backyard bucks-2.5 years old and a good, representative of this county.
