Buck/doe ratio

[OhioWhiteTails]

My take on this is very similar to walleye fishing. Why throw back big hens in the spring only to turn around and throw it in the cooler while trolling come summer. If there were a lack of fish, personally, I'm taking a picture and throwing it back, no matter the season. If your local herd appears healthy, numbers wise, take what you need. I'll kill a big BB any day if the herd can handle it.

 

[Sgt Fury]

I feel like you will go back and read my post in a different view some day. Something is getting lost in translation here...

Don't know what county you hunt but I was born and raised in Southwestern Pa... Westmoreland County to be exact... Back then you were lucky to go out and shoot a spike.... Gary Alt implemented Antler Restrictions years ago and now there's some very nice bucks getting harvested each year... When he started them he was getting death threats... Now everyone is happy... I believe Westmoreland is 4 points to a side.... But I agree too many does can effect the over all herd...

 

[Fletch]

Not fighting..... I still love Dave even though he suggests that I'm some ELITIST SLOB HUNTER...Which is what I got out of it.... I'd still buy him a beer.... Might be one of those nips bottles of Mexican beer.... Oh shit.... I gotta go... An auction on EBAY is about to end on a Rhino.... Gotta win it as I'm having a big party next week... Sarge your good at stories make me up a good one.....

 

[giles]

Back on track...

I don't think I've ever hunted a place that had the right mixture. I do hunt places that are over populated with young deer. It is nothing to see 20+ deer and not one mature animal. Is this because they just don't grow as large because of herd stress and food availability? Or are the mature deer somewhere else?

The dry doe Levi killed this year had an overbite and the neighborhood called her 6-7 years old. She was average size. The huge one Kody killed they thought was 3 (she had crazy thick fur and a red color). Same property, so I get that some deer are just bigger than others also.

All very confusing to me. Lol

 

[bigten05]

I've got properties that are loaded with does to the point they are the only place I shoot does anymore. But come November you better be in the tree those couple properties pull more bucks then anywhere. But you might as well not hunt them until November. I've got a couple other properties that may only have 4 or 5 does on them but the quality of bucks that are their early is better than anywhere else. With my kids really getting into hunting now I've changed the way I look at shooting big bucks if I can take them out and we can fill the freezer and they can harvest a deer that's all I care about anymore. I use to be crazy about managing deer and not shooting deer that weren't 150 inches, And it ruined it for me I still try to manage what I can but I don't get hung up as much on a certain deer. I'm fortunate enough to have alot of properties that have good deer on them I just have to put my time in.

 

[triple_duece]

Back on track...

I don't think I've ever hunted a place that had the right mixture. I do hunt places that are over populated with young deer. It is nothing to see 20+ deer and not one mature animal. Is this because they just don't grow as large because of herd stress and food availability? Or are the mature deer somewhere else?

The dry doe Levi killed this year had an overbite and the neighborhood called her 6-7 years old. She was average size. The huge one Kody killed they thought was 3 (she had crazy thick fur and a red color). Same property, so I get that some deer are just bigger than others also.

All very confusing to me. Lol

As deer age they move less, especially with bucks. So just cause you don’t see them on their feet during a hunt don’t mean they don’t exist. Very rarely do I see a 4 yr old buck except for the rut. I have one now that may be 5 this past season. We never seen him in person nor gotten more than a couple pics on cam a year.
So I will see the same spike probably 70% of my hunts and get him on cam almost daily. As they get older I see less of them. For years I swore our 3 yr olds either got shot, died, poached or live underground. Does seem to always be seen as some are in groups w different age classes and different coat colors where you know it’s them.
My hunting down south is much different than all of y’all’s. We never run out of good food for them to eat. We don’t have harsh winters, and we generally have trickle ruts that go on for 3-4 months. I’ve seen the fresh rubs and scrapes in April during Turkey season. Finding a drop antler is like hitting the lottery.

 

[Stressless]

Saw a Jeff Sturgis mention - I watched this segment this spring and it resonated with me.

"... the three neighbors lands have different deer ratios one is 10:1 one is 2:1 one is 4:1, who's right - THEY ALL ARE..."

Gotta watch it to understand. Personally I and my neighbor are trying to create properties (600 acres combined) to hold more bucks then the 4,000 acres of "Doe Factory" land around us. We shoot as many mature Does as possible / law allows, as the surrounding lands, 4,000 shoot Zero does. Because we create good habitat and have low pressure W/R/T when the matriarch kicks the 18month bucks out of the local family groups they seem to gravitate to our, "less is more" in the case of Mature doe and yearling stressors.

The number one mature buck in the area (which I failed to kill this year) calls my parcel home. I started managing it properly in 2016 so this 4.5 y/o is the first truly good buck to more than likely be born here and I killed his momma so he didn't get driven off, or he got driven off by another mature doe on the adjacent property and found a home on mine because it didn't have a matriarch to push him out/keep him moving along as a young buck... 'cause I shot her too....

This is what I want in a property, at this stage in my hunting/wildlife management life. A vacuum sweeper for young bucks that have a chance to grow old.... apparently with me around ... very good chance!

 

[Spencie]

I just went through pics starting with the end of muzzy season. I have 32 different bucks on cam. Some are daily, some weekly, some random and a couple passing through. As best as I could break them down (I'm not even close to an expert and feel a lot of bucks are actually older than we give them credit for) we have 14 one year olds, 8 two year olds, 7 three year olds and 3 four year olds. We had two stud 2 year olds and a 3 year old come up missing in November.

To me these numbers make sense with Amish owners before us. I think the numbers have rebounded quite well. Starting next year we should have some 5+ bucks each year.

 

[Fletch]

Spencie.... Looking forward to following along your trail cam pics starting in the spring... Sounds like you'll have a few nice ones... Good Luck with them...