I hunt in 80 acers of Iowa timber. It has to the south crops, east is timber( 1/2 is a hunting reserve), north side is mainly crp grass fields, and east side is my house on 10 of prairie the rest in crops. This is Iowa so it is corn and beans.
We have always tried to take as many does as our state allows, doesn't happen much. With the bucks, we only shoot if it is bigger than any we have ever taken, or has a very cool rack. Is this a good mangement plan? We seems to have 4x4's a dime a dozen. Last week I let a 8 pointer walk on by. I see him every year out of the same stand. I have him on camera for 3 years. He follows the same trail like clock work. He never gets any bigger. His rack and neck fill out a bit, but not much. My trail camera show that the other 8 pointers get older each year, but their racks don't seem to get much larger as well. Should we be taking some of these bucks to even out the breeding? We get 2 buck tags each. A lot of years we don't punch either. I would rather the big boys be breeding my does.
I am also considering getting a tag for gun season this year as well. Just for the point of thinning the herd.
I figure some of you on this site have a wealth of knowlede on this subject. I would be gratefull if you would share it.
Thanks- Katie
Katie,
Taking a mature buck 6yrs out of the herd is OK too. Genetics command the antlers, after they mature, they don't usually add any points. That is an 8 point at 4 yrs is usually a larger 8 pt at 6.
Mike
Well, lets start out with the amount of land. It's soooo difficult to control the herd when you only have 80 acres. Not impossible, but hard. But the current plan you have in place is exactly what we do. Keep the doe herd down. Also thin out the buck herd. What I mean is if you see a buck(like the one you described) that has lost potential, by all means get him out of the gene pool. Ever heard the saying "I took a management buck".
Alot also depends on hunting pressure around your area. If it's light, then your success in manageing 80 acres has increased. If it's heavy pressure then it will be difficult. With the food sources you have available to your deer, they should be getting bigger.
All in all, keep doing what your doing. Add taking out some of those non productive bucks and your doing your part. This of course is what we have found to be productive. Although 500 acres is much easier to do this on. Good luck!
BTW- Ever see that biggun again you were after last year?
IMO: if your question is if by shooting 8 pointers you will "help" your local genetics I would disagree.
I do agree with taking a buck that would be at the top end of your area or is 3.5 years and up.
If the deer you keep seeing meets this than why wait?
shooting does does more for the "herd" than thinning bucks IMO.
Something to keep in mind that deer have lots of twins and sometimes twin buck fawns. I have seen what I thought were different deer that looked "alike" but when I saw them together I could tell that they were "twins" or at the least were two different deer.
Shoot does. Shoot older age bucks. Most important is to have fun doing it.
What do you want? Older bucks or bigger racks? If you are only seeing 8 pointers then you need to take some of them out, most of the time it is genetics and the buck is only going to be a 8 pointer.
Taking out a few bucks is good , it lets other buck come in to your area and in a few years You'll start to see bigger rack bucks. Start a deer log, ever deer DOE or buck taken write it down Age, Sex, points. This log plus talking to a State Biologist will help you get a good DQM plan going.
Also try here for more Great Info http://www.qdma.org/
If I am reading your post correctly your wondering if shooting some of the smaller antlered bucks is a good thing. And the reason for shooting them is because they aren't growing the rack size that you want to see.
Quality deer management is about providing good habitat and a balanced herd. The typical issues that most hunters are dealing with are small antlered bucks and usually this is traced back to an unbalanced herd. Meaning the bucks aren't allowed to live long enough to show their antler growth potential.
QDM encourages hunters to shoot does and let the little bucks walk. Of course this kind of management only works if you have a large enough place to keep the bucks on or have neighbors that share the same goals.
You described an eight point that hasn't changed in antler size for a season or two and you have evidence to back up your claim. So with that in mind the eight point, IMO, is a deer that you should take out of the herd.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Inferior genetics will only grow so big. If it's 8-point 3 straight years, it's time to go. Also, supplemental vitamins & minerals will produce heavy mass. Start with proper buck/doe ratio (1 to 3 if possible) as it will eliminate inferior breeding. Remove tall spikes & does. Let young symetrical mass walk. 2 years you'll have big healthy shooters. Tell your neighbors of your plan & maybe they'll participate. No high fence needed. Our Texas deer may not dress heavy but you'll never question their racks. Much of the state is managing now although it isn't mandatory. See Texas deer pix posted a few days ago.
If you know a buck is 3-5 years old and he is an 8 pt, or as you folks say a 4x4 I would think that thats as good as he is going to get,you should take him. First, there is nothing wrong with a 4x4, and second I would bet he'd eat good. Any deer 3-5 years old is mature an a fine trophy, at least in my eyes. Take'n some does to keep things in balance is good also.
I'll come out, take a look around and help out with whatever management I feel is necessary. Send me directions and I'll start driving. I imagine I could find a few other guys if killing more than one or two 8 pointers was deemed necessary. ;)
I think, first, you need to have a realistic expectation of what kind of impact you really have. 80 acres is small by management standards. Most say you need over 400 acres before you can effectively "control" a group of deer. Their range is just too broad. Second, there are a lot of things that affect antler growth; nutrition, pressures/stress (overpopulation), and even another dominant buck can suppress antler growth in sub-dominate bucks, and probably the #1 factor AGE, followed in a distant last - genetics. Most people don't have the resources (acreage, fences, restricted hunting) to effectively fiddle with genetics. I wouldn't worry about genetic "potential". There are plenty of examples of pen raised deer going from a spike to world class if given two main ingredients: time and nutrition.
I would concentrate on taking a certain age range if you really want to improve the bucks in your area, as much as you can on 80 acres. Learn to tell a 4.5 year buck from a 2.5 year buck, decide what age structure you're going to take out and let the antlers be what they are. Reducing the number of does in your area, if you have too many does, helps improve the habitat and the quality of nutrients available for the bucks that remain. Create areas that the bucks feel safe (1 acre thicket you NEVER enter - buck sanctuary) to attract and keep bucks on your property. You can improve nutrients by simply fertilizing native food species already on your property as well. Plenty of nutrients help a buck come out of the rut in better shape. The better shape he ends the rut the more energy he'll likely have to survive the winter and put into next year's antlers.
The main ingredient is age and the willingness to accept that come rut he can be a mile away and shot by someone who doesn't hold the same higher standard you do. Don't stress about it too much and just take the deer that you want to take and let the rest walk; to either be appreciated by another hunter or to live to see another year.
If you want more detailed information I'd suggest ordering and reading Dr. Kroll's A Practical Guide to Producing and Harvesting White-tailed Deer
(http://forestry.sfasu.edu/outreach/dr.-kroll-books-videos-3.html) .
Katie, I hunt a 250ac track in GA and it has been under Quality Deer Management(self imposed) for over 10 years now. Even though it is a relatively small track of land we have seen a big improvment in the quality of the herd. We shoot every doe we can but during archery season no bucks less than 4 points on either side and for gun season nothing less than 15"inside spread...or any buck over 3 1/2 years old. That is the tricky part, the aging. Any deer that is considered "untouchable" is a $100 fine.shot ..I know this for a fact! d;^)
We got our initial QDM information from Joe Hamilton, one of the founders of QDMA(he was our state biologist in SC when QDMA first began in 1988) and our youngest member is a graduate from UGA in timber and wildlife managment.
Allowing the smaller bucks to walk and removing does and mature bucks really has kept our heard healthy. Our club is not heavily hunted and has lots of heavyily brushed areas(cut and replanted in pines 9 years ago) so it is a haven for the local deer and that has been a help also. We also talked our neighbor into QDM for the folks that lease his land and that also helps. He owns 2500 ac that is on three sides of our club.
See- from my viewpoint - kill any deer that is dumb enough to be killed. The reward of life for deer should be intellect; the successful use of their eyes; and ears; and nose; and brain.
The presence of big antlers to take a deer; only promotes big antlers; not a strong natural wild instinctive creature.... as deer are supposed to be.
It seems like everywhere you go without a high fence; you will find the remains of an old deer that made it through every obstacle in life until old age took them.
My grandsons hand fed a huge pen raised elk - which later was shot in a pen ( on a tv 'hunting show) ... it didn't even know to run from the shooter; or to run when it was hit. It was about enough to make me vomit.
The line is not that fine. Either you except nature - or you tweak it to your needs... or perhaps lack of ability.
I may never shoot a really big whitetail - but when I do it will be a wild one; and one that figures every human is out to make him into dinner.
Until that shot comes on that big buck; the smaller ones will fall; and so will the does.
A 'Quality deer' to me - is a deer that is wild; and that uses all its facilities ; and is very much aware of its prey status.....
From what I've witnessed, 80 acres isn't nearly enough to make an impact. I know a few people who try with no such luck. One guy even manages 300 acres, his biggest bucks always seem to get whacked during the rut on public land that's about a mile away. :D
There is one person locally who owns 600 acres, and is having some good success. He's the only one I know of who's regular with keeping big ones.
I say enjoy what ya got, shoot those old bucks. Not many even have that opportunity.
The more I've learned, the less shooting a deer that's been raised on food plots and photographed since it's had spots appeals to me
.......that's unless they want to wander onto my hunting spots. :D
IMO.
One would have to make the entire 80 acres a sanctuary and only hunt it on edges.Don't be concerned w/ the bucks there but work w/ keeping does there as much as possible and the bucks will come.You don't have enough ground for rutting bucks but if you have plenty of ladies for the bucks to court,you never can tell what will show up.
Katie,
I hunt a similar property in northern indiana. Just like you said, crops on the south, crp to the north, and house to the east. There are 4 of us who hunt it regularly and the regarded rule is that u dont shoot anyhting under 130" unless its your first buck. Here we can only shoot one buck per year so we usually dont want to waste it on a small deer. We have killed big deer on this property but like many other people have already said, less than 100 acres is too small to manage the herd. We try to keep promising bucks around and by doing that we hope other hunters around us will do the same.
When it comes taking out bucks that seem not good enough, we will shoot a 2.5-3.5 yr old with a big body and a dinky rack for breeding purposes /greater good of the deer population in our area.
You should talk to the people that hunt around you and see how they are hunting their land. Hopefully, you can all get on the same page and "manage" the larger area as a whole
QuoteYou should talk to the people that hunt around you and see how they are hunting their land. Hopefully, you can all get on the same page and "manage" the larger area as a whole
Was just gonna say that myself, a friend of mine that has 60 acres is in that process right now.
Lots and lots of supplemental feeding. Any biologist will tell you bucks will grow bigger racks with more points when they have year round high protein feed. The corn and beans are great but they are only used maybe a 1/3 of the year. On 80 acres get two large protein pellet feeders and you will see dramatic improvements very quickly. I will warn you though. If you choose to do this your doe harvesting will become even more important as they will move in in groves.
You also need water and cover if you have all three of these you will get better deer. You will most likely not be able to keep them on 80 acres but they will visit often.
Being in Illinois you have the genetics.
If you are managing for good horns you need to shoot the small young bucks, let the bigger young deer live, if you can only kill 2 bucks i would shoot the smallest 2-3 yr old bucks you can. The older mature deer will die out faster than young bucks will and the 3-4 yr olds do most of the breeding anyway, at least in areas of alot of deer.
Shooting the bucks doing the most breeding will be the best bang for your money, why waste a tag on an old buck that wont breed alot and probably wont make it through the winter.
If you are surrounding most of the cropland and your deer population dont leave you can manage the place.
Also if there is one 8 you see every year and you keep seeing more young 8's, who do u think is breeding most of your doe's?!?!?!?!? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the 8 you see every year :-P kill him and you create a vaccum of dominant buck then maybe a better buck will be your breeder. I would have shot him on sight asap , there is no reason to ler him live and kill other better bucks that could be breeding your doe's you are protecting him as the dominant buck.
Jmo
There is little you can do with 80 acres to manage the deer herd. A doe group might stay in an 80 but mature bucks will travel as much as 5 miles during the rut. That is the same as traveling across 2500 acres - and that is in only one direction! So, you either need a large neighborhood plan - like a township here in Iowa - or a huge (for Iowa) farm or a high fence.
Also, here in Iowa one third of all the deer are killed each year - half by hunters and half by vehicles. If you do the math, you will see that a buck has less than a 1 in 100 chance of making it to 5 years old!
Big bucks are found where there is big timber. That means NE Iowa and the river corridors in other parts of the state.
The only effective management method for us Iowagians is to talk to our neighbors. There are usually local farmer groups that gather each year for deer drives in shotgun season. Talk to them. They have the same group year after year and meet at the same farmstead year after year. Many of these groups remember the 1970's when shooting ANY buck was a big deal, even with a gun. Encourage them to shoot does and wall hangers only.
One group near me has about 50 basket racks nailed to the barn wall. They used to pride themselves in filling all their tags with bucks in the first day or two. It took me several years to finally convince them to modify their standards, but they have.
Of course, you will have to lead the way. Tell folks about the idea and then show them that you can do it.
I think the assumption that managing for bigger antlers (ie removing " inferior" bucks) improves the herd is a weak one. Who's to say that big antlers mean healthier more fit deer. Something is lost when it all becomes about bigger is better antlers. I think striving for a balanced sex and age ratio and managing the herd below carrying capacity will result in a healthy more mature animal and bigger antlers will be a byproduct. If your managing for big antlers you are managing for the benefit of people, not the deer.
The 80 acers I talk of is the timber I hunt. I have the 200 acers of crops on the south. No one hunts it. It is all open. One pond with no cover. The guy to the North of me has 200 acers of a nasty thicket timber(buck bed in this area) and crp grass. he hunts with a recurve. Shoots mainly does and only takes bigger bucks. The land to the West of me is 200 acers of timber private owned by a DNR officer. He takes as many does as he can, one "management" buck and then goes for the big boys. He got a great 12 last season. To the West of him is 160 acers of timber owned by my family in a wildlife refuge. Only my husband, myself, and my son can hunt it. We do not hunt it. It is up and down and nasty thicket. I am getting ready to put cameras in it to see what it holds. I would guess a lot since it has been a sanctuary for 30 years! To the West of it is 80 acers of public.
As a group, we are all bowhunters. Each place sees only 2 hunters each. I think we have a nice amount of land for the # of hunters.
I do see big boys on my place. Last season I saw 2 of the biggest I have ever seen. One, I have seen this season as well. I just see a crazy amount of 8 pointers.
Thanks for all the help guys.
Katie
Having some trouble with photobucket. If this works, it is a pic of one of the deer I would like to breed my does:) This was taken under my stand straight south of my house. 600ft from my backdoor.
(http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb117/katiejgilbert/trail%20camera/SUNP0059.jpg)
I think my question stemed from the fact that out of the 3 properties around my place, only one seems to punch his buck tag each year. The rest of us mostly don't due to waiting for(or missing) a mature buck. Then not many bucks are being taken. But it sounds like the winter after rut helps with buck managment.
Katie,
I'm so sorry for your delima.NOT,com-on you are posting complaining about too many 8 point bucks!You r killing me.
You lucky girl. I am surrounded by rifle hunters. They are great people but they shoot lots of green bucks. I am no biologist but if there was a buck that didn't grow much at all I don't think it could hurt anything to take him out of the herd.
Looking at that buck I'm not sure what your dilema is. Looks to me like there are some good genes in that pool.????????????? :confused:
Not complaining boys. I know I am very blessed with the land I have. Just wanting to know the best way to run it.
Katie
It is in fact important to take does, within reason. I've seen what 6 years of intensive doe taking has done and it's something I wouldn't recommend. Now there may have been other factors involved beyond our knowledge. I'm a firm believer you have to monitor the doe numbers every month of the year. The core area for does and fawns is pretty small "IF" there is a good food source even during the rut. Bucks do in fact range far and wide during the rut. The rest of the year, their core area is smaller than you might imagine. Again, depending on the food availability. If they have security, food and water they hang around pretty close to home (their core area). A buck will stay in his area until the available breedable does have been bred before they start to range out. As was mentioned above, the does will keep the bucks home. So, In my opinion you can in fact kill to many of the does off and hasten the departure of the bucks to greener pastures if you will.. If you kill off yearling and 1-1/2 year old bucks you will never know what potential you have destroyed. having said all that, each one of us sets our own standards as to what we will harvest. Because we each one of us makes our own minds up, that decision is what is right for each one of us. For me, I like to keep the does around, I refrain from taking young bucks and have set a minimum size of an eligable buck. Do I take a buck every year? no, but to me me it's all about the journey. In an area of 400 acres, can have 4 families of does living there.
thanks RRock. Point taken.
How do you know how many does is good? I went out the day after season ended last year. I leaned against a tree and counted near 65-75 does out in the back field. Knocked my socks of since I did not get a arrow in one all season.
PS-the buck in the pic above is a rare thing in my woods. I have seen him and one like him in all my days hunting.
Me and my dad manage 90 acres and have seen alot more nice bucks over the last few years. The first few years we piled up does. not so may now a days but we do take a few. We work real close with the surrounding neighbors who own a combined 600 acres or so and everyone of them except one guy who has fourty and kills anything agree on a plan. I think that is the biggest factor in our situation.
Out of all the landowners in this area my dad and Myself are tha only ones who use feeders and plant food plots and put out mineral licks year round except during season cause we are not allowed to hunt over a baited area. We use Whitetail Imperial products and love them and purina deer chow in our feeders.
Good luck
50% of genetics come from the female. In order to influence racks by selecting individual buck harvests, you'd need several 1000 acres with extremely intense buck harvest management, like on a big professional Texas ranch.
When trying to improve buck age structure in any given area, think body size/age vs the rack. If you're trying to do more QDM style management, shoot as many females as needed and try hunting the oldest 20% of bucks in any given area and let the rack chips fall where they may.
Mature bucks is what QDM is about, not rack size. It just so happens that about everywhere in the country, if a buck makes it to 4-5 years old, he typically has an impressive rack.
The buck mentioned could breed with any given doe and create a monster buck offspring, if that fawn was then allowed to reach maturity.
This is a good article by Charles Alsheimer...
http://charliealsheimer.com/ca/articles/art_theywalk.html
THEY WALK 'TIL THEY DIE
by Charles J. Alsheimer
Long time readers of Deer and Deer Hunting know of the quality deer management program many Steuben County, New York landowners instituted back in 1991. When we organized we had visions of putting some real slammers on the wall. At the time we figured that if we could pass on the yearling and 2 1/2 year old bucks we'd have the seed needed to get a fair number of these passed bucks to 4 1/2 years of age or older. For the most part this has never happened.
In the last 5-7 years several QDM practitioners in our group ramped up their scouting by using trail monitoring cameras as a way to find out what kind of bucks were using their land. This form of scouting has proven to be very enlightening. Prior to using cameras most of us felt that if we could provide the best possible nutrition, in the form of food plots, have great sanctuaries, and limit the way we hunted, we could hold frequently seen bucks on our properties. What we discovered has made us rethink this mindset.
The Younger Generation
Typically 1 1/2 year old bucks will cover far less ground than 3+ year old bucks during the autumn months. For the most part yearling bucks come into their first hard antler autumn having dispersed from nearby lands to set up their first home range. Though they will travel during the rut they are more apt to stick close to their new home range, providing food and cover is plentiful. Our trail camera data has shown this to be the case and in many instances the same yearling bucks show up on the same cameras day after day, throughout the hunting season, whether the rut is full blown or not.
Two and half year old bucks are much different than yearling bucks and the distance they travel will be dictated by the doe population and number of older class bucks in their immediate area. On most ranges where little or no quality deer management is practiced the two and a half year old bucks are the oldest bucks in the herd and do most of the breeding. If they have adequate food, cover and a good doe population they won't be inclined to travel much.
However, in areas where there is a fine-tuned deer management program in place (meaning great food, cover, adequate does and a reasonable number of 3+ year old bucks present) their traveling story can be quite different. In such herds 2 1/2 year old bucks will often travel great distances during the rut in their quest to be a part of the breeding equation.
Alpha Class
3 1/2 year old: For the majority of North American deer range the 3 1/2 year old bucks are the ones a hunter dreams of hunting. A 3 1/2 year old buck is kind of like an 18 year old human male. He thinks he knows his way around females and is willing to do whatever it takes to show them he's the man. Both are maxed out on testosterone.
Having raised many 3 1/2 year old bucks over the years I can offer that most feel they are bullet proof, can put a whopping on any buck walking, and have an incredible desire to be top gun in the herd. Simply put, they are driven to be the alpha buck and prepared to do whatever it takes to make it happen. In parts of the country where great soils are found 3 1/2 year old bucks can easily sport antlers in the 125-150 Boone and Crockett range.
By the time late October rolls around in the North a 3 1/2 year old begins exhibiting all the classic behaviors you would expect from a mature buck. He goes out of his way to bully younger, and sometimes even older bucks he encounters. The most common way he does this is by exhibiting threat walking (ears pulled back, hair on end, eyes rolled sideways with front legs stiff as he walks) when he encounters subordinate bucks. It's only when he tries the same strategy on bucks his age or older that he gets into a fight. Ugly fights can occur at any point from velvet peel to antler cast. However, they often take place when two like-size bucks square off over the same estrous doe.
A 3 1/2 year old buck also does a tremendous amount of rubbing and scraping, especially if other bucks of his age class share the same territory. And it is not uncommon for several bucks to work the same scrape throughout the autumn months. It is a way for them to show dominance and leave their own scent behind for all to notice. Though this age class will rub small trees, they often take out their rubbing frustration on trees with a 4" or greater diameter.
4 1/2 year old: Four and half year old bucks have the same attitude as a 3 1/2 year old but are better equipped to prove their point. By the time a buck reaches 4 1/2 they have matured and are studs in every sense of the word. In most cases they are king of the mountain because few places in North America can expect to have a large number of bucks older than 4 1/2 without high fences. In the 16 years I've been practicing QDM on our farm I've only killed two 5 1/2 year old bucks. Three were 4 1/2, but the vast majority have been 3 1/2 year olds. Though a 4 1/2 year old buck will bully and fight younger bucks during the rut he isn't nearly as aggressive with them as 3 1/2 year olds are. In the majority of cases yearlings and 2 1/2 year old bucks give a 4 1/2 year old buck all the space he wants because they know he is the king and they aren't going to change the situation, no matter how much they want to.
This age class will rub and scrape more than 3 1/2 year old bucks. The rut is all about dominance and breeding rights and for this reason 4 1/2 year old bucks go out of their way to prove they are a herd's alpha animal.
Two's A Crowd-Three Won't Work
It's not uncommon for several 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 year old bucks to spend the summer hanging out together in bachelor groups. When this occurs landowners get excited. Unfortunately this excitement can be short lived because a whitetail buck is driven to be the breeder.
When a deer range contains several mature bucks the stage is set for many of these bucks to be losers in the breeding sweepstakes. The fights to determine who will do the breeding can be intense and when a mature buck loses a fight he often moves on to another area in hopes of becoming the alpha buck. For this reason it is very difficult to stockpile wild free-ranging bucks.
They Follow Their Nose
To the winner goes the spoils and any buck who finds himself the odd man out will act accordingly. With the rut approaching and the air filled with pheromones a buck will begin walking if he is not the alpha buck. He goes from doe group to doe group and if he finds an area that does not have a dominant mature buck he may set up shop there if the doe population is adequate to fill his desires. If not, he will move on. During this process a buck may move multiple times, covering 4,000 acres or more, which may mean several miles.
The bottom line is the 3s and 4s walk till they die. Because they are constantly on the go they eventually find themselves in a hunter's sights. A couple examples illustrate this.
Two Cases from Many
Our farm is situated between three other landowners who are aggressively managing for better deer and better deer hunting. Together the four properties encompass over 700 acres. All of us plant a variety of food plots and work to keep our doe population in check. We also use trail cameras to help us know what is on our land.
The buck I killed last fall was a very nice 3 1/2 year old for my part of western New York State. I photographed him on my trail camera several times, as did some of the others in our group. I also knew of him being sighted more than a mile from me, well off the four cooperating properties. This guy fit the bill as being a real active walker.
On November 19, 2002 I killed my best New York buck to date, a 150 class 4 1/2 year old. What was interesting about this buck is that a friend of mine had photographed him on November 7th-nearly 2 air miles from where I killed him. I had never seen the buck before the day I put my sights on him and had never captured him on my trail cameras. Like last year's buck and many others I have killed, this 4 1/2 year old was a real walker and his wandering got him killed.
I could go on and on with example after example of the distance we've seen bucks travel in my area. What needs to be gleaned from our experiences (and others from around the country) is that regardless of how good your habitat is you probably cannot hold all your prized bucks once the rut begins. If a 3 or 4 year old buck can't be the alpha male on your land they will go to where they can be.
Realistic Expectations
In the real world having a few 3 1/2 year old bucks is about the best one can expect to find, at least for the majority of whitetail locales. Why? Because hunting pressure does not allow for older class bucks in most herds. Hunters desiring to hunt truly mature bucks (4 1/2 year old and older) have to go to areas where deer are managed for age or remote habitats where many bucks can survive to maturity.
This figure will vary throughout the country but after 16 years working at this QDM game I've come to the conclusion that the best we can hope for in my area is one or two 125" to 140" bucks for every 250 acres. And this can only happen if you attempt to do everything right, from food plots to doe management, to passing up the younger bucks. Mature bucks cover a lot of ground in their quest for breeding rights and when they walk, they usually die.
Here's a good article on culling. The last paragragh is a good summary...
http://qdma.com/articles/details.asp?id=124
QDMA Articles :
Is Culling Necessary? (October 2006)
By: Kip Adams
Today many hunters are implementing deer management programs aimed at increasing the average age of bucks and the nutritional level for the deer herd. As they begin seeing more 2½ and older bucks, many managers become interested in improving the third piece of the antler formula – genetics. For decades, biologists have debated the practice of improving antler genetic potential by culling or removing specific bucks with undesirable antler traits. The idea is by removing these undesirable bucks you can improve overall antler quality within the deer herd. This idea works well in captivity because you can mate specific bucks to specific does, but is culling an effective strategy for improving the antler quality of free-ranging herds?
First of all, what is culling? Some managers define culling as removing inferior yearling bucks with few antler points (spikes or three-pointers) or missing points such as brow tines. Others define culling as removing older bucks with a low number of antler points (8 points or less) or other undesirable traits such as a narrow spread. For this discussion, we'll define culling as selectively removing bucks with any of these undesirable antler traits from any age class.
Much research has been conducted on this subject, often with seemingly conflicting results. Research from the Kerr Wildlife Management Area in Texas suggested antler quality could be improved by removing spike-antlered yearling bucks. Research from Mississippi State University suggested that yearling bucks' antlers were more a reflection of late birth date and poor nutrition rather than genetics. More current research on state hunting lands in Mississippi suggests that protection of poor-antlered yearling bucks (those with 3 or fewer points) under the state's four-total-point rule has resulted in high-grading, and has produced smaller antlers in older bucks. Current research on the King Ranch in Texas suggests that even aggressive culling on a free-ranging deer herd at the 10,000-acre scale has little impact on antler quality. Confused? Me too.
All of these research projects followed strict methodologies and had statistically significant results. However, there are so many variables involved within a deer herd and its habitat that it is difficult to control for each. For example, different deer herds have different population densities, age structures, sex ratios and nutritional levels (low vs. high). There are differences in soils, supplemental feeding programs, precipitation levels and countless other factors that play a role in a buck's antlers. Therefore, the studies aren't always comparing "apples to apples."
Before you decide which study is most applicable to your specific location, let's look at the breeding ecology of whitetails. For culling to improve the genetic potential of a deer herd's antlers, bucks that are protected must be able to pass their "superior" antler genes to many offspring. Thus, these bucks would have to breed many does and sire many fawns. These bucks' male offspring would require access to high quality nutrition to fully express their antler potential, and they would have to remain in the area for the manager to benefit from his/her efforts.
But do bucks breed many does? It had been widely assumed that a small number of dominant, large-antlered bucks sired most of the fawns. However, current research shows mature bucks don't monopolize breeding rites. Even in populations with good age structure, yearlings and 2½-year-olds sired 15-30% of the fawns in northern and southern studies. Interestingly, some large bucks don't appear to sire any fawns. In Dr. Randy DeYoung's long-term study (over 11 years) bucks averaged less than three fawns per year (this is the number of fawns that survived to six months of age and were recruited into the population). There is also the incidence of multiple paternity. Two studies identified multiple paternity in 22-24% of multiple litters. That means one of every four to five sets of twins/triplets had multiple fathers! So, dominant bucks don't breed all of the does and they don't even sire all of the fawns from the does they breed!
Since many bucks each do a small amount of the breeding, and since does may breed with multiple bucks, it is impossible to control or even predict which bucks breed which does in the wild. Thus, it is difficult to control the genetic traits you select for (or against) by selectively harvesting bucks based on antler characteristics. And, it is difficult to improve (or degrade) the genetic traits within a deer herd by selectively harvesting bucks based on antler characteristics.
The good news is that we can improve antler size through our harvesting efforts. However, I'm not referring to removing specific bucks. Rather, I'm talking about passing young bucks so they can grow older and have the opportunity to express more of their antler growth potential. This improves the "age" factor of the antler formula and it is extremely easy to do. We can also harvest an appropriate number of does so bucks have more available forage. This, in combination with habitat management, improves the "nutrition" factor of the antler formula. Again, this is easy to do.
It's important to remember that many deer herds have skewed sex ratios, young buck age structures and they exceed their habitat's carrying capacity. In these situations, spikes and small antlers are generally caused by poor nutrition and/or late birth date. These parameters do not allow bucks to express their full genetic potential. We also need to remember that most abnormal antlers are NOT genetically based. Most result from injuries to the skull, pedicle, antler or body, and thus culling would have no effect on the antler genetics of the herd.
Let's revisit the research projects. The results from Dr. Mickey Hellickson's recent culling study in South Texas are likely the most applicable to the average deer manager because of the intensity of the culling efforts and the size of the study area. Mickey and his colleagues intensively culled the smallest antlered bucks in all age classes for six straight years on 10,000 acres on the King Ranch in Texas. When the study was over, the average antler quality per age class was slightly SMALLER than when they started! While factors such as yearling buck dispersal off the study area could partially account for lack of impact, it clearly suggests that even intensive culling on this scale is unlikely to impact genetics.
So, should we be culling "inferior" bucks? If they are young bucks, the answer is 'no' for most of the whitetail's range because they may have been born late or have been nutritionally deprived. If they are older bucks, the answer depends. If you have a surplus of bucks and you really dislike a certain buck – regardless of age - then go ahead and cull him. However, don't expect it to make a big difference in what you see for antlers in the future. He's likely not siring a lot of fawns and of the ones he sires, the doe contributes half to their offspring's antler quality. Also, about 50-75% of yearling bucks disperse one to five miles from where they were born, so an average of ½ to ¾ of his sons will leave the area anyway. Unless you're involved in a trophy management program with a balanced buck-to-doe ratio, good buck age structure and optimum nutrition, I wouldn't cull him.
Kip's Korner is written by Kip Adams, a Certified Wildlife Biologist and Northern Director of Education and Outreach for the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA). The QDMA is an international nonprofit wildlife conservation organization dedicated to ethical hunting, sound deer management and preservation of the deer-hunting heritage. The QDMA can be reached at 1-800-209-DEER or www.QDMA.com. (http://www.qdma.com.)