#1830940 - 03/10/10 01:43 AM
Re: Ever notice how the lowest and worst deer......
[Re: gator-n-buck]
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Travis E
6 Point
Registered: 06/16/09
Posts: 782
Loc: TN / From Boone Co. WV
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I spent the most part of my life hunting the mountains of WV and have hunted GA, and FL. Hunting in the mountains is the only place I feel completely at home and in my "comfort zone."
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Animals are tasty.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!
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#1831185 - 03/10/10 08:12 AM
Re: Ever notice how the lowest and worst deer......
[Re: RKenney]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
Non-Typical
Registered: 03/11/99
Posts: 59548
Loc: Nashville, TN
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If I were a Whitetail Deer, I would want to live in the thickest
and most mountainest area there is. My antlers might not be that
big, but I could probably enjoy a few more sunrises and sunsets.
You just nailed it right there RKenney.
_________________________
"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#1831238 - 03/10/10 08:34 AM
Re: Ever notice how the lowest and worst deer......
[Re: Double-D-Team]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
Non-Typical
Registered: 03/11/99
Posts: 59548
Loc: Nashville, TN
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Doskil, I don't know...I've hunted Ashe,Watuga, and Pisgah National Forrest area and have seen and taken some good ones 140 class. And that some rough terrain.
BSK, you have said on several topics that deer will adapt to just about anything right...Well I think that the Appalachian Mountain deer have done extremely well and the deer density has improved every year..but I know it isn't the best habitat but they adapt...
Yes, deer can adapt, but not--as a species--to some things. Limited food availability or quality is a true limiter. Now an individual deer may have the ability to utilize limited resources better hence grow larger antlers than most other bucks, but when we look at the occassional large-antlered buck from the mountains or other poor quality habitat areas I think we're just seeing "the odds." And it is these "odds" that I don't think many hunters understand.
In any environment, when you look at antler development of all of the bucks of a single age-class, they will produce the classic bell-shaped curve when graphed out. A large percentage of the bucks of this age-class will be grouped within +/- 10 inches of the average score, but there will be a few bucks at the bottom end of the scale and a few bucks at the top end of the scale. That's a "normal" distribution. However, when a large-antlered buck is produced from poor habitat, hunters use this as proof the poor habitat area can produce big bucks. Well, yes, that habitat can produce large-antlered bucks, but they will only be a small percentage of all bucks of that age. The vast majority of bucks of that age have smaller antlers, and some have very small antlers, but no one ever talks about those few super-small-antlered bucks.
What I'm getting at is poor habitat can produce large-antlered bucks, but those large-antlered bucks make up only a small pecentage of mature bucks. I don't know the actual numbers, but let's say 5% of mature bucks in poor habitat grow antlers topping 140. So 140+ bucks do exist in the poor habitat. However, in great habitat 30% of mature bucks top 140 hence finding large-antlered bucks is easier in great habitat.
The one advantage the mountains have is difficult hunter access. This means more bucks live to maturity. Now whether the better buck age structure makes up for the lower over-all deer density versus great habitat is the question. More bucks make it maturity in the mountains, but in most mountain locations there is a lower deer density. In addition, a smaller percentage of mature bucks grow large antlers in the mountains than in farm country. Farm country generally has more deer and a higher percentage of mature bucks grow large antlers, but because of easier hunter access, fewer bucks reach maturity.
Kind of a Catch 22 isn't it!
_________________________
"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#1832463 - 03/10/10 08:17 PM
Re: Ever notice how the lowest and worst deer......
[Re: BSK]
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archer19
8 Point
Registered: 10/14/08
Posts: 2032
Loc: Erwin, TN
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Mountains are tough.
Wind changes direction 50 times a day.
We don't have bedding areas, the whole mountain is a bedding area.
We don't have feeding areas, the whole mountain is a feeding area.
Mountains, you can't hunt the wind, mostly because you only have one access to a property or one way into a stand.
Doesn't matter if you think the wind is right, you have no idea where the deer are bedded or have been feeding.
When set up on a hot tree they are feeding on. Over a couple days deer come from all directions to feed. They have no predictable travel patterns.
Over the course of hunting the same grounds for several years you can start to see patterns of preferred movement but the winds are so erratic that it's impossible to hunt it effectively.
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Everybody has an Opinion. Just understand that mines the only one that MATTERS!!!!!
SEC hater!
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#1832994 - 03/11/10 07:19 AM
Re: Ever notice how the lowest and worst deer......
[Re: archer19]
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MUP
Non-Typical
Registered: 08/01/07
Posts: 36139
Loc: Just North of Chatt-town
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Mountains are tough.
Wind changes direction 50 times a day.
We don't have bedding areas, the whole mountain is a bedding area.
We don't have feeding areas, the whole mountain is a feeding area.
Mountains, you can't hunt the wind, mostly because you only have one access to a property or one way into a stand.
Doesn't matter if you think the wind is right, you have no idea where the deer are bedded or have been feeding.
When set up on a hot tree they are feeding on. Over a couple days deer come from all directions to feed. They have no predictable travel patterns.
Over the course of hunting the same grounds for several years you can start to see patterns of preferred movement but the winds are so erratic that it's impossible to hunt it effectively.
True. Been living that dream all my life! 
_________________________
MUP
Amateurs: Built the Ark
Professionals: Built the Titanic
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#1833036 - 03/11/10 07:42 AM
Re: Ever notice how the lowest and worst deer......
[Re: MUP]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
Non-Typical
Registered: 03/11/99
Posts: 59548
Loc: Nashville, TN
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If you're going to hunt steep terrain, you better understand how thermals work and how terrain affects wind patterns. And that's not easy.
_________________________
"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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Actually, that's what happened to me when I shot that 10ptr in 06'. The doe he was trailing had come around me and had winded me, and he knew something wasn't right either, he just didn't figure it out in time, or wasn't going to leave his darling! 
