Buck fawn vs doe fawn

[westtntoms]

Question for Bsk: what is the ratio of buck fawns vs doe fawns born?

 

[Football Hunter]

Im not BSK,but I would say very close to 1 to 1

 

[BigGameGuy]

Out of 100 it is closer to 52:48 in favor of bucks.

For all intents and purposes it is 1:1.

 

[Mike Belt]

I think it's somewhere like 1.2:1.

 

[BSK]

Out of 100 it is closer to 52:48 in favor of bucks.

For all intents and purposes it is 1:1.

Exactly. The slightly higher percentage of male fawns is Nature's way of compensating for the higher natural mortality of adult males over females (fighting deaths, deaths due to yearling buck dispersal into unknown areas, etc.).

 

[BigGameGuy]

Out of 100 it is closer to 52:48 in favor of bucks.

For all intents and purposes it is 1:1.

Exactly. The slightly higher percentage of male fawns is Nature's way of compensating for the higher natural mortality of adult males over females (fighting deaths, deaths due to yearling buck dispersal into unknown areas, etc.).

The increased mortality in bucks is also why you'll never have an adult ratio of 1:1, under natural settings. The bucks die at an earlier age therefore there are bound to be more adult does in a population than adult bucks. Anything 1:1.5 and under is about as good as anyone can reasonably ask for.

 

[westtntoms]

Great info.. Thanks guys. My uneducated guess would have been way off.

 

[BSK]

Out of 100 it is closer to 52:48 in favor of bucks.

For all intents and purposes it is 1:1.

Exactly. The slightly higher percentage of male fawns is Nature's way of compensating for the higher natural mortality of adult males over females (fighting deaths, deaths due to yearling buck dispersal into unknown areas, etc.).

The increased mortality in bucks is also why you'll never have an adult ratio of 1:1, under natural settings. The bucks die at an earlier age therefore there are bound to be more adult does in a population than adult bucks. Anything 1:1.5 and under is about as good as anyone can reasonably ask for.

Yup, the two large-scale studies I know of concerning virtually unhunted deer populations both found adult sex ratios in the 1.2 to 1.3 does per buck range.

And as BGG mentioned, I generally stear clients towards 1.5 does per buck. Trying to push the sex ratio down farther generally requires so much doe-killing that the hunting pressure drives the remaing deer into "hunter avoidance" patterns. Plus, many hunters enjoy seeing deer more than they realize. To push a deer herd to an actual balanced adult sex ratio means so much harvest pressure on the does that you won't be seeing many does in daylight. Hunters don't realize how much "seeing deer" means to them until they don't!

 

[strutandrut]

Hunters don't realize how much "seeing deer" means to them until they don't!

That right there is a great point. I never thought of it that way. :cool:

 

[Football Hunter]

Out of 100 it is closer to 52:48 in favor of bucks.

For all intents and purposes it is 1:1.

Exactly. The slightly higher percentage of male fawns is Nature's way of compensating for the higher natural mortality of adult males over females (fighting deaths, deaths due to yearling buck dispersal into unknown areas, etc.).

I like seeing deer

The increased mortality in bucks is also why you'll never have an adult ratio of 1:1, under natural settings. The bucks die at an earlier age therefore there are bound to be more adult does in a population than adult bucks. Anything 1:1.5 and under is about as good as anyone can reasonably ask for.

Yup, the two large-scale studies I know of concerning virtually unhunted deer populations both found adult sex ratios in the 1.2 to 1.3 does per buck range.

And as BGG mentioned, I generally stear clients towards 1.5 does per buck. Trying to push the sex ratio down farther generally requires so much doe-killing that the hunting pressure drives the remaing deer into "hunter avoidance" patterns. Plus, many hunters enjoy seeing deer more than they realize. To push a deer herd to an actual balanced adult sex ratio means so much harvest pressure on the does that you won't be seeing many does in daylight. Hunters don't realize how much "seeing deer" means to them until they don't!