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Deer management question
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<blockquote data-quote="TheLBLman" data-source="post: 5364259" data-attributes="member: 1409"><p>Lots of misunderstandings about deer "management", particularly bucks.</p><p></p><p>Bucks, especially the ones many consider "my" bucks on "my" property, actually are often considered "my" bucks by multiple hunters miles apart. Only two square miles is 2,560 acres, and rutting bucks routinely travel over 2 miles straight distance on a near daily basis, meaning their rut range becomes thousands of acres, instead of the less than 100 acres of the average TN private hunting property.</p><p></p><p>Just to add some perspective, think about how far a man can easily walk in only an hour. In most cases, it should be around 2 miles. Bucks do more of this linear distance traveling under the cover of darkness, but they also do it lot during daylight, during the rut. One reason some bucks are never seen again, and we don't know what happened, is often that they were killed 3 miles away from where we expected to kill them.</p><p></p><p>I've been involved with the management of several thousand contiguous acres now for about two decades. A reasonable expectation is for hunters to harvest one buck 3 1/2 or older per 300 acres, and this is under a high level QDM-type program where less than 10% of the bucks killed are younger than 3 1/2. </p><p></p><p>Most bucks 3 1/2 or older with an above average rack do get killed by the hunters. Those surviving to 5 1/2 (or older) tend to be the ones with average to below average racks, and have been passed up multiple times by multiple hunters who simply didn't want to use a tag on them. Eventually, most the average to below average racked older bucks do get killed by hunters, as they still get considered to be nice trophies, yet may "score" only in the 120's as full maturity.</p><p></p><p>There is a wide gap between most hunters' expectations and reality</p><p>when it comes to deer management in Tennessee.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TheLBLman, post: 5364259, member: 1409"] Lots of misunderstandings about deer "management", particularly bucks. Bucks, especially the ones many consider "my" bucks on "my" property, actually are often considered "my" bucks by multiple hunters miles apart. Only two square miles is 2,560 acres, and rutting bucks routinely travel over 2 miles straight distance on a near daily basis, meaning their rut range becomes thousands of acres, instead of the less than 100 acres of the average TN private hunting property. Just to add some perspective, think about how far a man can easily walk in only an hour. In most cases, it should be around 2 miles. Bucks do more of this linear distance traveling under the cover of darkness, but they also do it lot during daylight, during the rut. One reason some bucks are never seen again, and we don't know what happened, is often that they were killed 3 miles away from where we expected to kill them. I've been involved with the management of several thousand contiguous acres now for about two decades. A reasonable expectation is for hunters to harvest one buck 3 1/2 or older per 300 acres, and this is under a high level QDM-type program where less than 10% of the bucks killed are younger than 3 1/2. Most bucks 3 1/2 or older with an above average rack do get killed by the hunters. Those surviving to 5 1/2 (or older) tend to be the ones with average to below average racks, and have been passed up multiple times by multiple hunters who simply didn't want to use a tag on them. Eventually, most the average to below average racked older bucks do get killed by hunters, as they still get considered to be nice trophies, yet may "score" only in the 120's as full maturity. There is a wide gap between most hunters' expectations and reality when it comes to deer management in Tennessee. [/QUOTE]
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