Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New Trophy's
New trophy room comments
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Classifieds
Trophy Room
New items
New comments
Latest content
Latest updates
Latest reviews
Author list
Series list
Search showcase
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles and first posts only
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
Tennessee Hunting Forums
Quality Deer Management
Doe Harvest?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="BSK" data-source="post: 3819467" data-attributes="member: 17"><p>The rationale for doe harvests are two-fold:</p><p></p><p>Herd health is directly related to herd density. For any piece of ground, the habitat can only support so many deer. And it isn't a sudden cut-off point that is "too many." As density increases, average animal performance decreases. So for a single property, the higher the deer density, the lower the quality of each animal, on average. And the only way to control herd density over the long-term is to control the number of offspring producers--the adult females.</p><p></p><p>Second, removing does helps balance the adult sex ratio. From years of buck-heavy harvests, the adult sex ratio can become somewhat skewed. Skewed adult sex ratios can cause excessive rut stress on bucks, strung-out breeding (a trickle rut), and low competition between bucks for breeding rights (and low competition means little buck movement during daylight during the rut).</p><p></p><p>All that said, you may find that what you can do with doe harvests on a 500-acre property is heavily influenced by what your neighbors are doing doe-harvest-wise. You may kill a bunch of does, but if your neighbors aren't, your property can become a "doe sink," in that your neighbors' does fill in the gaps in deer density you create on your place through doe harvests. basically, you create a "hole" in deer density by killing does on your property, but each year, the excess does on your neighbors' properties filter in over the following spring and summer and fill in that hole. The next year, it won't look like your doe harvests did any good at all, as you end up with the same number (or more) does than you started with.</p><p></p><p>On the flip side, if a large neighboring property starts pounding does, your does can suddenly "vanish," as you are sharing your does with your neighbors, and the neighbors are wiping them out.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BSK, post: 3819467, member: 17"] The rationale for doe harvests are two-fold: Herd health is directly related to herd density. For any piece of ground, the habitat can only support so many deer. And it isn't a sudden cut-off point that is "too many." As density increases, average animal performance decreases. So for a single property, the higher the deer density, the lower the quality of each animal, on average. And the only way to control herd density over the long-term is to control the number of offspring producers--the adult females. Second, removing does helps balance the adult sex ratio. From years of buck-heavy harvests, the adult sex ratio can become somewhat skewed. Skewed adult sex ratios can cause excessive rut stress on bucks, strung-out breeding (a trickle rut), and low competition between bucks for breeding rights (and low competition means little buck movement during daylight during the rut). All that said, you may find that what you can do with doe harvests on a 500-acre property is heavily influenced by what your neighbors are doing doe-harvest-wise. You may kill a bunch of does, but if your neighbors aren't, your property can become a "doe sink," in that your neighbors' does fill in the gaps in deer density you create on your place through doe harvests. basically, you create a "hole" in deer density by killing does on your property, but each year, the excess does on your neighbors' properties filter in over the following spring and summer and fill in that hole. The next year, it won't look like your doe harvests did any good at all, as you end up with the same number (or more) does than you started with. On the flip side, if a large neighboring property starts pounding does, your does can suddenly "vanish," as you are sharing your does with your neighbors, and the neighbors are wiping them out. [/QUOTE]
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Tennessee Hunting Forums
Quality Deer Management
Doe Harvest?
Top