'Doe Sinks'

[ferg]

There has been some discussion on msdotcom about 'doe sinks' - that is the term being tossed around as a 'condition' of QDM - or as a result of building the 'best' habitat around - and - as we know - does will inhabit the very best areas for fawning and rearing - esentually running out all of the bucks in a certain area.

I was wondering for those are or have done extensive cam surveys - do you see this trend in your areas? It is said that the bucks return when it the rut approaches - but 'for the most part' these 'perfect habitat' areas are devoid of bucks and are home to doe families the majority of the time.

Thoughts?

ferg....

 

[BSK]

"Doe sinks" are one of the biggest problems to over-come in small-land management programs (and even some larger-property projects). The much improved habitat of a well-managed property begins drawing in deer from surrounding areas. This problem is most extreme where the managed property is surrounded by poor-quality habitat and minimal doe harvests.

As does are harvested on the managed property, habitat niches are opened up (habitat going unutilized by deer). Deer from surrounding areas shift into the managed property to fill these habitat niches. As long as doe harvests on the surrounding properties remain minimal, doe social groups will continuously shift into the managed property to fill these habitat niche voids created by high doe harvests on the managed property. The result from the hunters/managers perspective is continuous high doe harvests that appear to be producing no results. In fact, often it appears the more does that are harvested, the more does the property has the next year.

This process was actually tested in a very cool experiment in West Virginia (run by UGA graduate student). To the best of the researchers ability, all deer were removed from a square mile area. Trail-cams and spotlight counts could not find a deer in the square mile area after the removal project was complete. Yet by the following year, the area was right back to the same density at which they started. Some deer in surrounding areas had been radio and GPS-collared, so the researchers could actually watch the infiltration process work. The strange thing is, some of the deer that moved into the open niche actually came from miles away. How did the deer know the open niche existed? That's an unanswered question.

 

[Boone 58]

Wow. i love this kind of research.....To me there is still so much unknown about the whitetail deer...and yet we have learned so much.

 

[Food Plot 101]

Interesting.

 

[156p&y]

BSK have you ever noticed that these doe sinks obviously pull in other genetics, but would it create better genetics for that area? I'm wondering b/c our farm was a major doe sink for a long time and I'm assuming still is. When we first started management 15 years ago it was almost a miraculous thing to see a 10 pt. We had tons of really good 8's and 9's but hardly any 10's. Within the past 3 years we are seeing alot of 10 pts even young ones. It's like the surrounding does brought in better genetics.
Or I guess it could just be a lower deer density and better nutrition b/c of it. It just makes me wonder which of the two caused the shift.

 

[farmin68]

BSK have you ever noticed that these doe sinks obviously pull in other genetics, but would it create better genetics for that area? I'm wondering b/c our farm was a major doe sink for a long time and I'm assuming still is. When we first started management 15 years ago it was almost a miraculous thing to see a 10 pt. We had tons of really good 8's and 9's but hardly any 10's. Within the past 3 years we are seeing alot of 10 pts even young ones. It's like the surrounding does brought in better genetics.
Or I guess it could just be a lower deer density and better nutrition b/c of it. It just makes me wonder which of the two caused the shift.

It's the soil. Don't you know that by now? The immigrant does brought better soil with them. ;)

 

[156p&y]

LOL :D where you been man? I don't doubt that we do have good soil for TN. ;)

 

[BSK]

Williamson County already has some the best soil in the state.

Being a "doe sink" would obviously cause more mixing of genetics, as doe groups and their related genetics on the female side (all females of a social group or usually related; i.e mother, daughter, aunt, grandmother, niece, etc.). However, the shifting ranges of bucks and the Yearling Buck Dispersal process all keep "new" genetics flowing into an area every year. In fact, much of whitetailed deer behavior appears to be geared towards maximizing gene flow across long geographic distances as rapidly as possible.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

ferg,

Yes we see this in our area. From our cameras, we see only does, fawns, and yearling bucks the whole summer until about August with the exception of a 2 1/2 here and there. August is when we really start seeing more mature bucks. This year, I tried something different and put some salt/mineral licks on the outskirts of our property. We started seeing pics of 2 1/2 or older bucks around mid-june. These "new sites" were anywhere from a from 1/4 to 1/2 a mile away from the core of our place.

Hope this gives you a little insight on what I have learned at our place over the last couple of years.

 

[BSK]

As JCDEERMAN alluded to, does at fawning time are actually territorial. It is the only time of year (and the only sex) that deer are truly territorial. Each doe will literal force other deer--both bucks and does--out of their small fawning territory. If a property has become a doe sink, often there are so many does and their fawning territories packed into the property that bucks are forced off the property onto neighboring poorer habitat, making a "ring" of buck groups surrounding the managed property. This often shows up in summer photo censuses as many does and fawns on the managed property, but very few older bucks. However, once does reform their family social units in late summer, bucks begin filtering back into the managed property.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

As BSK stated, thats why I never worry when I do not see monster big bucks during the summer on trailcam pics. Most of the bucks we see during hunting season, we dont have any pictures of. Of course some of them we do. Yeah its a BIG plus to see them on camera but half of them are going to be gone come hunting season anyways.

I get most of my pics of mature bucks during hunting season anyways. As far as I see it, I could care less (well I really do care Ha) if I dont get a good buck on camera during the summer, as long as they are in the area during hunting season when I have my bow or gun in my hand!