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Quality Deer Management
Growing Mature Bucks
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<blockquote data-quote="TheLBLman" data-source="post: 5498800" data-attributes="member: 1409"><p>I believe the situation in TN is actually much better now than you're thinking, even on small properties. My standing "rule of thumb" is any buck I pass has about a 50-50 chance of surviving another year, but a 100% chance of not, if I shoot him. And this is the case on many public lands, not just private lands.</p><p></p><p>Also, in most areas of large contiguous acreage, the situation may not be as good as you're thinking. There is a huge difference between an average buck that's surviving to maturity, and a mature buck with above average antler genetics.</p><p></p><p>On some areas of thousands of contiguous acres, where most 2 1/2 & younger bucks survive human hunters, for the past many years, I'm only seeing around one 4 1/2 or older buck being taken annually per approximately 400 acres.</p><p></p><p>Bucks you give a pass this year may have a much higher chance of not being shot by another hunter (this year) than you've been thinking, even on small properties. But even when you give a pass to most 2 1/2's & 3 1/2's, natural mortality may exceed human hunter harvests on 4 1/2's (and older). You can then count on any above average 4 1/2 being heavily targeted by multiple hunters over a wide area. He is very unlikely to survive one of those hunters killing him as a 4 1/2.</p><p></p><p>As to the 7 1/2 yr old I was targeting in 2021, I was also targeting him in 2020 & 2019. Came incredibly close to getting him multiple times, but didn't. Yet gave him multiple passes in 2018 & 2017. The main difference in his older behavior was in his becoming more nocturnal and more sensitive to any human disturbance. I also believe he more or less lost interest in pursuing estrous does during the rut when he became 6 1/2.</p><p></p><p>In these same areas, decades of hunting, I've never killed but one buck believed to be 7 1/2, but have killed several 5 1/2's, one or two 6 1/2's. One buck I was hunting was believed to have been 8 1/2 when he died of natural causes. IMO, half that make it to 5 1/2, then die of pneumonia or predation in the late winter of the fall they turned 5 1/2. Almost none of the other half will live another year, dying of natural causes (illness or predation) at 6 1/2. Some areas will see greater longevity, but this is ridge & hollow land near between the TN Divide & Western Highland Rim of Stewart & Houston Counties (Land Between the Lakes included).</p><p></p><p>Most bucks in this area will grow their highest scoring antlers at 5 1/2 or 6 1/2, but commonly have more mass and non-typical tines the older they get. It's just that most <u>with above average antler genetics</u> will get killed by human hunters when they're 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 (or 3 1/2). Never mind there are plenty of bucks surviving to 3 1/2 & older, just not the ones with the better antler genetics.</p><p></p><p>Anecdotal evidence of hunter antler high-grading can even be deducted by looking at the dates of TN's highest scoring bucks killed since the 1950's. Back when most hunters would simply kill "any" legal buck, there were more above average antlered young bucks surviving to 5 1/2. Interestingly, until the 1970's, TN also had a 1-buck limit and a very short gun season.</p><p></p><p>Until recently, TN's #1 Typical had been taken in 1959. In the 1960's, two B&C bucks were taken on the Catoosa WMA (zero since they began antler restrictions). Look at the dates for Shelby County (home of President's Island WMA). Never mind we have many times more "older" bucks in TN now than we had in the 1960s. It's just that those with the best antler genetics mostly get killed when they're 1 1/2 or 2 1/2.</p><p></p><p>But if you want to kill a 4 1/2-yr-old or older buck in TN, the opportunity for that has never been better. Just don't expect it to have antlers the size of the ones commonly taken in places like Ohio, places with a short gun season and a 1-buck limit. No, I do not want a 1-buck limit in TN, but would be fine if gun season didn't go past some time in December.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TheLBLman, post: 5498800, member: 1409"] I believe the situation in TN is actually much better now than you're thinking, even on small properties. My standing "rule of thumb" is any buck I pass has about a 50-50 chance of surviving another year, but a 100% chance of not, if I shoot him. And this is the case on many public lands, not just private lands. Also, in most areas of large contiguous acreage, the situation may not be as good as you're thinking. There is a huge difference between an average buck that's surviving to maturity, and a mature buck with above average antler genetics. On some areas of thousands of contiguous acres, where most 2 1/2 & younger bucks survive human hunters, for the past many years, I'm only seeing around one 4 1/2 or older buck being taken annually per approximately 400 acres. Bucks you give a pass this year may have a much higher chance of not being shot by another hunter (this year) than you've been thinking, even on small properties. But even when you give a pass to most 2 1/2's & 3 1/2's, natural mortality may exceed human hunter harvests on 4 1/2's (and older). You can then count on any above average 4 1/2 being heavily targeted by multiple hunters over a wide area. He is very unlikely to survive one of those hunters killing him as a 4 1/2. As to the 7 1/2 yr old I was targeting in 2021, I was also targeting him in 2020 & 2019. Came incredibly close to getting him multiple times, but didn't. Yet gave him multiple passes in 2018 & 2017. The main difference in his older behavior was in his becoming more nocturnal and more sensitive to any human disturbance. I also believe he more or less lost interest in pursuing estrous does during the rut when he became 6 1/2. In these same areas, decades of hunting, I've never killed but one buck believed to be 7 1/2, but have killed several 5 1/2's, one or two 6 1/2's. One buck I was hunting was believed to have been 8 1/2 when he died of natural causes. IMO, half that make it to 5 1/2, then die of pneumonia or predation in the late winter of the fall they turned 5 1/2. Almost none of the other half will live another year, dying of natural causes (illness or predation) at 6 1/2. Some areas will see greater longevity, but this is ridge & hollow land near between the TN Divide & Western Highland Rim of Stewart & Houston Counties (Land Between the Lakes included). Most bucks in this area will grow their highest scoring antlers at 5 1/2 or 6 1/2, but commonly have more mass and non-typical tines the older they get. It's just that most [U]with above average antler genetics[/U] will get killed by human hunters when they're 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 (or 3 1/2). Never mind there are plenty of bucks surviving to 3 1/2 & older, just not the ones with the better antler genetics. Anecdotal evidence of hunter antler high-grading can even be deducted by looking at the dates of TN's highest scoring bucks killed since the 1950's. Back when most hunters would simply kill "any" legal buck, there were more above average antlered young bucks surviving to 5 1/2. Interestingly, until the 1970's, TN also had a 1-buck limit and a very short gun season. Until recently, TN's #1 Typical had been taken in 1959. In the 1960's, two B&C bucks were taken on the Catoosa WMA (zero since they began antler restrictions). Look at the dates for Shelby County (home of President's Island WMA). Never mind we have many times more "older" bucks in TN now than we had in the 1960s. It's just that those with the best antler genetics mostly get killed when they're 1 1/2 or 2 1/2. But if you want to kill a 4 1/2-yr-old or older buck in TN, the opportunity for that has never been better. Just don't expect it to have antlers the size of the ones commonly taken in places like Ohio, places with a short gun season and a 1-buck limit. No, I do not want a 1-buck limit in TN, but would be fine if gun season didn't go past some time in December. [/QUOTE]
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