Lockdown?

[JCDEERMAN]

even if it's just 10-15%, those handful of does recycling a month later create such a frenzy amongst bucks it makes the 2nd rut SEEM almost as intense as the first)

We see the same thing the second week of December every year in Hickman. Killed a couple of good bucks 12/8 - 12/15 trailing does and fawns. A lot of cameras validating this as well. After that, nothing!

 

[BSK]

How long did it take to get the buck to doe ratio like that? How was the buck activity prior to that?

A bit of a story. Back when QDM first started, we ran a long experiment to find out what would happen if hunters on a medium-sized property absolutely hammered the doe population. For about 6 years we shot every legal doe we saw. Literally. If you saw 3 does, and it was legal, I wanted 3 dead does. Surprisingly, the only things we accomplished was to push the observed adult sex ratio from about 2.0 does per buck to around 1.3 does per buck. However, we saw more of an effect in the age structure of the doe population. Just like over-harvesting bucks produces a younger and younger buck age structure, we found the excessive harvest of does caused the female age structure to decline. We were no longer killing mature does. Most were 2 1/2 or younger. We didn't shoot out the doe population because no one on surrounding properties was shooting does, hence we became a "doe sink." Every doe that was taken off our place was replaced by a doe from surrounding properties with higher deer densities, and it was usually a young subordinate doe.

Everything changed in 2007. The area was absolutely hammered by an EHD outbreak (losing somewhere between 30 and 50% of the entire deer population) while at the same time a very large neighboring Federal Wildlife Refuge implemented an Earn-A-Buck harvest program, where hunters had to shoot an antlerless deer before they could shoot a buck. Considering that at the time, the only hunts offered on the Refuge were 3-day hunts, hunters would hammer every deer that didn't qualify as antlered in the first day so they could hunt bucks, the deer population for the entire area dramatically declined, especially the female segment. From that year until they ended the Earn-A-Buck policy, we ran at least 2 bucks per doe, and sometimes higher. Now that they've ended to Earn-A-Buck program were starting to see an increase in doe and fawn numbers. Because of the dramatic decline in total deer density following the 2007 EHD outbreak, we stopped shooting does. We've hardly killed a single one since that year.

 

[jmf]

A bit of a story. Back when QDM first started, we ran a long experiment to find out what would happen if hunters on a medium-sized property absolutely hammered the doe population. For about 6 years we shot every legal doe we saw. Literally. If you saw 3 does, and it was legal, I wanted 3 dead does. Surprisingly, the only things we accomplished was to push the observed adult sex ratio from about 2.0 does per buck to around 1.3 does per buck. However, we saw more of an effect in the age structure of the doe population. Just like over-harvesting bucks produces a younger and younger buck age structure, we found the excessive harvest of does caused the female age structure to decline. We were no longer killing mature does. Most were 2 1/2 or younger. We didn't shoot out the doe population because no one on surrounding properties was shooting does, hence we became a "doe sink." Every doe that was taken off our place was replaced by a doe from surrounding properties with higher deer densities, and it was usually a young subordinate doe.

Everything changed in 2007. The area was absolutely hammered by an EHD outbreak (losing somewhere between 30 and 50% of the entire deer population) while at the same time a very large neighboring Federal Wildlife Refuge implemented an Earn-A-Buck harvest program, where hunters had to shoot an antlerless deer before they could shoot a buck. Considering that at the time, the only hunts offered on the Refuge were 3-day hunts, hunters would hammer every deer that didn't qualify as antlered in the first day so they could hunt bucks, the deer population for the entire area dramatically declined, especially the female segment. From that year until they ended the Earn-A-Buck policy, we ran at least 2 bucks per doe, and sometimes higher. Now that they've ended to Earn-A-Buck program were starting to see an increase in doe and fawn numbers. Because of the dramatic decline in total deer density following the 2007 EHD outbreak, we stopped shooting does. We've hardly killed a single one since that year.

Thanks for explaining the situation. I spoke with a guy at the taxidermist Saturday. I was dropping off a cape and he was dropping of a 5.5 year old 150" deer from his farm in nw tn and a 160" rack from his farm in Illinois. We got to talking about his farms. He also said he had a farm in bolivar. He was saying on all his farms the buck to doe ratio was pretty close to 1:1. They kill allot of does And he said allot. He said it has made a big difference for the better and gets the mature bucks on their feet and moving. This has really got me curious about buck to doe ratios. We always hear second hand experience so it was good to hear from somebody first hand that has done the same thing on multiple farms in different geographic areas.

 

[mossyoakmantn]

This has been the oddest year for me. I'm in northern Robertson county. I have not seen the traditional "rut" activity I usually do. Usually by now I've seen lots of chasing,grunting ,tons of scrapes and rubs. I've not seen the mature bucks I usually do. I have good pics of mature bucks up until a couple weeks ago but all at night. I've even seen some mature bucks at night with one doe. I think there is something to the lockdown theory. I'm wondering if something is going on out here. Like I said lack of runs and scrapes. They are here but not like usual. Every year I hear bucks grunting their heads off chasing but this year none. I split my hunting areas up between 10 different stands in order to not "burn out" an area.

 

[BSK]

Thanks for explaining the situation. I spoke with a guy at the taxidermist Saturday. I was dropping off a cape and he was dropping of a 5.5 year old 150" deer from his farm in nw tn and a 160" rack from his farm in Illinois. We got to talking about his farms. He also said he had a farm in bolivar. He was saying on all his farms the buck to doe ratio was pretty close to 1:1. They kill allot of does And he said allot. He said it has made a big difference for the better and gets the mature bucks on their feet and moving. This has really got me curious about buck to doe ratios. We always hear second hand experience so it was good to hear from somebody first hand that has done the same thing on multiple farms in different geographic areas.

Doe harvests and the "best" adult sex ratio is a tough question. Back when I was working for Grant Woods (growingdeertv), we were experimenting with doe harvests on large properties all over the eastern U.S., from Oklahoma to Maine to Florida. We found we just couldn't shoot the doe populations down by much. But here is the key: that was before shooting does became popular/acceptable. In essence, neighboring properties were not shooting does. Once everybody started shooting does, we found out just how fast you could knock down a deer population through excessive doe harvests!

After looking at lots of camera census and hunter observation data over long periods of time (I have some clients with 20 years of observation data and 10 years of census data, and my own property with 35 years of ultra-detailed observation data and 21 years of census data), I'm convinced the best "real" (census) adult sex ratio for hunters is around 1.5 does per buck. This is balanced enough to keep competition between bucks high while preventing does from getting so gun shy they never show their faces.

 

[jmf]

Doe harvests and the "best" adult sex ratio is a tough question. Back when I was working for Grant Woods (growingdeertv), we were experimenting with doe harvests on large properties all over the eastern U.S., from Oklahoma to Maine to Florida. We found we just couldn't shoot the doe populations down by much. But here is the key: that was before shooting does became popular/acceptable. In essence, neighboring properties were not shooting does. Once everybody started shooting does, we found out just how fast you could knock down a deer population through excessive doe harvests!

After looking at lots of camera census and hunter observation data over long periods of time (I have some clients with 20 years of observation data and 10 years of census data, and my own property with 35 years of ultra-detailed observation data and 21 years of census data), I'm convinced the best "real" (census) adult sex ratio for hunters is around 1.5 does per buck. This is balanced enough to keep competition between bucks high while preventing does from getting so gun shy they never show their faces.

Lots of great info. Thank you. When performing a census, what does one do? Count doe/buck observations in the field and on cameras? For what length of time?

 

[BSK]

Lots of great info. Thank you. When performing a census, what does one do? Count doe/buck observations in the field and on cameras? For what length of time?

I developed and run season-long censuses. The problem with the photo census as it was originally designed is it only counts the deer using a property over 2-3 weeks in late summer. But what about properties that have a lot of seasonal range-shifters and other transitory deer? The late summer census isn't going to count those deer. In addition, the photo census was originally designed to be performed over bait stations or feeders. Subsequent research, and personal experience, shows some deer never come to bait stations. And in CWD areas, you can't feed deer.

For a season-long census, I run cameras pointed at anything that focuses deer traffic: from small food plots, to travel bottlenecks, to scrapes during the rut. I run the cameras from at least the beginning of September (and sometimes earlier) until mid-January. Three of the four data points needed for census calculations is the total number of bucks appearing in photographs, the total number of does, and the total number of fawns. And then the critical data point is the number of unique bucks in all the photographs. That can be tough to determine and requires a lot of practice to pull off accurately. But that number of unique bucks is so important because it is used to calculate how often, on average, each deer is repeat photographed.

And that's just the surface of camera censusing deer. Many, many tricks and pitfalls to using this method, but it's the best method known for tracking buck/deer populations, sex ratios, and fawn recruitment numbers.

 

[Headhunter]

A bit of a story. Back when QDM first started, we ran a long experiment to find out what would happen if hunters on a medium-sized property absolutely hammered the doe population. For about 6 years we shot every legal doe we saw. Literally. If you saw 3 does, and it was legal, I wanted 3 dead does. Surprisingly, the only things we accomplished was to push the observed adult sex ratio from about 2.0 does per buck to around 1.3 does per buck. However, we saw more of an effect in the age structure of the doe population. Just like over-harvesting bucks produces a younger and younger buck age structure, we found the excessive harvest of does caused the female age structure to decline. We were no longer killing mature does. Most were 2 1/2 or younger. We didn't shoot out the doe population because no one on surrounding properties was shooting does, hence we became a "doe sink." Every doe that was taken off our place was replaced by a doe from surrounding properties with higher deer densities, and it was usually a young subordinate doe.

Everything changed in 2007. The area was absolutely hammered by an EHD outbreak (losing somewhere between 30 and 50% of the entire deer population) while at the same time a very large neighboring Federal Wildlife Refuge implemented an Earn-A-Buck harvest program, where hunters had to shoot an antlerless deer before they could shoot a buck. Considering that at the time, the only hunts offered on the Refuge were 3-day hunts, hunters would hammer every deer that didn't qualify as antlered in the first day so they could hunt bucks, the deer population for the entire area dramatically declined, especially the female segment. From that year until they ended the Earn-A-Buck policy, we ran at least 2 bucks per doe, and sometimes higher. Now that they've ended to Earn-A-Buck program were starting to see an increase in doe and fawn numbers. Because of the dramatic decline in total deer density following the 2007 EHD outbreak, we stopped shooting does. We've hardly killed a single one since that year.

I am not a "deer biologist" and don't claim to be, I know I don't have the experience you do, but I do have a pile of experience though with killing does.
It was a mistake to kill all the does. Of course all you got from surrounding properties was younger does, mature does basically do not shift their core area unless forced to. By killing all the does, you killed what would have been your future mature does. Why do i say that?

The biologists who helped with properties I have been asked to help kill does on, those biologists instructed us to ONLY shoot mature does, wait for a family group to come out and shoot "momma" (and we never have had a problem with those mature does being replaced). Shooting only mature does has several benefits, one of them is almost eliminating killing of button bucks. Over 100 does a year was killed off one farm each year, 2 years in a row, only 2 to 3 button bucks total were killed over those 2 years. The rut and the buck sightings went through the roof. There has been nothing but absolute success on every place I have been involved in doing this. And as far as no mature does, there has always been plenty because we didn't kill the young does that knew that area as their home, so they matured and stayed there.

And yes after shooting a pile of does off of one farm, it was absolutely hammered by EHD one year, worst thing was it killed a large number of mature bucks, and has had years of varying amounts of dead deer from EHD mixed in many other years. And depending on effects of EHD, the deer kill was cut way down or basically nothing. But when the doe population gets high enough, and I get a call to help, we shoot mature does, nothing else. It is amazing the results from shooting only momma does, the benefits are great, especially buck sightings, observed rut activity, and the overall hunting of the places this is done on.

The place I hunt in KY, it has for sure made a difference and we are not killing anywhere near enough mature does but we do try.

 

[Cheshire]

I would love to know what is really going on during the period hunters call "lockdown," when there is a sudden decrease in older buck sightings during what is usually the peak of breeding. In fact, many hunters say they never experience it on their hunting property. In addition, researchers working with GPS collared bucks say it doesn't happen. But I've personally experienced it too many times, and talked to other hunters that experience it, to discount that "something" occurs to reduce daylight sightings of older bucks. I suspect the GPS collar research is focused on percent of positions that show movement versus "spatial" extent of the movements. I remember reading studies of GPS collared does that showed they greatly increased their movements when they were in estrus, but greatly decreased the spatial extent of their movements. In essence, they moved more, almost constantly, but they shrunk the distance they were covering down to a smaller area. I have personally witnessed this while hunting, seeing an "agitated" doe come through my hunting set-up over and over during a single hunt. Nature has probably designed this behavior to concentrate the estrus does scent in one area, making it easier for cruising bucks to locate her. I suspect something like this occurs with an older buck tending an estrus doe. The pair may move more, but they are doing so in a very small location, and that location is probably going to be in thick cover.

If I had to pick a 10 day window of peak breeding for my place, using years of trail-camera data, I would choose Nov. 11-20. During that time 3 1/2+ year old buck sightings by hunters decline dramatically. Harvest data bears that out as well, as most of our 3 1/2+ year-old buck kills occur just before that period (first part of MZ season), or after that period (usually Thanksgiving week). I suspect our success before and after peak breeding is because fewer does are in estrus at those times, hence older bucks have to seek more to find a receptive doe, bringing them past our "movement pattern" stand locations more frequently than during peak breeding.

However, as I mentioned previously, some hunters never experience lockdown on their hunting properties. I wonder if habitat plays a role, in that hunting more open ground - areas with more pasture and agriculture - don't see lockdown as much?

All questions I would love to have answers to...

No doubt in my mind that the lock down is real. I have hunted the same property for 13 years. Chasing phase is always November 16 - 20. After that it's like you flip a switch and the deer are gone. After a couple weeks, not sure how long, doe groups reappear. I used to think it was hunting pressure and or lack of cover. Now I think it's more about the lock down because they come back after awhile