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Tennessee Hunting Forums
Quality Deer Management
Looking for buck high-grading
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<blockquote data-quote="BSK" data-source="post: 5657217" data-attributes="member: 17"><p>These declines in middle-aged buck antler scores due to social pressures have almost always been noted in research facilities, where deer are kept in unnaturally close association (say, a 5-acre enclosure). This alone may account for the social pressure induced problems. In a more natural setting, dominant and subordinated bucks wouldn't have to spend so much time in direct association. But it has been documented that social pressures can have all sorts of effects on subordinated bucks. However, most of those effects vanish once the bucks reach dominance status. It's kind of like the kid who is bullied in school and displays a myriad of resulting problems. Move him to a different school where he's not bullied and he flourishes.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Just a comment that I wouldn't try to slaughter all the mature bucks just to relieve social pressure on middle-aged bucks!</p><p></p><p>Wow, killing 60% of your mature bucks is very impressive! Since 2008, of the 47 mature bucks captured on film on my place, how many did we kill? Just 6. In our extreme terrain and cover-heavy habitat, visual ranges are so short hunters need to get into bow-range of a mature buck to kill him with a gun. That is tough for a group of very average hunters.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Is your buck age structure improving (percent of bucks that are mature), or total number of bucks increasing, or both? I ask because our local buck age structure maxed out many years ago (around 2005). The percent of the buck population that is mature has remained stable since then (around 8%). However, the total number of bucks captured on camera each year has fluctuated and appears to be closely linked to the percent of the property that is high-quality cover. The more cover, the more bucks we attract to the property. So some years we have more mature bucks, but only because we have more total bucks. The percent that are mature remains the same from year to year.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BSK, post: 5657217, member: 17"] These declines in middle-aged buck antler scores due to social pressures have almost always been noted in research facilities, where deer are kept in unnaturally close association (say, a 5-acre enclosure). This alone may account for the social pressure induced problems. In a more natural setting, dominant and subordinated bucks wouldn't have to spend so much time in direct association. But it has been documented that social pressures can have all sorts of effects on subordinated bucks. However, most of those effects vanish once the bucks reach dominance status. It's kind of like the kid who is bullied in school and displays a myriad of resulting problems. Move him to a different school where he's not bullied and he flourishes. Just a comment that I wouldn't try to slaughter all the mature bucks just to relieve social pressure on middle-aged bucks! Wow, killing 60% of your mature bucks is very impressive! Since 2008, of the 47 mature bucks captured on film on my place, how many did we kill? Just 6. In our extreme terrain and cover-heavy habitat, visual ranges are so short hunters need to get into bow-range of a mature buck to kill him with a gun. That is tough for a group of very average hunters. Is your buck age structure improving (percent of bucks that are mature), or total number of bucks increasing, or both? I ask because our local buck age structure maxed out many years ago (around 2005). The percent of the buck population that is mature has remained stable since then (around 8%). However, the total number of bucks captured on camera each year has fluctuated and appears to be closely linked to the percent of the property that is high-quality cover. The more cover, the more bucks we attract to the property. So some years we have more mature bucks, but only because we have more total bucks. The percent that are mature remains the same from year to year. [/QUOTE]
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Looking for buck high-grading
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