Management Buck

[fairchaser]

This happens often, however, not at our place. Every pic is shared. What I don't understand though, is why guys want to go hunt exactly where the buck was photographed….even if that pic was at 1am?

That is funny but if that's all they got at least it's something. We don't share pics because people know the areas we hunt and the next thing you know, you have hunters on top of you. Usually though my buck gets killed two miles away by another hunter who never knew that buck was there.

I will not chance what I shoot. If they have a disease, they have a chance of living and building an immunity to it. If you kill them because you think they may have or could get a disease, there is not chance for them to live and build immunity whether are currently sick or not.

I admire this response. I hate to lower my standards but sadly you can't kill what isn't there or in such limited number that it might as well not be. I will usually set my sights on the best 2-3 bucks that I have pics of. That might be a 4.5 year old 10 point with a 140 rack or 120 3.5 yr old 8 point. I won't go any younger than a 3 yr old.

 

[BSK]

fairchaser, the best response I can currently come up with to the question of whether CWD will change things is: It will not change how I manage a local population, but it sure might change the results.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

This discussion of "management bucks" is a great place to once again reiterate a "truism" about deer management, and that is you cannot stockpile mature bucks. I wish I knew the reasons this is true, but I don't. However, I've seen example after example of the fact it's true. Property after property, even after years of management and photo censuses, I see the same thing, 10-12% of the total buck population is mature. Why is it that no matter how many 3 1/2s hunters pass up, the percentage of mature bucks doesn't keep climbing? I do not know the answer. Perhaps mature bucks are killing each other. Perhaps social pressures drive lesser dominant bucks away. Perhaps neighbors are killing them (the least likely scenario). I don't know the answer. All I know is I run photo censuses on larger properties for years and the percentage of the buck population that is mature hardly budges. This year I had a club set the all-time record - for any census I've conducted in the state of TN - for the percentage of the buck population that is mature, and it was only right around 15%, and that was on a very large club (thousands of acres).

Did the number of mature bucks increase, not percentage, but actual numbers? Could percentage be skewed because younger bucks aren't being killed at all unlike in years past, so there are more bucks in every age class, giving you more bucks in every age class including mature bucks, but still a low percentage of mature bucks?

 

[BSK]

Did the number of mature bucks increase, not percentage, but actual numbers? Could percentage be skewed because younger bucks aren't being killed at all unlike in years past, so there are more bucks in every age class, giving you more bucks in every age class including mature bucks, but still a low percentage of mature bucks?

That is one of the answers. No matter what you do, you can't skew the population pyramid. To get "X" number of mature bucks, you need "Y" number of bucks 3 1/2 and under, which holds the percentage the same over time. But even in a controlled environment, like a high-fence where no bucks are killed by hunters until maturity, the percentage of bucks 4 1/2+ won't ever get very high. Put a bunch of dominance-focused old bucks into an area where they cannot disperse (get away from each other) and they will kill each other.

 

[DeerCamp]

But to agree with a point made by several, do hunters misjudge age and score? Oh heck yes! I'm guilty of it myself. I'll see certain characteristics on a rack and think, "Holy Moly that's a stud!" Until you put a tape on them!

I was chasing the below buck for two years. I really though he was going to seriously score. But what was he when I finally killed him as a 5 1/2 year-old? He grossed just 129. Had to remeasure and add up the score 4 times before I was convinced that's all he scored. But he's still my widest-racked buck at 23". I just thought he would score so much higher than that.

Wide deer will fool you!

Those extra 4" of spread look like a LOT, but they don't add a whole lot.

 

[BSK]

Wide deer will fool you!

Those extra 4" of spread look like a LOT, but they don't add a whole lot.

Exactly.