poor buck/doe ratio?

[Treewalker]

My family has 130 acres that we have been hunting since the late 90's.

when we first started hunting this place the deer numbers were alot lower than now. We would see ten, maybe 15 deer a year. BUT, the bucks we saw were MUCH bigger than now.

On most hunts now we see about 6 to 8 does and a spike or two. We have let bucks walk, and walk, and walk. Ofcourse we dont know what the neoghbors are taking.

Anways, to the point, should we be harvesting more does? Seems like since our population has gotten bigger the bucks have gotten smaller?

 

[BSK]

Seems like since our population has gotten bigger the bucks have gotten smaller?

And that's the way deer population dynamics work Treewalker. As deer density increases, individual animal performance declines. That's why Trophy Management programs keep the deer density at very low levels--to maximize the performance of each animal in the population.

However, the reality of your situation is, how much influence can you have on the local deer population, especially considering you have only 130 acres? I seriously doubt you could have a major impact, but shooting a few does certainly won't hurt.

And before you believe a few spikes is all you have around, run a couple of trail-cameras during the season to find out what is really out there. You might be surprised.