Seeing affects of '07 drought

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AlabamaSwamper

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Added to that the acorn failure and EHD (even though I don't think we were hit very hard at all).

My cameras don't lie and the 2.5y/o age class of bucks is not very good. We had very few fawns in '08 and no twins that I remember. Last year, our yearling buck class was way down and it is definately showing this year. I'm not sold that our fawn numbers jumped very much last year either for whatever reason.

Now, this year, we got fawns everywhere and lots of twins so I'm feeling much better now.

We have for some reason become a doe sink (as some of you call it) without really killing a bunch of does the last two years.
 
Sounds like you could just have the best land around,and the does are keeping the bucks away,so them and the fawns get the best nutrition,least thats what I hope is happening at my place.
 
Interesting observation at our club. This is the first year we have really done anything with trail cams. We have been running 4 for 4 weeks. One of them is getting 2 1/2 year old bucks and older. The other 3 only get does and fawns.
 
last year on one of my farms we literally saw more 2.5 yr olds than 1.5 yr olds. Recruitment was abysmal the year of the drought on my properties
 
Football Hunter said:
Sounds like you could just have the best land around,and the does are keeping the bucks away,so them and the fawns get the best nutrition,least thats what I hope is happening at my place.
Click to expand...

Me as well and so far over 2 years it seems to be true. All I get is one or two 1.5's and a bunch of does and fawns in the summer and early season, but starting mid october I get pics of lots of different bucks. Between personal sightings and pics last year I had 12 different bucks on 104 acres. Only one was potentially a 3.5 so I'm looking forward to this season.
 
Of course cameras only give me a hint of what we have. I can say I have never seen so many does, at least not in the last 3 years. I'm even getting multiple does and fawns at the same locations which is rare for me. Maybe it's a bunch of younger does with fawns and they just haven't ran each other off but we have plenty.


I've never had trouble getting our bucks on camera either. We have several this year but I've noticed that 2.5y/o class of bucks is way down in numbers. Most likely got as many 3.5+ as any year. My pics of different yearlings are a little down but so was our fawn numbers last year but the fawn numbers of '08 was almost at 0.

Now, this year is like most years. Plenty of fawns and over 1/2 of the does I get have twin fawns this year which is the best I've ever seen it.
 
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When I say 2.5y/o class, that is just a guess but almost every buck I have this year is either an older buck of 3.5+ or a yearling. I'm sure a few of those could be younger 2.5's or older 2.5's that may appear younger or older but it's no doubt less.

I expected it so it's not shocking. I knew after the low fawn numbers of '08 and even last year to some extent that we would see this.

Good news is though, we seem to be in good shape for the future.
 
Strangely, I'm not getting many yearling bucks on my place this year. So far, 14 individual bucks, and only 3 are yearlings.
 
BamaSwamper,

did you guys back off the doe harvest immediately post EHD?

Personally, we cut our doe harvest that year by around 400%. But last year, we went right back to our usual harvest.

If you didn't focus on the does last year, you should have more than a bumper crop of this year's yearlings and fawns. Last year and this year have been phenominal for fawn recruitment on my farms.
 
I think they all just moved up to my place. Last year I only had one 1.5 yr old on my cameras the whole summer. I figured it was from EHD and the drought but now this year I have several 2.5 yr olds showing up. Last camera check I had 19 different bucks on 2 different cams and 4 of them were yearlings. I am only getting about 6 different does on camera though. I am thinking that once the season starts more does will move in.
 
We've definitely backed way off on our doe harvests. They used to be manditory. Now they are "if you want to shoot one." And even then I generally don't shoot does so other hunters can. I want to hold our doe harvest to the same level or lower than our buck harvest.
 
My county just wend from a zone 2 to zone 3 in KY, that along with the sightings Ive had has me hesitant to shoot a doe. We see plenty of bucks and some sure enough good ones, but its not like unit L in doe sightings... If I was to harbor a guess at the resident does on my 104 acres Id say its around 3-4 2.5 or older does annually. That might even be high I have no idea.

I bought it right after EDH so they said it got hit hard but I dont have a clue as to what it was prior to the outbreak.
 

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