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Tennessee Hunting Forums
Quality Deer Management
Tell me the truth
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<blockquote data-quote="BSK" data-source="post: 5054264" data-attributes="member: 17"><p>When it comes to the question of supplemental feeding, the first thing I would ask is are the deer running out of the current food by late winter? Are all of the food plots down to the dirt? Are the natural out-of-the-ground food plants being eaten completely away by late February? If not, then supplemental feeding wouldn't be doing much.</p><p></p><p>diamond hunter, your property sounds great. It sounds like you're doing everything right. I wouldn't worry about having "too many choices" for the deer. Although it may be frustrating for the hunters, many different choices reduces hunting pressure, influencing deer to stay put instead of leaving to find less pressure.</p><p></p><p>Do you have good trail-camera data indicating you don't have enough mature bucks? Just remember, in most situations, mature bucks NEVER make up more than a small percentage of all bucks. As a general round number, I would say around 10% is about the most you will see (I've seen very large properties max out a little higher, but 10% is a good average figure). And as for antler score, some areas "have it" and others don't. I've got a club client with thousands of acres and a near unlimited budget for food plots. They plant hundreds of acres every year. But even though 12-13% of their buck population is mature, only very rarely do they ever grow a buck over 140. The ground just doesn't support that. The property is all ridge-and-hollow landscape, and those soils aren't very conducive to growing antlers. In those environments. the average fully mature buck only gross 125 (which interestingly, exactly matches the famous King Ranch in TX). Only a small percentage of mature bucks grow 140+ antlers in that environment.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BSK, post: 5054264, member: 17"] When it comes to the question of supplemental feeding, the first thing I would ask is are the deer running out of the current food by late winter? Are all of the food plots down to the dirt? Are the natural out-of-the-ground food plants being eaten completely away by late February? If not, then supplemental feeding wouldn't be doing much. diamond hunter, your property sounds great. It sounds like you're doing everything right. I wouldn't worry about having "too many choices" for the deer. Although it may be frustrating for the hunters, many different choices reduces hunting pressure, influencing deer to stay put instead of leaving to find less pressure. Do you have good trail-camera data indicating you don't have enough mature bucks? Just remember, in most situations, mature bucks NEVER make up more than a small percentage of all bucks. As a general round number, I would say around 10% is about the most you will see (I've seen very large properties max out a little higher, but 10% is a good average figure). And as for antler score, some areas "have it" and others don't. I've got a club client with thousands of acres and a near unlimited budget for food plots. They plant hundreds of acres every year. But even though 12-13% of their buck population is mature, only very rarely do they ever grow a buck over 140. The ground just doesn't support that. The property is all ridge-and-hollow landscape, and those soils aren't very conducive to growing antlers. In those environments. the average fully mature buck only gross 125 (which interestingly, exactly matches the famous King Ranch in TX). Only a small percentage of mature bucks grow 140+ antlers in that environment. [/QUOTE]
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