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TN Deer Population
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<blockquote data-quote="BSK" data-source="post: 5635064" data-attributes="member: 17"><p>You aren't improving or harming the local genetics by what you harvest. Big antlered bucks don't produce big antlered male offspring. The mother has far more to do with a buck's antler size at maturity. By protecting the best younger bucks, all you're doing is allowing young bucks <strong>that show the most potential</strong> and allowing them to reach maturity, where they can express that potential. Although it cannot be said this is true in every instance, what I have seen when being able to track bucks over their lifetime (or at least from 2 1/2 onwards), is that the vast majority of very large antlered mature bucks were large-antlered for their age at every age. In essence, most huge antlered mature bucks <strong>were way above average at 3 1/2 and 2 1/2.</strong> That doesn't mean a large-antlered 2 1/2 will become a monster at maturity, but he has the best potential to be large at maturity. It has been exceedingly rare for me to find a huge-antlered mature buck that <strong>wasn't</strong> above average for his age at 2 1/2 and 3 1/2.</p><p></p><p>So by protecting large-antlered young bucks, you are allowing bucks with the best potential to grow to maturity, where they can express that potential.</p><p></p><p>Now what should be protected by age-class? That depends on what the averages are for your area. In my area, 2 1/2 year-old bucks average around 85 gross. So any 2 1/2 topping 100 gross should be protected. 3 1/2s average 105 gross, so I would certainly protect 3 1/2s that push the 120 mark.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BSK, post: 5635064, member: 17"] You aren't improving or harming the local genetics by what you harvest. Big antlered bucks don't produce big antlered male offspring. The mother has far more to do with a buck's antler size at maturity. By protecting the best younger bucks, all you're doing is allowing young bucks [B]that show the most potential[/B] and allowing them to reach maturity, where they can express that potential. Although it cannot be said this is true in every instance, what I have seen when being able to track bucks over their lifetime (or at least from 2 1/2 onwards), is that the vast majority of very large antlered mature bucks were large-antlered for their age at every age. In essence, most huge antlered mature bucks [B]were way above average at 3 1/2 and 2 1/2.[/B] That doesn't mean a large-antlered 2 1/2 will become a monster at maturity, but he has the best potential to be large at maturity. It has been exceedingly rare for me to find a huge-antlered mature buck that [B]wasn't[/B] above average for his age at 2 1/2 and 3 1/2. So by protecting large-antlered young bucks, you are allowing bucks with the best potential to grow to maturity, where they can express that potential. Now what should be protected by age-class? That depends on what the averages are for your area. In my area, 2 1/2 year-old bucks average around 85 gross. So any 2 1/2 topping 100 gross should be protected. 3 1/2s average 105 gross, so I would certainly protect 3 1/2s that push the 120 mark. [/QUOTE]
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