megalomaniac":29l4arjr said:
Deer get sick and die all the time from a myriad of reasons.
This cannot be over-stated.
We don't want to believe it, but natural deer mortality may approach 50% on 4 1/2-yr-old bucks.
One of the most vulnerable periods for 4 1/2-yr-old bucks is early January thru early March.
They are often run-down from the rut, physically at their weakest, food sources may be at their lowest, escape cover at it's least.
Just like with humans or any other animal, they can get something as simple as pneumonia, and die.
Sometimes from the pneumonia, sometimes by being weak & easy prey for dogs or coyotes.
Another issue I've only become aware as significant in the past few years:
Coyotes cueing in more on older bucks right after they shed their antlers.
Coyotes (and dogs) will come running to even the faint smell of blood.
Bucks will have blood on their heads from shedding.
The shedding often happens when bucks are at their physically weakest point for the year,
and when escape cover is at its lowest.
Generally speaking, the older the buck, the larger his basal circumferences,
and the more blood on his head after shedding.
Getting bucks to full maturity is not just an issue of management,
but is much an issue of luck, at least regarding any particular buck.
Free-ranging top-end antlered fully mature bucks will always be rare animals in TN
no matter what the deer regs, no matter what anything else.
We can just do what we can to increase the odds of their survival,
but when we identify a top-end antlered 2 1/2-yr-old buck,
his specific odds of surviving to 5 1/2 are much lower than
a more "average" antlered 2 1/2.
(Albeit, this is more due to hunter selectivity, or antler high-grading, than Mother Nature.)