Great deer!!
I hate the term "cull". If he's a mature, buck, then your hunting what's between his ears and not what's on his head.
no bashing whatsoever. I actually really like your management plan. It's just that pesky word "cull", that is like nails on a chalkboard to me.
I understand your frustration with the term cull... 99% of hunters call a young buck with abnormal antlers due to a pedicle injury a cull to justify shooting him.
For my management strategy, we actually need to remove some of the old deer at the bottom end of the gene pool. The neighbors usually take care of our top end 3.5yos every year, but pass on the old deer with subpar antlers. I know I'm not changing genetics, but these old deer are more likely to injure our most important age class... the 3.5yos. And for those that need meat, my 4.5yos average 190lbs, 5.5yos average 200 lbs, and 6.5yos average 210lbs. Since I dont allow adults to shoot does, a single old cull provides more sausage than 2 adult does.
