Wildlife Mgt Expert Resources Here

[BigDave12]

I just wanted to say that I have been a member on this site for many years, but I haven't posted very much here. That said, I follow it everyday though. I felt it is worth noting here, publicly, that we are unbelievably fortunate to have some extremely valuable wildlife management experts (resources) who post here. Their education, experience, wildlife knowledge, and ability to communicate it well really stands out.

I haven't met them (wish I had though), but BSK and LBLMan stand out to me for such. Their posts, when discussing wildlife and land management is something everyone should pay attention to. I have a degree and even did my senior thesis on whitetail management in the southeast many many years ago (which was actually published in our college's archives), but the knowledge of folks on this site continues to guide and teach me.

While I don't own private property, I have managed my leases ever since I began leasing back in the late 90s. In doing so, I have always managed for a healthy doe population. The principle of "if you build it, they will come" is somewhat of my motto and has worked well. Many times on this site, people refer to much of the same principle. It has served me well and I'm sure many others too, but the insight BSK (and others who I may fail to mention by name but not purposefully) provides allows us all to focus on wildlife and land management combined.

I just wanted to say that I sincerely appreciate those who contribute thoughtful insights that help us all as hunters. We become better hunters and people because of it. Please keep providing such information well into the future. Keep hunting and spreading the conservation mindset too.

For those wandering, the attached pic is my best to date and one I took in 2014 after 8 years of management. Scored 146 and was 5 1/2 yrs old from Dickson County. Management does work - even on small parcels of land.

 

[Pilchard]

I too am thankful for the people on this site who share their knowledge! Unrelated to deer hunting even. I'll post a question here before I try to find the answer myself just because of the diverse perspective and different answers I get exposed to.

Oh… I almost forgot… welcome, and great buck!

 

[megalomaniac]

I learned about 75% of what I know about hunting and management from this site. The other 25% I still have to learn.

 

[Antler Daddy]

Throughout the years, I read NAW, DDH, and other rags cover to cover, they taught me a lot. However, I learned a tremendous amount about deer on this site and a lot of what I had learned previously was proven wrong by tndeer.

There are some very smart people on tndeer on a variety of topics from investing to marriage to covid. You can always learn something here.

 

[TheLBLman]

I felt it is worth noting here, publicly, that we are unbelievably fortunate . . . . .

Wow, BigDave12.
I am humbled by your writings.
Thank You.

That's a magnificent mature buck you took in 2014,
and your photography skills undoubtedly exceed my hunting skills!
That is just a fantastic picture of you with your buck.

 

[BigDave12]

Thanks LBLman! You should hear the story that goes with that buck. It was truly an awesome experience. He and the 2 mature does he was chasing were making noises I have never heard before, or after, in the woods.

 

[BSK]

I appreciate the accolades BigDave12, although I don't think I deserve them.

And that's a stud buck!

 

[TheLBLman]

You should hear the story that goes with that buck. It was truly an awesome experience. He and the 2 mature does he was chasing were making noises I have never heard before, or after, in the woods.

You should post it here!

 

[double browtine]

I agree 100% with your post BigDave12! And that is an awesome buck!

 

[BigDave12]

Thanks guys. I've just never been much of a poster but maybe I can change that. I pay a lot of attention to what gets put out there but I just don't tend to post very much.

When it comes to hunting, deer hunting especially, I tend to go on and on so that's probably why I don't post much. My thumbs would go numb too . But, oh the stories I would love to tell and the many pics I have to go along with them…

LBLman, maybe I'll post a story or two every now and then throughout the off season just to stoke that fire in folks who may start missing deer season.

 

[TNTreeman]

Great buck Dave and I agree about the knowledge on this site. Could you expand on your doe management program?

 

[Popcorn]

I just wanted to say that I sincerely appreciate those who contribute thoughtful insights that help us all as hunters. We become better hunters and people because of it. Please keep providing such information well into the future. Keep hunting and spreading the conservation mindset too.

I'm right there with you. I like the observations followed up with different points of view and varied circumstances. Decades of hands on experience , real world application of processes and all that can go wrong. Appreciate these guys and all they share.

 

[BigDave12]

Sure TNTreeman.

I grew up in southeast GA (been in TN though since 1992) and started managing hunting property when I was there - even when I was a teenager. In southeast GA (back then at least), the buck to doe ratio was seriously imbalanced. People believed in shooting lots of does. I learned early on that if you do that, then your likelihood of seeing high quality bucks went down a lot - especially as pressure increased. But, does are extremely essential to a healthy deer herd. After all, that's what the bucks chase but they are also what keeps the population going.

So, we started managing our lease back then with food plots that provided the does a high quality food source year round. It was the basic stuff back then (peas or soybeans, rotating to corn, sorghum, winter rye, winter wheat, winter oats, etc), but it worked for our areas. Even though it doesn't get very cold in southeast GA, a deer's dietary needs do still change from season to season. With that, we implemented some strategies for harvesting deer too.

Those on our lease were allowed to primarily harvest their does during bow season. Gun season started the 3rd weekend in Oct so muzzleloader didn't play much of a role. Then, it was bucks only through Thanksgiving. As we did this, our members were becoming more interested in taking more mature bucks because they were actually seeing more bucks during gun season. And as pressure increased around our lease, even more bucks were showing up during daylight that we had never seen before. Our 2nd year of this, one of our members killed a 17pt on the 2nd weekend of gun season. We then allowed doe harvests again for the last two weeks of the season but no more than 2 does per hunter (or a maximum of 3 does for the whole year). This was all on a lease that was only 200 acres but had 8 members.

What I learned from all that was that if you provide the right nutrition for does, preferably year round, the healthier your deer herd will be - even on small parcels. The fertility and mortality rates seems to improve, the fawn population seemed healthier, and the local doe groups seemed to increase in size (used to be only 1-2 does together with their fawns but became 4-5 does together with their fawns). The bucks will still modify their travel routes throughout the year, but the does tended to have a more localized home range. This meant that the more comfortable and healthy the does were, the more likely they were to stick around throughout the year. This in turn, led to the bucks taking advantage of the food sources year round and also frequenting our parcels more often during the rut cause that's where the ladies were. We saw that the younger bucks seems to have better racks earlier earlier in their life than in the past too. Remember, this is all in the late 80s and early 90s, so I'm writing this the way we "learned" it back then (there was no internet and wildlife management wasn't widely spoken of). We believed that while the doe numbers were still high, we were actually seeing an increase in bucks too - creating a little better buck to doe ratio on our lease than in other parts of the local area. We believed that the deer seemed less stressed on our lease and that seemed to carry on throughout the season (somewhat of course) due to our harvest restrictions.

Ironically, Dooley County in GA began the first QDM restrictions that we had ever heard of about the same time we were doing what we were. Dooley County was about 2-3 hours away from where we were doing our "stuff" so we weren't neighbors by any means. So, I guess you could say our lease began our own form of QDM that we were aware of at least and it sure worked for us.

Since being in TN (since 1992 but started hunting TN in 1996), I have found that managing for does tends to work best here too. I still prescribe to taking does during bow season and really restricting any further doe harvest during the season on our lease (but it's only 100 acres with about 40 acres of huntable land). Now's the time to say I'd love to find a closer place to home and larger but I digress. We try to only harvest mature bucks (4 1/2 yrs old) too. We now plant our food plots with better nutrition sources (clovers, turnips, radishes, winter peas, vetch, chickory/other brassicas, etc) but we still also include the normal winter wheat, rye, oats, etc.

We really focus our hunting efforts on travel corridors to and from our food sources as opposed to taking deer off those food sources all the time. We still take a deer or two from the plots but we use the plots more to understand the travel patterns more so. Does pick up on human presence and increased traffic just as bucks do, so we still focus on being smart about how we get to and from our stands and we use lots of no-scent spray. Getting picked off over and over on small tracts can be detrimental.

We have also learned that many times we have to be untraditional in our hunting methods. For instance, on small tracts of land your options for moving about can be really restricted. So, when many people wouldn't think of going into a stand when the wind is "wrong", I will tend to save some of my best places for that exact time. When I do so, I hunt from the ground (I never hunt from an elevated ladder, lock on, or climbing stand in these situations), use lots of no-scent spray, and utilize a good bit of doe estrous scents around me (especially the spray type). You would be amazed at just how many bucks (and does because they recognize a comfortable scent) will come to that scent when it is carried directly to them by the wind - and most people say never to get upwind of a buck. In fact, I used this exact same technique when I took the buck in that picture And, I had seen 3 other does before I had him come thru chasing 2 mature does. By the way, I shot him at 15 yards too.

Again, for me, if you build it, then they will come. Since I don't own the properties I hunt unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of major land or timber management to assist in major habitat improvements. So, we focus on improving the doe population and health, managing how and when we harvest our does, and the bucks tend to benefit from it all and show just a little more often for us. Larger tracts may have a need for a different plan, but this has worked for me on every small tract I have managed.

Hope this helps.

 

[BigDave12]

Sorry for the essay but you did ask.

 

[BigDave12]

My current lease is in Bedford County, is only 100 acres in total, has about only 40 acres of "huntable" land, has 3 members (one of which is my teenage son), was not "managed previously nor hunted very much at all, and has 5 food plots (micro plots) on those 40 acres (none larger than 1/2 acre). We have only taken 3 deer off of it since we have had it (3 years total now). Two of those have been mature 8 pointers (one in each of the last 2 seasons) and the other was a doe in 2020 (my son's first ever bow kill). We didn't take a deer off it in our first season there. Based upon our observations, we have a fairly balanced buck to doe ratio there now too so harvesting does is not a priority for us there. Maintaining what is working seems to be best for us.

 

[TNTreeman]

Sorry for the essay but you did ask.

I appreciate it. Enjoyed the read. I've never been one to just come in and decimate the doe population. I enjoy watching them come to the food plots in groups and then the magic that follows in November. I rarely take anything directly out of the plots , I try to set up on the travel routes depending on wind.

 

[DoubleRidge]

BigDave12,

Completely agree we are fortunate to have some extremely knowledgeable wildlife and land management experts...I have learned a ton and continue to learn.

Also I will say...when it's needed I'm certainly not against killing does...but it's been many years since we've killed any does on our place.... neighbors may take a couple for the freezer each year....but we try to keep pressure on the does (or the deer in general) to a minimum... always giving them multiple areas to go with zero pressure...for the smaller land manager I believe cover is critical and allowing deer to use that cover is huge.

Beutiful buck you shared the picture of! Congratulations!

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Nice buck, Dave! I too feel very blessed for this site. Most of what I've learned over the years is from here. Agreed - build it and they will come

 

[BigDave12]

I appreciate the accolades BigDave12, although I don't think I deserve them.

And that's a stud buck!

You do and I appreciate all your insights!

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

My current lease is in Bedford County, is only 100 acres in total, has about only 40 acres of "huntable" land, has 3 members (one of which is my teenage son), was not "managed previously nor hunted very much at all, and has 5 food plots (micro plots) on those 40 acres (none larger than 1/2 acre). We have only taken 3 deer off of it since we have had it (3 years total now). Two of those have been mature 8 pointers (one in each of the last 2 seasons) and the other was a doe in 2020 (my son's first ever bow kill). We didn't take a deer off it in our first season there. Based upon our observations, we have a fairly balanced buck to doe ratio there now too so harvesting does is not a priority for us there. Maintaining what is working seems to be best for us.

What part of the county if you don't mind me asking?