6x6
PMA Member
- Deleted by N/A
I completely agree with you, protecting the bucks with the best genetics and taking the older average bucks, but on my farm if we let every buck reach at least 5 years old the odds are, alot of the younger better bucks would be pushed out before reaching maturity. We put alot more pressure on the more aggressive average bucks at 3 or 4 while they are still more killable. I dont think you can stockpile many 4+ year old bucks especially in november. Most will come back and tolerate each other in december if they survive, but we try to keep the best bucks here untill they are mature and really target the average bully resident bucks. I get alot of new bucks that show up in december and january that I am not so concerned with. I guess to sum it up, at 3 yrs I decide if a buck is something I want to invest more time in, or if he needs to be taken in the next couple seasons. Granted, alot of the "average" bucks by the time they get 5-8 years old can be pretty impressive, but most seem to top out at 145-165 gross.