Buck mortality study - old but good

[Sligh1]

After finding locked bucks, bucks fighting that died, etc. - looked at some data. This is a good read. When bucks die, what ages, what causes etc etc. Coyotes also big culprit. Good read!!
It doesn’t address the last 2 decades that we have seen an explosion in EHD but hits lot of areas..

Buck Mortality - Death in the Brush Country

As soon as I dialed in the radio frequency to buck #0083 and picked-up the antenna, I knew the 6.5-year-old buck was dead. Instead of hearing the characteristic “beep....beep....beep” from his collar, I heard a signal that was twice as fast, “beep, beep, beep, beep.” I jumped down from the truck...

tecomate.com

 

[letemgrow]

Those are some eye opening stats!!


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[203ntyp]

Good read, it's nice that someone has put so much effort into that kind of study. I would have never guessed mortality rates were that high and varied that much by age groups.

 

[2-bucks]

Great article. Thanks for posting.

 

[Bassattackr]

Wow, that's quite a large number that die off post rut. This makes my buck to doe ratio even more worse than it already is..

Highlights the importance of late season & beyond (Jan - March) food.

 

[crietveld]

That’s an interesting study and I’ve read it before. I’m not sure south texas compares that closely to Iowa for food sources though. I think alot of it is pretty barren country.

I do agree more bucks die of natural mortality than most people are aware of, the EHD outbreaks have only made it worse. Some days I think hunters are a pretty minor part in bucks surviving to maturity.


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