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What do you think are the best management practices for Hunting whitetails?

J

johnwillium

New Member
I live in the east and I have a couple of properties that I hunt. Two years ago I decided one one of these properties to cut the Doe population down and take out the spike Bucks. So I have taken allot of does out these last two years. Do you think this will increase the quality and amount of Bucks on the land this year or was it the wrong move? My theory was remove the spikes from the gene pool and decrease the does so that during the rut I would see more Bucks. My other property, I have do nothing and have left the Does untouched.
Any thoughts
 
If you have alot of does, as opposed to bucks, good to balance the pop. Supposing you properties are large enough to hold a resident pop of deer. If prop is small, hard to know actually how many does to bucks, as they are roaming all over and numbers change. I have never had that much property, but I have seen the doe numbers dwindle in my area, talking to other neighbors also,, so I am not taking does. Shooting spikes not such a good idea. From what I have read, spikes can turn into nice bucks at maturity.
 
loneranger said:
From what I have read, spikes can turn into nice bucks at maturity.
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Yep :way: I am not sure if we will ever have the "amount" of does we take down to an exact science, but we usually take 4 each year on my 160 acres. I take into account the shotgun hunters to the east and west, which usually double that, and it has seemed to work well, although, I really have no data to support that, other than more mature buck sightings.
 
Bucks are spikes MANY times because they were born late the year before. In MANY cases they will turn into big bucks and you won't know much about those spikes until they get one more year - 2.5 years old. On my place, I will only shoot a deer I deem "inferior" after he gets 4.5 years old (usually 5.5 is when I shoot him BUT I could do this earlier).
Beyond that, proper amount of does shot, plenty of food put out there, lots of safety cover (hinge cutting, native grasses, etc), low pressure and letting good genetic bucks get to maturity. That's my plan at least from a BASIC/SIMPLISTIC standpoint.
 
Shooting spikes to cull them from the gene pool is akin to an old wives tale. It is much more likely that those little guys were born later and are a bit "behind" in their development, but their genes are likely just fine.

If you are seeing many spikes I would just about guarantee you that you have too many does to bucks and in a nutshell, some does are being bred on their 2nd or 3rd estrus cycle v. a lucky buck catching them on their first cycle.

This leads to a number of fawns being born late and it might take them awhile to catch up, both body weight and antler size.
 
I recently read an article that involved some research statistics on the breeding season. With new technology and more improved ways of performing studies, they are finding it to be more and more true that dominant bucks are doing most of the breeding in areas. Yearling bucks might only breed one doe if that. Like a few people have stated in earlier posts. Those smaller bucks (spikes) might have the potential to be really nice deer. I like the theory of waiting till they are 3.5 to 4.5 years old before you start deciding what deer need to be culled out.
 
In my opinion, habitat management is the #1 best practice.
Culling 'inferior' bucks is probably the least effective. Those spikes would likely grow up to be nice bucks and even if they don't, you will make no impact on the genetics of a wild herd.
 
Daver said:
Shooting spikes to cull them from the gene pool is akin to an old wives tale. It is much more likely that those little guys were born later and are a bit "behind" in their development, but their genes are likely just fine.

If you are seeing many spikes I would just about guarantee you that you have too many does to bucks and in a nutshell, some does are being bred on their 2nd or 3rd estrus cycle v. a lucky buck catching them on their first cycle.

This leads to a number of fawns being born late and it might take them awhile to catch up, both body weight and antler size.
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WELL SAID!:way:

spikes = 150" in 5 yrs.! by age 3 their bodies and sketal systems are "caught up" to the other bucks born at the "normal time" on the same birth year.
My property management view is something like this....
shoot does to get the herd 4 or 5 does to 1 buck...
create as much bedding cover as possible on your land...
plant food plots... esp. for winter and early spring food
Travel and hunt only the edges of the property until late Oct., only then move in to your better spots...
dont hunt over your food plots... (hunt travel routes too & from)
and finally, if you have to think about it, he is too small! :way:
 
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