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Recruitment?

B

Bighole

Member
Just wondering if anybody had a good definition of "recruitment" and how it applies to QDM. I've heard this term used but it seems everybody uses it in a different context. Last night I shot a mature doe that had 2 button-buck fawns with her. My understanding is that by harvesting this doe that it should increase the odds of these 2 young bucks staying closer to their home area. Any thoughts?
 
I am a little confused about the philosophy of trying to keep button bucks on your land. Maybe I'm wrong, but it is my understanding that the does in a group are usually related – mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts etc, and that mothers dispersing the young bucks is natures way of avoiding inbreeding. By keeping button bucks on your land, won’t that weaken the genetic pool eventually? I’m curious as to the responses. ??? Just trying to understand. Thanks -

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I've read alot about that theory also, and to be honest with you, I don't really believe in it. I think alot of it has to do with land size, if a person had 1500-2000 acres, whether they shot the doe or not, I would think that button buck would grow up to live on that land. If a person had 150-200 acres, I think whether or not the doe was shot, the buck or any deer would not solely live on that land. A does home range compared to a bucks homerange is alot smaller. Bucks are known to wander around. A buck you see tonight could be a mile and a half away by the morning, so I basically think the whole shooting the doe with button bucks is just another selling point to QDM, shoot the doe, let the bucks grow, and they may stay on your land. I think alot of us, don't have enough ground to where a deer solely lives on. Over the summer I have seen certain bucks travel a mile or more away through many different tracts of land. so right there tells me, the bucks are gonna move to where they want to be. I would be more likely to believe that shooting a doe with, doe fawns would keep the doe fawns in the general area, but bucks just move too much
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I undersatand it in a different way. My understanding is and the study I read says this: If you harvest the mother of the two buttons then the buttons will stay around 80% of the time. If you don't then then mother will push the buttons away 80% of the time. That's how I understood it.
 
Quality Whitetails, the magazine had an article pertaining to this. If I remember correctly QDMer is right on the money. There are a lot of factors to look into though. Pressure, food sources, etc.

I'll have to dig through my magz and find out what it said about this.

Good Post.

BT
 
Kat, one thing to take into consideration is that the button buck wouldn't be breeding for 2-3 years. His mother(already deceased), aunts, and older sisters would be fairly safe. You would be looking at the possibility of "inbreeding" only for sisters of similar or fairly close age. While still possible, the number of bucks and the number of does and the number of possible combinations of the two make it unlikely that this would occur. But still possible. Haven't heard of any research in this area but it would be interesting to know the experts thoughts.
 
I believe that QDMER has it right. If the mother is killed, 80% of the time the button bucks will stay in the area. If she is not harvested she will kick the BB out of the area 80% of the time due to breeding reasons.
Kat, has an interesting point, what if the doe has a fawn doe and a BB? I didn't see any data on fawn does, what happens to them? Are they booted to due to food and breeding competition?
 
I'm with QDMer. This is based upon a study done by Holzenbein and Marchinton in 1992 in which they radio-tracked a number of male fawns some of which were orphaned and some of which weren't. The results seem to be pretty widely accepted by the whitetail community.

A summary is on page 127 and 128 in the book Quality Whitetails, the why and how of quality deer management by Karl Miller and Larry Marchinton. If you want to learn more about whitetail biology it is a good book.

Old Buck
 
Thanks Ogz, that’s a good point. I can see the advantages of keeping button bucks around if you wanted to improve your buck:doe ratio or keep certain genetic antler traits in your area.

Nonres, I don’t think the does kick out the female fawns.
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Where was the study done? I hear all kinds of theories on QDM, where are they feasible, not everywhere I'd have to think. I have to agree somewhat with Liv4Rut's post and I'm sure they all hold water. Where I live and hunt I'd say shooting a doe with 2 button bucks doesn't mean 2 more bucks in the area in the future, it means 2 button bucks won't make their first Saskatchewan winter. There are some major factors against a fawn up here in it's first winter and I have to think without the doe to provide guidance and safety old man winter will kill them if the coyotes or wolves do not. I try and shoot dry does, may be against QDM theories but in how many places are they applicable, not western Canada I wouldn't think though I could be very much wrong.
 
Saskguy, you are probably right about QDM in western Canada. It's an easy place for a deer to die, or a human for that matter, and QDM as it's practiced in the midwest is probably not as applicable to that area.

Two orphaned buck fawns in Iowa probably stand an excellent chance of surviving though. No predators, an abundance of food, and relatively short, mild winters give them pretty good odds.
 
Sask,
You bring up a great point. I think qdm applies mainly to areas where there are more deer than is ideal. In your country I'd guess it is more a matter of just getting as many a possible to survive in a bad winter.

Noenres,

I think the normal pattern is for the doe fawn to join the maternal group. That is why you see several does and fawn together so often.
 
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