Well, first off, from my many, many years of experience and having almost a professional's level of knowledge, and just all around being of superior intelligence, I can summarize it this way.......I don't completely agree.

I have wittnessed yearling bucks, that did not get run off by does, still on my property from year to year. But yes, some will get run off. At the same time, you have to understand that your property will become the land of exile for other yearling bucks, run off from properties that are surrounding yours. So you will always have yearling bucks. Period.

Now the land I lease is a lot like the situation you have described. We have private property, leased property, and private land with homes, all around my lease. On opening day it often sounds like a war zone. The general theme of those around us is if you have a shot , then it is going down.Ground checking happens a lot down here.A lot of what gets killed is young bucks / nubbin heads. Because of that fact, there are a lot of does waiting to get bred. If you are killing slick heads, but most wind up being bucks , not does, then you will be throwing your herd out of balance in a big way. Right now we have a ratio of about 5 or 6 does to every buck. Your goal should be around 1 : 1 does : bucks, or 2 : 1 ideally. 3 : 1 is acceptable, but beyond that things start toget ugly.

You also wind up having more does available to breed, and you can multiply the number of deer on your land in a few short years. Land can only accomodate a certain number of deer with good nutrition. If you have too many deer, be they bucks or does, for your land, then the health of the entire herd suffers, and the probability of disease increases. But if you keep the herd more balanced, or even make it competitave and say 2 : 1 bucks to does ratio, then once the does are bred then that is it. A certain number of does can only put out so many fawns. This way, you can better manage the number of deer your land holds, and you can also make sure you don't run the deer on your land into starvation and disease.

So with that in mind, I say that there is nothing wrong with taking some button bucks, but your goal should more so be to take does. Mistakes can and do happen, but does have the babies, and it doesn't take a lot of does left year after year to breed, to over burden the land they are on. Thats why I also feed supplimental groceries to my deer. There are way too many for the land, and a typical bucks weight, taken at the pre rut to early rut, will be about 120 lbs. on the hoof...NOT GUTTED.

So leave the bucks for the most part, and take some does to have a better, healthier, more balanced herd.

I hope I was able to convey my thoughts to you guys effectively, without losing you. I admit , sometimes I lose myself....I try hard not to , but it happens. Feel free to disagree with me if you want, I will not take it personally, I believe we all have something to learn from everyone. You might just teach me something I did not know, and make me change my thoughts.

Good hunting and God Bless