Germ, you are having some communication problems my friend. I had to re-read this because at first I thought you were talking about you and "sex with a preacher." You scared me there.

On the breeding thing, I think we would all agree that it is not the genes of the younger bucks, but the lack of competition for does that leads to those "inferior" genes getting passed on.

I've read some very interesting things lately about genetics and which deer are doing the majority of the breeding and culling bucks from the herd. What was found was that with a reasonable buck to doe ratio (i.e. 1:3-1:4) which can be realisitcally achieved and maintained in a wild herd that 2.5-3.5 year old deer do the majority of the breeding. Deer older than this do not chase as much so their breeding goes down, and the younger bucks take what they can get. The study also said that to truly determine if a buck is a "cull" buck you have to let him reach and age of 4.5-6.5 at which point he has already done the majority of his breeding. So, in essence it is impossible to affect the genetics of a herd through harvesting bucks. The only way to ensure that the stronger deer's genes are passed on is to bring the buck to doe ratio into balance and allow competition for breeding rights to manage the rest as nature intended.