Its great to hear from you North Jeff - Its been a while since I've seen you here. Thanks for the input - I agree with your observations, our historical data (in the form of racks, going back 30 years) indicates that 70% of the deer taken over the previous 20 years, were 1-1/2 years old, 25% - 2-1/2 years old, and 5% 3-1/2 years old, - we have no examples of bucks older than that that we know of.
Of course, our goal has been to change the ratio, of age class taken, and we've been doing pretty well! The guys in camp, wanted to compare our success against history for the property. And since we had no great records of deer taken years ago - except the racks and memories, we did the best we could. Our goal on our property is to make the 2-1/2 year age class the primary target, increase 3-1/2+ deer, and protect more of the younger bucks. - Sure its not "King Ranch" management - but lets get real - we're managing 200 acres!
The last 5 years Our harvest for bucks has been more like 50% 1-1/2yrs, 40% 2-1/2 years, and 10% 3-1/2yrs. We are getting there - but still have some ways to go!
- Do not be a stranger - hope to see you here more.
