Nature or us? Who's our worst enemy?
I've heard a deer's chance for survival (season to season) is about 80%. I know his odds go down with each season.....but hunting pressure (what I take out of the woods)is 100% in my control.
"IF" your goal is only take mature deer.......is it far-fetched to think that we're our own worst enemy? I know in my area (only one I know of) ..... this would "seem" to be the case. I don't see any predators (other than those with wheels) taking out a full grown deer, here.
If I dont kill a 3.5 yr old or older........."I" think it's MY fault (assuming I was targeting those animals). I KNOW of twobucks that will never see that age in my woods.....because I killed them (which won't happen, again).
I'm lucky in that I saw a healthy (in numbers) concentration of 1.5 yr olds from stand, last year......but in other areas......I think we're likely our own worst enemy. It doesn't seem that far-fetched to me.....that there should be more of these deer surviving the off-season. 2-3 years from now.....I can see having quite a few of these deer in my woods.