I guess I wasn't clear.......... It may not be bad for young bucks to breed. What I meant to say was ALL bucks will breed, even the inferior ones. The closer you get to a 1/1 ratio, the strongest, most fit and desirable bucks will do most of the breeding. The doe, when given the chance will try to hold out for a super specimen to breed with rather than take Pee Wee Herman because he's all she's got! Sort of like people.[:-]

Granted, some super stud bucks have smaller antlers but the chancesare a balance buck herd will have better antlers than an out of balance one.

I've personally witnessed this in an area of Wis.

In the '70s there were hardly any deer where I lived. By the early '80s we started seeing tracks then eventually deer themselves. From then until the mid to late '90s, some 2 1/2s and all 3 1/2s would make P&Y. From the late '90s through present, the 2 1/2s and 50% of the 3 1/2s won't make P&Y.

The main reason for this is over population. The problem is magnified by the lack of doe harvest. (Years of buck only tags). You only have so many bucks and too many does and with the trend in warmer winter combines to have even the doe fawns breed their first year. A lot of times the mature bucks get really stressed out trying to breed an over abundance of does and when January rolls around, gets cold, they shed their antlers and stop breeding. Well with a lot of un-bred does/fawns still coming into estrus in Jan and Feb., some of the lesser bucks which are not as stressed out and still have their antlers will do the breeding. This leads to smaller scrubbier racks and bodies. (along with less food from over population) Over population is also caused by developement (people), they won't let you hunt.