ORIGINAL: huntingson
From everything I have read buck survival rate is well below that of does from the first year on up. I don't recall exactly why it was lower the first year (I think it has something to do with growing more boneand therefore they areunable to store as much fat as a doe fawn), but every year after that is relatively self-explanatory (expendature during the rut). Add that to the fact that in general hunters will shoot a 1.5 year old buck over any doe and there you go.
Well put huntingson! I'd like to add another thing to it though. The bucks up here in the Northern states get hit with hard winters and they and the fawns are the 1st to die in the winter, lack of body fat from chasing doe's during the rut.