ORIGINAL: GMMAT
Let me get your take on this, Matt....
In the 2006 season.....I saw probably 14 or more 1.5 yr olds. I only took a precious few does, that year (2). Last year.....through a change of ideology.....I can attest to over THIRTY killed (by hunters and by sighted road/other kills).
In 2007....I saw NONE of the 1.5's as 2.5's. None. Of the 2-3 2.5's I saw in 2006.....I saw NONE of them as 3.5's in 2007 (which doesn't really surprise me. They are elsuive). I can only guess that the sheer number of does pushes them out of this habitat to take up home ranges, elsewhere. I also realize that buggering up my spots shooting does....AND by shooting the first doe that offers a shot....."probably" aided in my reduced buck sightings. But what's puzzling is.....no one was "managing" this land prior to 2006.....and they were there.
But I "have" to (for sanity's sake) hope I'll begin to keep more of the youngsters around to grow older, as I take more and more does. It'll hurt my buck hunting, while we're doing this.....but that's the "discipline" (one part of it)I think you're eluding to.
Jeff - I think you will see an improved buck/doe ratio in another year or two. To do this though, you need to keep shooting does, and ultimately keep that population below the carrying capacity, and if possible, improve the habitat (both bedding/food) to raise the capacity of the land. If the herd is below carrying capacity you will attract new deer to the property......it just seems to happen and it seems to happen at a rate of 50/50 at my place. If your shooting does at a faster rate than what the ratio of deer relocating there is,you will slowly start to see more bucks than does. It's simple math and it works.
As for seeing the bucks you have passed.............I don't know if you will see measurable results from this. It's been limited at my place and Dan's. What I have seen, is new bucks that I've never seen before, some of them are shooters some of them are not. I believe they are relocating there because of the "space" I'm making by thinning the does. They don't seem to stick around for more than a year or so though, and I'm not sure if that's because we suck as hunters, if the neighbors/trespassers are getting them, etc. I think it's because we don't have control of a big enough area to really "protect" them.
I said above there is only one scenario where a buck we chose not to shoot made it to being mature, and I was actually wrong. The one pictured above was one scenario, and the NY rifle buck I killed in 06' (Dan aged as 3.5, he's certified in NY to age deer and worked for DEC doing so) Dan passed as a 2.5 duringbow season the year before. So that's 2 seperate instances where passed deer were seen as an older "shooter" buck. Limited success there, but if you keep thinning the does the new bucks just seem to appear every year. Hope this helps.