VT; I' m trying to find out if it' s possible to get the buck to doe ratio closer to 1:1. I estimate (based on sightings, prints, trails etc.) that the population is 25+ deer per sq. mile. In the last 3 years I have sighted 50+ deer. Of those only 2 were bucks and they were button bucks. As I said before the outdoor education center across the road (320 acres) doesn' t allow hunting, the farmer to the west (100 acres) doesn' t allow hunting (cattle) and the farmer to the north 400 acres doesn' t allow hunting (cattle). To the east is approx. 500 of cattail swamp (not hunted)and a lake. My 100 acres along with the outdoor ed center and the cattle farmers are all wedged between 3 lakes. When you get out of this local area it' s wide open hunting with a lot of poaching going on near the deer yards to the north.

By sightings at my home near Niagara Falls I come out much closer to a 1: or 3 ratio based on sightings. Very few people hunt the Bruce Trail (Niagara Escarpment).

Deer will never stay on the property year round. They have thousands of acres of tight cedars that they need to make it through the snowy winters. To point out how few bucks are around I didn' t even find a rub last year.

Yhe Provincial government is trying to keep the deer population as large as possible by maximizing the number of does. Maybe QDM as practiced in the south won' t work here.

Dan O.