Northjeff; I' m at latitude 45 on the other side of Lake Huron from you. We get the snow dumped on from the westerlies off of Lake Huron and the easterlies from Georgian Bay. Our snowfall is in your range (15 ft on average). I believe that my capacity on the property should be about what you' re saying based on the feeding on my hay field. If I follow your last advise I should be leaving the does until I reach the 10 level. As long as " my" deer return from the wintering yards.

VT: The winter yard is about 3 miles north. It is huntable but it is also too poachable. The game warden knows that there are organized groups of 5-10 people living off venison. They go so far as to post a radio operator near his house before the others go out. He said it starts in August when the spots come off the fawns. They call them roasters because they fit in the bbq.

I have the situation that you described. Roughly 1500 acres with only myself and a few guests hunting. They were a little pissed of when all we saw were does and they didn' t have a tag. On the other hand I' m sure a fair bit of poaching goes on when I' m not there during the week. So now all I need to do is find the crop(s) that will hold more deer. They underutilize the clover and alfalfa fields at present so I may have to try the grain crop/corn route.

I already run a fruit farm at home as a hobby. I' ve planted 12 stategically located apples and pears last fall on the hunting property but I don' t want to jump in hog wild until I see how the trees handle hardiness zone 5B winters. Even then I' ve already got 10 acres of wild apples on the property. They get hit very heavily.

All said; this is a great discussion but I' m back to square one. I had no rubs last year. With the does that I watched on the property there should have been at least one young buck in to see them.

Dan O.