Very cool thread. I learned quite a bit. It's very evident that the major participants (bluebird, glew, and pike) have done a lot of research and bring a lot of knowledge to the table.

Some observations, if I may. Bluebird definitely has done his homework and has a lot of quatifiable data...and an agenda. These two things together can be a dangerous thing and cloud one's judgement and ability to learn. Glew has read, attended many seminars, and done a lot of speaking with experts in the field. This is good and bad. It's good in that the next best thing to doing the research yourself and putting forth the countless hours and effort to obtain data you rely on those that have already done it. The bad is you have to rely on others not knowing what agendas they may have. Pike has done some data mining and reading, probably not as much as the others, but has come to derive much of his information based off of observations over years on property he has helped manage. This type of information is priceless.

Please don't take these observations as sleights against any of you. I have gained a tremendous amount of respect for all of you in reading your contributions.

What I have found by living and hunting in numerous states and regions of the country is that there is no "universal truth." I am 100% confident that what pike has observed is true on his property and that much of it would apply to many properties around the country. However, not all of it would apply everywhere and some would be contrary to facts found elsewhere. I am also sure that glew's theories based on studies and bluebird's numbers apply in many cases, but not all. The fact is deer poplulations are different and the differences can be seen in population groups even only a few miles apart.

I believe the only way to learn what applies to your area is to get out there and observe as much as possible, all year around and then you can draw your conclusions from there. Remembering that those conclusions may or may not apply on another property you have is a key as well.