[ I talked with our local biologist here and he said they fly areas to get a count of bucks and does. He also stated that its very difficult in this country to get an accurate count because of the habitat. He said they pretty much dont even worry about trying to count whitetails, instead they focus on the elk since they are easier to see from flying and that elk are the priority.

As for a fawn crop, it should be very close to 50/50 annually which is going to contribe greatly to a 1 to 1 ratio. I remember ALLOUTDOORS talking about his in one of his posts. Like he said the Buck to Doe ratio is probably better than a lot of folks believe.

Accurately estimating buck to doe ratios by watching deer feed in the summer time can be tricky, well at least here anyway. I can't speak for other areas of the USA in regards to how the bucks and does feed in the same areas and use areas during the summer.......but here I scout (June through August) and hunt areas in early archery season where I rarely see a doe, maybe 3-5 during the month of September. The only thing I see daily is the bucks that use these areas for bedding and feeding, Why because I am watching and hunting bacherlor groups of bucks or loner bucks that do not feed or hang out in the same areas as does. I can glass the valleys below, say a mile or so away and see large amounts of does, while the bucks are hanging much higher in elevation. I believe this is so here because deer are not concentrated and can pretty much live and feed for numerous miles in any direction. In the higher elevations the Buck #'s are much higher in numbers than doe #'s and this obviously misrepresents the true buck to doe ratio.

If I were to drop down in elevation say 1 to 3 thousand feet and hunt the doe core areas then I would see just the opposite, tons of does and very few mature bucks feeding, this would also give a false representation of bucks to doe ratio as well.

I try to combined the two, the buck hangouts and the doe core areas and come up with numbers this way. From what I count here our ratio is probably no worse than 3 doe to 1 buck..

Shed