Charlie P wrote:
What do you think the buck doe ratio is in your area,remember fawns are not counted.
If you don't mind I'd rather talk doe:buck ratio rather than buck:doe ratio. That's how I'm used to seeing and working with the data. I guess you are talking mature ratio as opposed to the total or the perceived ratio as you don't want to include fawns. No problem, for NY state as a whole the the mature ratio is a little less than 2 to 1 just before the season opens. By the end of the season it rises typically to a little over 6 to 1. Perceived ratio which tends to be what the average hunter "observes" begins at a little over 4 to 1 and rises to pretty close to 15 to 1. From what I observe in my local hunting area I think its pretty close to that. It's tough to put an accurate number on it through field observation alone as doe:buck ratio numbers are changing rapidly throughout the hunting season. IMO the only reliable way to do it is on a large scale and through computer modeling with harvest, fawn mortality rates, winter mortality rates, deer/car etc data as input. I think only the state has the resources and data input to do it reliably. They have the resourses and the expertise to implement my proposal if that is the point of your question.