Just thought I would share this piece of logic. This is for those of you that take your herd mangement and hunting seriously, so you "If it's brown , it's down" guys can just quit reading now. Next season, when you're picking out which doe you are going to harvest remember these words. Many studies have shown that a buck will make his core home area in the same spot that he spent his first full year of life and as we all know, a doe will chase off her male offspring before she births her next fawn. So with this in mind, it would be very logical to harvest the does that have button bucks for fawns. By doing this, the doe would not be there to chase the button buck off of this core area(also your favorite hunting spot) and he will continue to use this area for the rest of his life. With todays gadgets(TRAIL CAMERAS!!)it is very easy to figure out which does have what fawns in your area. In my area, I know which does use what spots and by having their family portraits I know which to harvest and which to leave. Hopefully by putting this knowledge to work, your hunting areas will improve over the next couple of years.

Good post. It's refreshing to know that there are other people on here that know what they are talking about. After reading some of the other posts about QDM and QAM and such, I started to think that I'd be better off not responding to such outlandish and uninformed opinions. It seemed that the posts were designed just for the purpose of causing an arguement and not having a good informatve conversation. I have been thinking about posting a theory I have about deer and herd quality, but its rather lengthy, and will have to wait until I get more time.

Again good post

That IS a good thing to do. I've read a number of articles over the past few years that indicated exactly what you stated. The button bucks WILL stay in their home area if their mother isn't there to chase them off. I usually take the biggest does that come near me, but trying to pick the ones that specifically have button bucks with them would definitely up the challenge!

I'm not disputing your idea or logic, just trying to get smarter/understand better. At what age do the mothers usually shoo their young away? Being born in the spring and not hunted until fall, I usually don't find that they are still with their motherswhen the season opens so have they not already been "pushed" out of that area?
I love learning from others so I'm anxious to hear your thoughts.
Craig

They have not been pushed away by the time fall rolls around. Matter of fact, one of the signs I look for is groups of fawns wandering around bewildered. This means that a buck may have run them off from their mother(s) so he can breed her. Bucks prefer to breed in private so no intruders can steal his mate. Lots of times the mother is near by and so is the buck. This is a good time for a fawn distress call. It may bring the doe running to check the fawn with buck right behind her. When the doe pushes her buck fawn away is usually in the spring when she is closer to giving birth. Doe fawns are not pushed away. Does and their female offspring form family units. I've seena doe with her last years fawn ( which is now 1 1/2), and they each had new offspringwith them from this year. You know, Grandma with 2 new babies and daughter with her new baby. BTW, usually a does first pregnancy results in a single fawn. That fawn is usually a male. I forgot the percentage of that, but I think it's 80 of 90 % that it will be a buck. After that, the next pregnancies usually result in twins which are 50% male, 50% female. Does usually always take the best area available ( core area ) for fawn rearing. So sometimes if you shoot the right doe you can get a buck to take over its area. Like pihunts has stated above. I hope I didn't confuse you.

we do it a little different where I hunt since the older does throw twins or more we try not to shoot the big does. and were not the only ones that do it. its seemed to work pretty good so far a 17 and 14 point were killed by the landowner.my friend killed a 19 point and 2 nice 8 points. another guy that hunts on the same land killed a 11 and 12 point. and last year I killed a nice 140 class 10 point. and the herd seems to be doing great. weve noticed our neighbors doing the same thing letting the big does go so they will throw more babys next year. not saying other ways dont work thats just my thoughts on the subject

I'm glad to see the positive responses to the post. I was a little worried about backlash but posted it anyway. I too have tried leaving the old does that throw twins and triplets(a little off the subject, but I got a trail pic of a doe nursing her triplets allat once) but have found that it only increases the doe pop. that I am ultimately trying to lower. Also, these does show a lot of dominance and are territorial to others, especially bucks passing through. If we could get our fellow hunters to "convert" the buck to doe ratio in all areas would soon balance out and better the hunting. GregH hit all his points right on the head with his comments...Kuddos!

Not to cause an argument or anything but..................That is natures way to prevent inbreeding. If the button buck would stay in the same area he would breed with sisters and stepsisters.

But to tell you the truth, I wouldn't mind if that button buck stayed around in my area. I'm not sure how big of an impact inbreeding would have anyway.

I was thinking the same thing. I wonder how this works.

If you have a buck that is dominate for , say , two years, he will be breeding his own offspring during the second year. His daughters from the first year of his dominance. I believe that it happens all the time. Dog breeders, among other animal breeders often do this intentionally to bring out desirable traits.