130woodman

It's close to 2 miles by 2 miles

130woodman

you are correct about the bigger square.

130woodman

I know on paper it all sounds right but in reality I might ave 5 1 day and 40 the next.We take of at least 2 does per buck we shoot an average over the last 5 years. We are trying to get the doe to buck ratio by me closer to 2 to 1. I don't know if we ever will.

kickin_buck

83 per square mile sounds a little high. I hunted Calhoun Co Illinois for a few years and it has the highest reported number of deer per square mile in Illinois, or at least at the time. I wish I could remember the number, but for the life of me cannot. I remember thinking at the time I should be walking on top of deer with a number as high as I was told. I think the thing you have to remember is that some areas are going to have more, some are going to have less. Habitat on the land is a major factor. A 1000 acres of field is not going to have the number of deer as 500 acres of timber. If you are the only one hunting 250 acres, you cannot possibly see all the deer using your land. In 2005 I shared a 215 acre piece with 4 other guys, many times all 5 of us were in stand together. That year we had 16 trail cams out starting in July. We got many photos of bucks we never seen from the stand and killed two bucks we never got photos of. IMO, even if you lived on your property and never left it, you cannot possibly know EVERY deer that will use it. You might be able to know every buck that uses your property as it's core area, but IMO that is still a reach.

Justin

I hunt a piece of ground that is several hundred acres big, but has only a small patch of woods that is maybe 10 acres tops. Over the course of an average summer and fall I get get photos of between 10 and 15 different bucks in this area. I'm sure I don't get pictures of at least 5 more bucks that if nothing else pass through this land during the course of a year. So we're looking at 15-20 bucks in an area with less deer density and from the looks of your photo far less cover. So yeah, I would figure it's entirely possible to have 30 bucks move through that area over the course of a year.

GMMAT

Let me share with you what I think I'm up against in a similar situation....

"I" think I'm (and my neighbors) illing a good amount of does. What I fear I'm doing, though.....is making room for groups of does from outside my hunting area to move in and take advantage of the cover, food, etc... the land I'm hunting offers them.

I think the land I hunt will sustain (______) deer.....and when I kill "some" off....there's that many waiting to move in and take advantage of the habitat.

I know this is a pessimistic outlook......but it's also a realistic possibility.

I hope I'm wrong.......and I wish you luck.

130woodman

I believe you are right about other does moving in. Every time we kill a doe off a food plot or or a corn pile there is always another 1 to take her place. If you keep killing does like you do year after year you will have to see some type of reduction.

rybohunter

DPFSM is what our Game commission used to use. Deer per FORESTED square mile.

I’m not sure if they still do. Basically if you took a 1x1 mile farm area with 20 deer in it, you could get a DPFSM number of 80 if only a quarter of it was wooded.
Take another 1x1 mile area in our “big woods” and those same 20 deer, give you a DPSFM of 20.


I’ve mentioned on here before my main area is a centered in a perimeter that is enclosed by a 6 mile rectangular loop. That translates to roughly 2 sq mi. Add what I can see on the outside and we’ll call it 3 sq mi. It’s not out of the question to count 120 deer in that loop, and you certainly don’t see them all. I’d easily say there are another half that that go unseen. You are looking at a 60 DPSM density in my area.

treboryerf

JEFF,it's a deer conspiracy! They know the food is better on your side of the fence,lol.