Any one have any true idea how to tell what the true #'s are? Or what they really should be?

Trail cam pics?

Spot lighting?

In season sightings?

Pre season sightings?

Commercial Break,
This could be an interesting topic - If it doesn't go down the Yellow Brick Road to the Land of PGC Bashing.

If there is a hint of PGC bashing It's Gone - Outa Here.

Now - Back to the Wizard of OZ

Just remember that if we go by sightings, if we had a 1:1 BD ratio every fourth deer would have antlers... one buck, one doe, two fawns

I live in Pike county and I can honestly sayI haven't seen all that many deer to make an accurate estimate. From what I have seen I'll bet it's probably 2 or three doe to every buck. In the community where I live there's no hunting and I've seen about 3 doe to every buck.

I don't know about other areas, but in the state gamelands in which I hunt, sightings are down. What I am noticing is that of the deer I see, a much higher percentage are bucks with antlers. If we consider only adult deer, I am seeing about three adult does to two adult bucks. This contrasts to years prior to 2000 in that back then I would see approximately five adult does to one buck with antlers. Just my opinion based upon what I am seeing, but I believe that the adult buck to adult doe ratio is about 1.5-2 does to one buck.

I hunted 7 days of this years Rifle season .All days I was in the woods from 6;00 AM till 5:00 PM.
Monday I saw 19 deer &10 fawns , 7 does & 2 bucks a small 8 pt & 4 pt

Tuesday one deer 7 pt buck.

Thursday 14 turkeys, 1 buck 3 pt & 2 does

Saturday I did not see a deer

Tuesday 1 buck4 pt ,2 does & 3 fawns

Thursday 1 buck 4 pt , 2 does

Saturday 5 does , 4 fawns , 4 pt buck I shot a 10 pt with 17" outside spread at 1;30 in the afternoon.

Totals 43 deer total for the season
17 Fawns
18 does
8 bucks

Motrin,you're seeing a b/d ratio that's just a little over 1/2 and that's assuming all the doe you saw were different animals.

This is exactly the same way I have seen it this year and last! I also hunt public land!!

Very interesting thread. And a great point was made when someone asked regarding the total number of does, could perhaps be seeing the same animal more than once.

This portion of QDM is 2nd most difficult to accurately measure for management purposes. The most difficult is age structure. The "easiest" is a flat out head count, and that one is hard enough.

1.5:1 or 2:1 doe:buck ratio is fine. Remember, some of those fawns are BBs.

Sounds to me the deer herds have a fairly healthy structure. If one cannot get a solid handle on numbers, the rest of the discussion is a moot point, is it not?

if ya go by what deer ya see at any one time i'd say that's hard to say....when i drive 16 miles to work one way here in pike county to wayne countyi see bout 100 - 150 deer and sometimes count upwards of 200....maybe see 5 buck in that same 16 mile stretch....so that would be 5: 20 - 40 ratio....yer milage may vary...........bob