ron3775

I figured this would be the best place to ask this. I am hunting an area that is private. The person that controls this area would like to start growing bigger bucks. The population of the herd is controlled and has been for years. The doe to buck ratio is 3:1 - 5:1. Some of the problems that we are facing and trying to find alternatives for is 1. inferior bucks. Some of the bucks are 4.5 years old and only spikes or big 4 points.(We are trying to work this issue). The biggest issue though is food plots. We can't destroy the trees, the forest in the area is under a large experimental program, and some of the open areas are no larger then an 1/8 of an acre or smaller. Would those areas be large enough for a food plot or would you recommend going with auto feeders and if so, besides corn what else would you use to help establish a healthier deer? Thank you

timbercruiser

If your population ratio is anywhere close to 4:1 you need to shoot a lot of deer, mainly does, but taking some of the bucks wouldn't hurt. If there are 4 year old spikesout there are they healthy body wise? If they seem to be healthy I would second guess whoever it is that aged the deer. If it was just looking at a handful of jawbones they may have been misread. Cross sections of teeth checked under a microscope is by far the best way of checking age. How many contiguous acres are you talking about? What kind of natural foods are available? Mature forest are not necessarily good for a deer's nutrition. A couple of 1/8th acre food plots won't help much. I would put out 1 covered trough per 50 acres of land and start with a little corn and gradually get the deer eating a prepared deer feed. A corn diet isn't what the deer need. I would check on the forest management program the land is under. It is part of a healthy management system to harvest trees from a forest and if the owner wants to help his deer herd he needs to clear some 10 to 20 acre food plots.

npaden

You don't need to worry about your inferior bucks yet if ever. Controlling genetics in a free ranging deer population is basically impossible and you can improve the deer health more by controlling the population and improving their habitat than anything else. You should try to get your buck to do ratio as close to 1 to 1 as possible. There are a lot of options on improving your habitat but most would start with a timber stand improvement project so if you can't mess with any of the trees that really puts you at a big disadvantage.

antlerking_fan_09

shoot more does but If I was you try lucky buck it really does work heres the web site www.lucky-buck.com

Mossy_71

I strongly agree with npaden on this. Unless the area you are referencing is high-fenced, controlling genetics is very unrealistic and any attempt to is a waste of time and efforts. One of the best things you can do to start off with is to understanding how to properly age your deer. Then set a goal to harvest deer once they reach a certain age class such as 3 1/2, 4/12, etc. This will allow all of your bucks an opportunity to reach their potential or close to it.

Then you should make strides to improve your habitat to assist the deer in reaching their potential as well. 1/8 acre foodplotalthough it seems small can provide more tonnage of nutritional feed for your deer for usually a fraction of the cost of running a feeder. But for this to occur, you will need to do the proper soil preparation (soil analysis and liming and fertilizing per the recommendations). This is where alot of people cut corners to reduce the cost, but it is very important. If you have enough of these smaller areas, it could be very beneficial. You may have some that you can designate as feeding plots only and not allow hunting over them.

Keep your does in check. Control your population through doe management. One draw back to this is the occassional harvest of a fawn buck (button). But over time your ability to single out these buttons will reduce the likely-hood of mistakingly harvesting them. "Removing mouths from the table" (as I've heard it referred to) will help tremendously in your efforts.