A management scenaro for you guys...
 

This is actually true stuff and I'd like to see how you guys would go about addressing this "problem"...

For the last couple years we've noticed an antler trend that is not so desirable on our 200 acre farm...NO brow tines.

I've shot a couple over the last two years as management deer but I've found 6-10 brow-less on two different cameras so far this year. They span ages 2.5-5.5 or .6.5...I'm talking huge 4's and 6's.

The question is (and the question is for people who actually find it worth executing some part of herd management, I don't care to hear from those who look for reasons to disregard it)...how would you go about solving this? Do you think I should come out arrows flying in September and weed this defect out one at a time? Is it not worth it at all? What would you do?

-Take into account that we have cooperation of many friendly neighbors hundreds of acres surrounding.

Let's face it...this is about trophy management, I admit it, so please spare me all the comments about how this is not what hunting is about.

Thoughts?

are there too many deer around and not getting enough nutrition? if so thin the herd.

they did a study that I read that suggested 1.5 and 2.5yo are doing the majority of breeding, more so than 3.5+ deer, so take out those browless bucks that are 1.5 and 2.5, and if you see a buck with brows that is .5, 1.5, or 2.5 don't shoot it, let it breed....but good luck with this...

See it's not a development issue...some of these deer are thick and 18-20" wide...the quality of deer and nutrition is not really the problem at all in this area. There are plenty of 150+ quality racks out there, so it's not really a matter of improving deer.

Shoot 'em.

You sound like you realize how hard it is to try to fix "gentics". Dont shoot little ones#1(easiest, but done) Plenty of food and minerals(w/ extra calcium and phosphorus) I assume(#2, a little harder). The third thing you can do is start trying to improve genetics. Simple way is shooting them(but a batch of does is just as likely the problem). It will take years to work IF you ever see a difference. Infact, unless you are shooting tons of deer AND bringing in better stock, I dont think you will see a difference. Then again it will not hurt to try.

I had the same problem for a while. Spikes were going unharvested because of the one-buck limit, and they were remaining spikes or not developing brow tines. It took several years of thinning, but I've not seen a spike or a buck without brow tines in a few years now, nor have I seen one on any of the game cams.

I was looking at a bunch of horns hanging on my brother in laws barn a few years ago and noticed none of the horns had brow tines and he also had several long spike heads hanging there. I ask him about this and he said he had never seen a buck around there with brow tines and did notice most all the yearlings and 1.5 year olds were spikes. To me, I was looking at wall full of bad genetic deer horns and am so glad the deer on my property dont have this problem. Out of many years of filling his buck tags hes never killed one close to being worth mounting.

I think that I would contact my state game and fish and run it by one of the bioligists and see what they say. I have seen bucks without brow tines but not in great numbers before. This would not be a trait that I would want to continue. How long have you hunted this land? If you have hunted for a number of years is this something that is new or just developed in the last few years?

My family has a 350 acre hunting farm in Southern Iowa. We have taken a lot of really nice bucks over the years, and have also noticed that we definatley have a dominant trait in our bucks. We have bucks with heavy, tall racks, but alot of times they never get more than 20 inches wide. The height and mass make up for it in my opinion. We have toyed with the idea of taking them out when they are younger and try to get a different genetic make up to dominate, but I believe it would be impossible to do without importing deer to your property and that is not practicle.

I think a lot of hunters forget that the does carry the same genetics as the bucks. You can't just shoot some bucks and hope to change the genetic make up of your herd. You also have to remember that you are talking about a couple hundred acres, not the King Ranch. I believe the best way to manage a property for trophy bucks is too take a ton of does and plant food plots. If the bucks don't have to compete with does for food they will hang around a lot more and then it is just up to you to be selective. I am not an expert, but I have been managing a pretty healthy and strong herd for quite a while and our practices seem to work for what we want.

Dan

Definitely a genetic abnormality that will only be changed by removing the gene pool producing the defect. And as it has been said the does are also to blame. Don't remember the actual percentage but it is something like 60% or 65% of a buck's antler development size is determined by the doe's genetics, the bucks will carry on common traits from the bucks in their gene pool but the overall size is determined in large part by the doe's contribution.
Anyway, you have a huge task ahead of you if you are going to change the genetic structure of your deer herd which would be impossible without introducing a different gene pool by which you would be taking illegal measures to do so. Capturing wild animals or releasing raised animals into the wild is not an option an average hunter/ manager has.