Buck_shooter Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Please no arguing or debating, just looking for facts. I've been seeing a lot of posts saying that some deer management strategies are intended to increase the age of the deer herd, thereby increasing the health of the herd. I don't really understand that. It seems to me that regardless of age, an area can only support so many deer. So how exactly does age structure figure into over all herd health? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WNYBuckHunter Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 It has to do with the rut. Basically, with a better age structure, combined with a buck to doe ratio that is close to 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 the main rut becomes shorter, and the smaller, later ruts become less frequent. In turn, fawning times are not as spread out in the spring, and deer are at a better age/size for dealing with a harsh winter, etc. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WNYBuckHunter Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Heres a good read for you https://www.qdma.com/mature-bucks-needs-em/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisw Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Predator swamping is also why it is important for a short intense rut. The longer the fawning season takes the more fawns that will be taken by predators. The shorter window ensures less will be killed. Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizz1219 Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Any deer herd with a doe to buck ratio of more than 6 does per buck is the start of a declining herd... After that, does are bred past the December rut if at all, allowing higher #'s of fawns to be eaten by predators because they are dropped over a longer period of time. They are born 1 to 1 and bucks have a natural higher mortality rate... (Run down from the rut for example) so the closer we are to that 1:1 the better the herd will be... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buck_shooter Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 21 minutes ago, WNYBuckHunter said: Heres a good read for you https://www.qdma.com/mature-bucks-needs-em/ Thank you, that was a pretty good article. That would be a good one for a lot of people to read. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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