Holiday deer hunt is a go ths dec

[DirtTime 5666]

On 2/18/2021 at 2:17 PM, Buckmaster7600 said:

Late season muzzleloader in the ADK’s will destroy the deer herds. By December most deer are in their winter yards.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They are yarded up way before that. They are yarded up in some areas by the early ML season. I highly doubt it will "destroy" the herds. The doe to buck ratio in most of the areas where the highest population hunt are highly out of whack. DMP's being allowed every few years would not hurt the deer population in the ADK's. 

[corydd7 1082]

Couldn't agree more at least around my cabin. Wish I could take one doe each year. I see 10 doe for each buck on trail cams. Part of this is because I have food plots but I believe the immediate area surrounding, has about the same ratio. 

Even out the doe to buck ratio and you can provide more space and food for bucks.

Starting about december 1st I always have snow on the property and deer vanish. I always get the best buck of the year right after season ends but daily sightings of deer are extremely low after about four inches of snow.

Edited February 21 by corydd7

[Buckmaster7600 9041]

They are yarded up way before that. They are yarded up in some areas by the early ML season. I highly doubt it will "destroy" the herds. The doe to buck ratio in most of the areas where the highest population hunt are highly out of whack. DMP's being allowed every few years would not hurt the deer population in the ADK's. 

ADK’s is a big place, but from someone that’s hunted up there my entire life I’ve never seen deer yard in Oct, I’ve never seen deer yard before thanksgiving actually. I’ve never seen a place in the ADK’s with a real out of wack doe to buck ratio. In most places the ADK’s has about as natural of a ratio as possible due to the minuscule amount of deer killed by hunters.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[chrisw 5429]

Awful lot of people worried about snowmobiling over a 5 day season that we likely won't have enough snow for anyhow? I don't really care about the extra days anyhow I guess, I'll take it but it's not that big of a deal to me. Give it a year and the novelty of it is gone and noone will hunt those days either. As far as the deer returning to normal after a 5 day Break? Not on the properties that I hunt! For those of you that can control pressure perhaps...

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[chrisw 5429]

Late season muzzleloader in the ADK’s will destroy the deer herds. By December most deer are in their winter yards.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There's a place near Lowville where we hunt occasionally and they created a separate no hunting zone for the yarding reason. There are so many deer packed in that area it's way too easy and people were dropping deer like crazy in there on years we got early snow.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[DirtTime 5666]

8 hours ago, corydd7 said:

Couldn't agree more at least around my cabin. Wish I could take one doe each year. I see 10 doe for each buck on trail cams. Part of this is because I have food plots but I believe the immediate area surrounding, has about the same ratio. 

Even out the doe to buck ratio and you can provide more space and food for bucks.

Starting about december 1st I always have snow on the property and deer vanish. I always get the best buck of the year right after season ends but daily sightings of deer are extremely low after about four inches of snow.

You can't explain that to some people. On average there are are 5-7 does birthed each Spring to 1 buck. When those numbers go unchecked you get way more does then bucks. That's anywhere. When you think about how most people really don't hunt the eastern ADK's much farther then lake George, the numbers are going to be a lot different the further north you go and the less pressure they get. Also the further north you go the less factual data there is on deer numbers because there's less people around to do the DEC's job for them and report activity. 

 

Once the deep snow hits the deer move where food is more accessible. There are a whole lot of areas up north that are more piney type woods, where there just isn't enough natural mast for the deer to stick around. It's like people, when the cupboards get low and the freezer empty, we go get more food.

 

But, it is what it is. 

[Buckmaster7600 9041]

Couldn't agree more at least around my cabin. Wish I could take one doe each year. I see 10 doe for each buck on trail cams. Part of this is because I have food plots but I believe the immediate area surrounding, has about the same ratio. 
Even out the doe to buck ratio and you can provide more space and food for bucks.
Starting about december 1st I always have snow on the property and deer vanish. I always get the best buck of the year right after season ends but daily sightings of deer are extremely low after about four inches of snow.

I think you see more doe than bucks because you’re hunting an area that holds does. Big woods isn’t like hunting suburbia or agriculture. Does tend to congregate together and bucks tend to stay to themselves.

Trail cams are also a very inaccurate way to measure buck to doe ratios, the same 2 does can walk by a cam 5 times in a day and you think you have 10 does but it’s actually only 2, bucks are obviously a little more recognizable when they have antlers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Buckmaster7600 9041]

You can't explain that to some people. On average there are are 5-7 does birthed each Spring to 1 buck. When those numbers go unchecked you get way more does then bucks. That's anywhere. When you think about how most people really don't hunt the eastern ADK's much farther then lake George, the numbers are going to be a lot different the further north you go and the less pressure they get. Also the further north you go the less factual data there is on deer numbers because there's less people around to do the DEC's job for them and report activity. 
 
Once the deep snow hits the deer move where food is more accessible. There are a whole lot of areas up north that are more piney type woods, where there just isn't enough natural mast for the deer to stick around. It's like people, when the cupboards get low and the freezer empty, we go get more food.
 
But, it is what it is. 

This year I deer hunted the Adirondacks 54 days, put a little over 3,000 miles on my truck chasing snow from gloversville to massena and from Ticonderoga to old forge. I don’t hunt 1 spot I hunt where I can find snow so I get to see a lot of areas in a year and in my life. I don’t keep track of every deer sighting but I would say my average sighting is probably 2 does to 1 buck.

I don’t work for dec and I’m certainly not a biologist but my experience doesn’t back your theory.

Now, my home farm is just outside of the ADK’s south eastern tip right on the edge of Nz/sz line and our deer herd is so out of whack I can’t kill enough does. But I understand that my 300 acres is a minuscule piece of the NZ. I wouldn’t want them changing regs to help the herd at my house that will hurt most of the other 6 million acres.

[Larry 797]

Why is the Northern Zone even being talked about? The management plan does not have a Northern Zone holiday hunt. The hunt is for the southern zone. You need to read the plan.

Dirt just to let you know the birth rate of bucks to does is about 1/1.

[Robhuntandfish 14225]

11 minutes ago, Larry said:

Why is the Northern Zone even being talked about? The management plan does not have a Northern Zone holiday hunt. The hunt is for the southern zone. You need to read the plan.

Dirt just to let you know the birth rate of bucks to does is about 1/1.

They all know that.  The discussion was about having a late muzzle season. We all know it's not part of the plan.  You need to read the rest of the posts.  It was just a discussion on why there isn't a late muzzle season in northern.  

[Northcountryman 457]

12 hours ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

ADK’s is a big place, but from someone that’s hunted up there my entire life I’ve never seen deer yard in Oct, I’ve never seen deer yard before thanksgiving actually. I’ve never seen a place in the ADK’s with a real out of wack doe to buck ratio. In most places the ADK’s has about as natural of a ratio as possible due to the minuscule amount of deer killed by hunters.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I thought that I read somewhwre that doe/buck ratios were closer to 1:1 , in many cases ,due to much less hunting pressure in many areas of ADK's--is that not so then?

[Dinsdale 2646]

Birth rates are 1 to 1. But herd averages vary.

There's a terrific article a few years ago explaining how hunting pressure (and non hunting) effect ratio by ND A [formerly qdma]

Google buck doe ratios

[jperch 122]

13 minutes ago, Dinsdale said:

Birth rates are 1 to 1. But herd averages vary.

There's a terrific article a few years ago explaining how hunting pressure (and non hunting) effect ratio by ND A [formerly qdma]

Google buck doe ratios

Yup on birth rate ratios, just like humans.  I suspect even in areas with no human hunting pressure that the adult doe population outweighs the adult male population.  I have seen countless times a doe with fawns approach my stand and the doe becomes aware something is wrong.  Frequently the button buck is the last to leave or even approaches while his sister and mom scram.  Testosterone, I suspect.  Obviously if a buck survives a few years they undergo a major personality change but by then I think their relative numbers have been reduced.

[Buckmaster7600 9041]

I thought that I read somewhwre that doe/buck ratios were closer to 1:1 , in many cases ,due to much less hunting pressure in many areas of ADK's--is that not so then?

They are 1:1-1:2, at least from my experience.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Belo 7017]

On 2/21/2021 at 6:07 AM, DirtTime said:

On average there are are 5-7 does birthed each Spring to 1 buck. 

lol. what? 

[Four Seasons 203]

5 hours ago, Belo said:

lol. what? 

I know behind fence it’s a common practice to keep the doe pens hungry from August up until after breeding. Mother Nature tricked.  She has a way of making sure less doe fawns are born into areas that can’t support the numbers. Hence the high fence getting more buck fawns. 

[Northcountryman 457]

On 2/22/2021 at 11:17 AM, Belo said:

lol. what? 

Where did you get that data? I think it’s pretty much 1:1