Doesnt it make you sick to find...

[Tx625]

I could not disagree with you more.

x2

[scotty]

Heh... dont get me started on dead deer before their time.

Marco, I'm assuming you are referring to bucks that die due to natural causes on your ranch.(I can't see any oops's happening there) What percentage of bucks do you think you lose each year? We are starting to make some headway on our place, and all of our older class bucks are still showing up at the protein. We could sure use some rain.

[Coach W]

I don't have one.

I'll shoot some deer at 3 some at 4 some at 5... Depends on the deer.. Number of tines has very little to do with why I choose to kill a buck... Beam length and tine length tend to be my big factors...

But It's not to improve genetics.... It's to remove mouths. You remove a mouth like this one at 4 .... A significant percentage of the time you are removing a deer that is going to end up 155+ eventually.

I will give you that... With a Couple questions:

What do you think he scores now?

And how long would you have fed him until he reached 155... If he could... (hypothetically of course cuz this one can't).

[rtp]

Not being a smart butt, but if he had shot him, he wouldnt have made it either. They have a better chance to get there the longer you let them live.

[Encinal]

I will give you that... With a Couple questions:

What do you think he scores now?

And how long would you have fed him until he reached 155... If he could... (hypothetically of course cuz this one can't).

135 at 4? That's a pretty good frame for a 4 year old...

Feed him another year? This buck as a 5 would make a good to great management on my "shoot him if you have to" list... And at 6 he is a regular target. Blowing up at 5 would get him a pass until 7 maybe... If he went back down again at 6....

You just have to manage individuals to maximize them.... If that's not the way your place is set up then what I try to do doesnt necessarily apply wholesale... But the beauty about managing for individuals is... You can do it on just one... And you are still learning about it. You don't have to change EVERYTHING to let 1 or 2 through to see what they do on YOuR place in YOUR situation.

I don't have empirical data...

[Tx625]

I will give you that... With a Couple questions:

What do you think he scores now?

And how long would you have fed him until he reached 155... If he could... (hypothetically of course cuz this one can't).

Why cant he?

[Encinal]

Why cant he?

He's dead.

[Tx625]

He's dead.

The only reason I could think of!

[cecilh1986]

wow some sucky loses there

[Coach W]

135 at 4? That's a pretty good frame for a 4 year old...

Feed him another year? This buck as a 5 would make a good to great management on my "shoot him if you have to" list... And at 6 he is a regular target. Blowing up at 5 would get him a pass until 7 maybe...



I don't have empirica..

Makes sense... And I'm with you on that... If he would have lived longer he'd gotten bigger.. But an 8 is all I can ever see him being...a 4.5 year old buck will have 90 percent of the antler growth that he will ever have at any age... At 5 my guess is he'd just have been a bigger 8... Probably gone mid to low 150's... (would have come close to your 155 mark at 5.5 and 6.5 he'd probably hit it)... If he lived...

But like I said before each year he runs the risk of dying without a hunter involved. 10-30% of your bucks die per year of natural causes... Each year he lives his odds go up dramatically that he will die.. By the time he's 4 statistically he has a better chance of dying than living... If bucks make it to 5.5 they usually dont die as 5 year olds 1-10%... but To make it to 6.5 he'd need to be real lucky... 70% of bucks die before 6.5

All those factors coming into play on a low fence free range place... I'd say as he sits in her hands he's mid 140's and personally I'd have like to taken him. Would have been a great bow kill....

I know we both don't have any history on it so it's just speculation... But given a shot on a low fence 4.5 140 class 8 bow in hand... I'd definitely draw.

(and yes he won't make it now... Cuz he's dead... So we will never know)

[Encinal]

Your mortality numbers are a little high there in my opinion. 70% die off before 6? I guess if you are including their fawn year you might get close... But after that? With no feed and bad conditions... It will be high... With good conditions it will be low...

On feed it's closer to 20% to 6 not counting fawn year. IMO.

[rtp]

Coach were are you getting your mortality numbers from? If I remember right the studies Ive seen showed the mortality of a mature buck being less than 10% once they reached maturity.

[jcso139]

that sux!

[EastTexasMan]

What did he score?

[Aggiehunter08]

My point exactly! Thanks

290 acres, low fence, 4 year old 8 pt? Shoooot it!!!

hahaha! That sucks!