I think Big Rack has swalloed his tongue. If those pictures aren't convincing enough, then I don't know what is.
Let me say this to you Big Rack. I am not sure what your scenario is, but you said you don't have as big of a place as Encinal, and you are over populated right? And you need to kill more deer to get to your carrying capacity right? Well below is our scenario/
4400 acres low fence and 1600ac high fence. Had the big side about 6 years now. small side 3yrs. We are way overpopulated. We have been killing deer like crazy. They tell us we need to kill avout 300 deer every year. We never do, so here is what we have done. We have gone from 1 deer to every 3.5 acres, to one deer per every 6.5 acres. It doesn't happen over night. We used to shoot spikes, but have quit because of these very arguments and lack of good proof. We try to do it with does. let as many bucks walk as possible, and shoot the does. We will catch back up with the bucks when they are 4.5. SO, in the past, we have probably killed 15-20 spikes per year, and only 2-6 4.5 year old bucks These next few, we should kill no spikes, and start killing more 4.5 year olds every year. This will still solve your population problems and allow young spike that do have potential to reach it. THose that don't, are now killed at 4.5, and score much better than a spike. In the meantime, we will keep hammering the does (preferably older ones) to keep things in check while we wait on the bucks to get 4.5. I'd much rather have more bucks than does anyway. Just some food for thought.
FYI, we want 1 deer to every 8-10 acres or so.
Let me say this to you Big Rack. I am not sure what your scenario is, but you said you don't have as big of a place as Encinal, and you are over populated right? And you need to kill more deer to get to your carrying capacity right? Well below is our scenario/
4400 acres low fence and 1600ac high fence. Had the big side about 6 years now. small side 3yrs. We are way overpopulated. We have been killing deer like crazy. They tell us we need to kill avout 300 deer every year. We never do, so here is what we have done. We have gone from 1 deer to every 3.5 acres, to one deer per every 6.5 acres. It doesn't happen over night. We used to shoot spikes, but have quit because of these very arguments and lack of good proof. We try to do it with does. let as many bucks walk as possible, and shoot the does. We will catch back up with the bucks when they are 4.5. SO, in the past, we have probably killed 15-20 spikes per year, and only 2-6 4.5 year old bucks These next few, we should kill no spikes, and start killing more 4.5 year olds every year. This will still solve your population problems and allow young spike that do have potential to reach it. THose that don't, are now killed at 4.5, and score much better than a spike. In the meantime, we will keep hammering the does (preferably older ones) to keep things in check while we wait on the bucks to get 4.5. I'd much rather have more bucks than does anyway. Just some food for thought.
FYI, we want 1 deer to every 8-10 acres or so.
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