How Many Bucks Die During the Rut???

[Hockley]

Just curious to what you guys think. I hunt a low fence place that probably has a 1.5:1 or 2:1 buck to doe ratio in one of the antler restriction counties. I saw a deer in November this year that I thought was a 4yr old. He was a real nice typical 8 with a big fork off his G2 and would probably score in the low 130's. We saw the deer several times last year and I saw him two times within two weeks during early November. Well long story short we never saw him again and never heard of anyone shooting him (we have a good handle of the deer that are killed around us). I always had a feeling he was dead since he was a regular the year before, but my brother tried to convince me that he just got smart.

Well I confirmed my fears yesterday when I found him dead in a creek bottom. The fork off his G2 was broken (it was intact the last time I saw him). The deer was probably the healthiest deer we saw all year and just looked like a stud in his prime. I looked at all of his rib bones and legs and couldn't find any signs of a bullet wound, but all that was left was bones. I also looked at his teeth and guessing (I'm no expert at aging by teeth) I would say he was for sure 4 possibly 5. My best guess is that he died from a would during a fight. I'd post up pictures of him, but the live pics I have didn't turn out all that great.

Oh yeah, for the record our main rutting activity takes place in October in our area.

[Wudstix]

There are alot of things that could have happened. Fighting, broken leg, or other injury and the yotes ate him. There are many reasons for deer mortality. The wild is not a friendly place.

[letrfly]

good question... there is not a concrete answer, but there are some known facts that can lead you toward a general answer...

on any study of age distribution done that i know of, as bucks increase in age, there are less of them surviving to another year. This could be due to fighting during the rut, loss of useable fats, or no apparent cause at all. Wether anyone on here believes it or not, some bucks just up and die with no apparent cause of death.

If you want to get a running estimate on the condition of your bucks from year, the simplest measures to take and compare would be kidney fat indexes and browse surveys

hope this helps

[Wudstix]

Diet and stress have allot to do with it. A healthy looking buck can run himself into the ground if he is active, dominant and there are enough does.

Had a similar situation in High School but it wasn't fatal.

[Pablo Honey]

millions!

[Tejas Wildlife]

Studies have shown that up to 30% of your mature bucks (4.5 and older) can die from "post rut stress", depending on local weather conditions, predator levels, low forage levels, etc.....

[barnett77859]

seems to me the older and bigger the bucks get the harder they fight and that leads to more deaths related from fights. On game cameras you can often see the cutts
and scrapes,broken off points and often eyes poked out from the fights.

[B4RANCH]

if its west of giddings he died of dehydration

[Red Dot]

Three things we all have to have, including animals, is cover, food and water. If there is no water we die of thirst. If there is no food we die of starvation and of course we know that if deer doesn't have cover, he will be shot, and we die of exposure!!!!!
What a thought, huh?
Red Dot

[Mayhem]

i think we have alot die due to post rut stress.. the older mature deer running does for an extended period of time, droppoing alot of body wieght and having to go through the hard winter with not much food.. jmo

[jfk47]

if its west of giddings he died of dehydration

Or south ! !

[B4RANCH]

Or south ! !

man no kidding ...if not for quick pipe in sonora ......its drier that cat crap in a sand storm......catfish in waller area starting to ask for gatorade

[Draco]

I seen a jack rabbit the other day that was carrying a water bottle.

[Wudstix]

Post rut stress is a big factor in mortality.