Last one, as I noted folks posting the standard issue dead horse meme. I'm surprised it took someone this long.
Again on doe, we can analyze harvest intensity with tooth wear. One of the big problems in deer management, aside from age, is getting a good feel for how many deer are there. That is harvest numbers have to be based on something. There's always concern on over killing doe, though it seldom happens. At least I've never seen it happen.
Anyway, 2 high fence properties with tons of deer. It's really hard to get an estimate on deer numbers when they get really high in a larger high fence property, and it's even harder to control those numbers because replacement nutrition keeps pumping out high fawn crops. To stay "caught up" on the population size when fawn crops are almost always high requires heavy doe harvest. When that's done successfully, we should see a shift in the age distribution toward younger doe due to that high harvest pressure. Few does survive to old age. First chart reveals several seasons of the first ranch's attempts. They were'nt killing enough doe based on the population estimate (which is shady), and the chart adds validity to that concept. The second chart on the second ranch shows that the harvest is intense enough to be turning over the doe population at a rate that could be staying up with the high fawn crops. Note the younger doe in ranch 2 vs ranch 1.
So, even though we don't know for sure how many deer are on each ranch, the age distribution of the doe harvest helps shed light on the balance between estimated deer numbers and appropriate harvest.
Again on doe, we can analyze harvest intensity with tooth wear. One of the big problems in deer management, aside from age, is getting a good feel for how many deer are there. That is harvest numbers have to be based on something. There's always concern on over killing doe, though it seldom happens. At least I've never seen it happen.
Anyway, 2 high fence properties with tons of deer. It's really hard to get an estimate on deer numbers when they get really high in a larger high fence property, and it's even harder to control those numbers because replacement nutrition keeps pumping out high fawn crops. To stay "caught up" on the population size when fawn crops are almost always high requires heavy doe harvest. When that's done successfully, we should see a shift in the age distribution toward younger doe due to that high harvest pressure. Few does survive to old age. First chart reveals several seasons of the first ranch's attempts. They were'nt killing enough doe based on the population estimate (which is shady), and the chart adds validity to that concept. The second chart on the second ranch shows that the harvest is intense enough to be turning over the doe population at a rate that could be staying up with the high fawn crops. Note the younger doe in ranch 2 vs ranch 1.
So, even though we don't know for sure how many deer are on each ranch, the age distribution of the doe harvest helps shed light on the balance between estimated deer numbers and appropriate harvest.
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