I have been trying to do the math to determine what a health deer herd should look like as far as age and doe/buck ratios go, primarily so I have an idea of how many does we should take each year and how many mature bucks we should realistically expect to be able to take, on average, each year.
I know the answer to that depends on many factors, including mortality from neighboring properties, fawn mortality, range conditions, supplemental feeding, and whether or not it is fenced. But I'm trying to ignore those questions to get a baseline understanding of what an typical, managed herd should look like.
Assuming you have 100 deer (not counting fawns), what would be the ideal mix of does to bucks? And out of that, how many 1 (1.5, but I'm avoiding using .5's), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6+ year old bucks would you expect to have?
I know the answer to that depends on many factors, including mortality from neighboring properties, fawn mortality, range conditions, supplemental feeding, and whether or not it is fenced. But I'm trying to ignore those questions to get a baseline understanding of what an typical, managed herd should look like.
Assuming you have 100 deer (not counting fawns), what would be the ideal mix of does to bucks? And out of that, how many 1 (1.5, but I'm avoiding using .5's), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6+ year old bucks would you expect to have?
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