Quality Deer Management?

[jemche]

got this from another site. i think some people will find this helpfull.

http://rutjunkie.com/forum/index.php?topic=266.0

[DoveHunt]

Right are wrong I try not to shoot any young bucks be it a spike, fork, 6, 8, 10, 12 etc. I "try" not to shoot buttons, but does are all fair game. I hunt different properties including public land and still follow the rule. You have to start somewhere and from what I have seen on the hoof and have seen taken in the areas I have hunted over the past 5 years on the lower shore of Maryland, some others are obviously doing the same.

I had heard the rule that Karl speaks of for the first time this year at another club and think that is a great way to look at it. If you are willing to pay the taxidermist bill then it obviously is a trophy to you. One exception would be a kids first buck...

Jake I know the gene you are speaking of. Be carefull shooting every 7 point, probabbly want to be sure that it is a mature dominent buck.

[mlp1985aggie]

my opinion is the older does are better mothers to the fawns and help in the proper nutrition the fawns get and need and the younger does are more likely to hold back on the fawns nursing which will hurt in the growth of the future bucks. and as for all the 7 pointers which i believe you said were 3 year olds, i would let go and take off more of the spikes and the smaller bodied bucks. But make sure you keep the proper doe to buck ratio in order, which i believe is more like 2:1 and 3:1 tops. hope this helps

[Anders]

shoot all the does, dont shoot the buck unless your are going to mount it, you will never know what its going to be unless you let it grow up. most of us hear dont have 1000 acres fenced in where we can change the gene pool, we need all the help we can get, maybe it will turn into a spike with 36 inch beams and 80 mm of mass the whole length of the beam, I'd mount that!

[Buckeye]

As you can see with all the different answers it's not that simple of an answer. Each property is different and each persons idea of what the want it to be is different. I don't know your property or your plan as well as you do. You don't live in the same area as I do. It's all important and it all make a very big difference.

[Buckeye]

I just heard something today that applies here. If you have been letting your better bucks get older your young does should have better genetics that the older ones because they should have come from the bigger more dominate bucks. Just another piece of the puzzle.I am absoulutly obsessed with QDM, I wish I had more time and $$$$ to put into my place it has sooooo much untapped potiential.

[Sea Draggin]

I just heard something today that applies here. If you have been letting your better bucks get older your young does should have better genetics that the older ones because they should have come from the bigger more dominate bucks. Just another piece of the puzzle.I am absoulutly obsessed with QDM, I wish I had more time and $$$$ to put into my place it has sooooo much untapped potiential.

I was watching the same show and thought about this thread also. We are already taking the older does, because we need to decrease our numbers because there is not enough food.

There are times when you want to take younger does. If you have more than plenty enough food and you are trying to increase your buck:doe ratio as well as your overall numbers, then you want to take the young does. You do this because of the twin thing. An older doe can birth two good bucks every year, especially if being breed by good dominate bucks.