The deer seasons have basically concluded here in NE except for antlerless season which will run through Jan. 15. My area has a high deer density.
In my last two sits of the year(Dec. 30, 31) I had the perfect conditions to get deer on their feet and see what was out there. The temps were below zero, moderate to light winds, and 5" of snow. To say I was pumped was an understatement. This area of the farm had only been hunted once all year and only 5 other days since Sept 1st had the farm been hunted at all. Only two of those had occurred in the past 6 weeks. The path to the stand was very low impact in and out and the stand overlooked 3 acres of ag beans that would yield well over 40 bushel an acre according to my farmer friend and my dad.
One of the bucks that came out was I'm fairly certain 4.5(missing his left side or he would have taken a bullet) A 3.5 came out based on my history with him, and then 3 2.5's came out, and the balance were 1.5.
In total 39% of the deer that fed in the field were antlered and the rest were antlerless. Of the antlerless, fawns made up the majority. I was quite surprised at the ratio represented by adult bucks and adult does. It came out to be basically 1 buck to .8 adult doe during those two hunts. I only counted what was in the field at one time and didn't count anything after deer started leaving nor when more entered. They left and came from the same area so I couldn't be sure they were new or ones that had already been counted.
It was good to see so many deer but it seems my buck to doe ratio is way out of wack. This year I had the most bucks I've ever had with busted up racks, some missing one side or all the tines on a beam. I feel I'm in a quandary as I believe the deer numbers are in sync with the habitat and if I don't take some deer I will have more mouths than I want/need to be able to keep my habitat healthy and sustainable long term.
Any ideas or comments to help me figure out what to do to get my buck to doe ratio closer to 1 to 2.+
Thanks
In my last two sits of the year(Dec. 30, 31) I had the perfect conditions to get deer on their feet and see what was out there. The temps were below zero, moderate to light winds, and 5" of snow. To say I was pumped was an understatement. This area of the farm had only been hunted once all year and only 5 other days since Sept 1st had the farm been hunted at all. Only two of those had occurred in the past 6 weeks. The path to the stand was very low impact in and out and the stand overlooked 3 acres of ag beans that would yield well over 40 bushel an acre according to my farmer friend and my dad.
One of the bucks that came out was I'm fairly certain 4.5(missing his left side or he would have taken a bullet) A 3.5 came out based on my history with him, and then 3 2.5's came out, and the balance were 1.5.
In total 39% of the deer that fed in the field were antlered and the rest were antlerless. Of the antlerless, fawns made up the majority. I was quite surprised at the ratio represented by adult bucks and adult does. It came out to be basically 1 buck to .8 adult doe during those two hunts. I only counted what was in the field at one time and didn't count anything after deer started leaving nor when more entered. They left and came from the same area so I couldn't be sure they were new or ones that had already been counted.
It was good to see so many deer but it seems my buck to doe ratio is way out of wack. This year I had the most bucks I've ever had with busted up racks, some missing one side or all the tines on a beam. I feel I'm in a quandary as I believe the deer numbers are in sync with the habitat and if I don't take some deer I will have more mouths than I want/need to be able to keep my habitat healthy and sustainable long term.
Any ideas or comments to help me figure out what to do to get my buck to doe ratio closer to 1 to 2.+
Thanks