Genetics is much more complex. There is a base genetic pool that covers many more genes than are expressed. There is an entire field called epigenetics that comes into play. Most folks only think they have poor genetics. Epigenetics is the study of gene expression verses which genes are carried. One recent study captured and transported deer from two areas of a particular state, one with good soils and larger deer (call it area A) and one with poor soils and smaller deer (call it area B). Hunters in the area of the state with poor soils knew they didn't have great soil but they also believed they had poor underlying genetics.
These deer were fed the same high quality diet and it made only a small difference in the deer (body weight and antler size) in the deer from area B. They were still way behind the deer from area A. It took two generations of feeding and both groups A and B were about the same in both body weight and antler size. The high quality diet provided to parents affected the genes for size that were expressed in the offspring. The high quality diet fed to the second generation affected the genes expressed by their offspring as well.
So in the end, neither area of the state had "better genetics". It was simply a matter of how the quality of the soils (thus the food) had interplay with the epigenetics.
For choosing a general area, soils are the key. Because the food we plant is only a small percentage of the diet of a free ranging deer, we can't really effect the epigenetics either of free ranging deer without a huge budget. The soils are the limiting factor. What we can do to marginally improve nutrition and get the biggest healthiest deer our soils can support is to even out the boom and bust cycles of nature by selecting crops that provide a high quality food source during times when nature provides little.
From my perspective this can be done regardless of soil quality but it does require enough scale so that a deer's home range is enveloped by land under your control because age comes into play and the harvest of young bucks by neighbors can mute the effort. However, you are still limited by the underlying soils.
One more thing to keep in mind is that harvesting record book bucks is not everyone's goal, and certainly not mine. I'd love an opportunity at a wall-hanger, but that is not foremost for me. We are managing for a balance between timber value, wildlife value, introducing new hunters to the sport, and recreational opportunity. We have lost many bucks with great potential by using a policy that lets new hunters shoot any deer including young bucks. I'd rather know I introduced a kid into the sport that may become a long time hunter than harvest wall hangers. In order to shot a wall-hanger, you need to pass on does as well. That doesn't fit into our management plan for keeping the herd size in balance with the habitat. In the big scheme of things when I look are our goals, soil fertility is not as important since many of our other goals are more limiting factors.
Thanks,
Jack
