g squared 23
5 year old buck +
My brother left 8 acres of standing beans and found 2 sheds. The glory days are WELL behind and gone forever
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Are the glory days of deer hunting coming to a close?
- Thread starter Howboutthemdawgs
- Start date
Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
I set my Garmin watch yesterday, I walked 4.5 miles, nevermind the almost 70 acres of fields I drove. I found one dead head.
You got any gobblin turkeys?
Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
I heard 2-3 yesterday and one this am. Also in my travels I didn’t see a one
Found one dead 2 year old it looked like
Found one dead 2 year old it looked like
BenA
5 year old buck +
This chart from the MSU Deer Lab is a pretty good look at how we can have less and less quality bucks as the years go by. I think back on that study where it took 2 generations of optimum nutrition for bucks to reach their genetic potential. So, with that same reasoning, it can take 2 generations or more for buck quality to decline after nutrition goes down. Those 5.5 yo top quality bucks are the results of the nutritional plane wherever they dispersed from where their grandmothers were born. What looked like a great herd with lots of deer and great buck quality was the rise before the fall.
Mortenson
5 year old buck +
You know, I was hoping to mow 8 acres of switch grass. Odds are likely of finding 1 the wrong way.I have found a few in a tractor tire
Hoytvectrix
5 year old buck +
To me it seems like if it was that quick of a response for buck quality to decline, there would be more dramatic increases and decreases in buck quality even within small geographic areas that are managed differently (even accounting for fawn dispersal). This figure works for showing deer populations over time, but did they talk how this is related to buck quality?
BenA
5 year old buck +
It would definitely be a gradual decrease in quality. With the study, they were showing it would take 2 generations for improving quality in a very controlled environment. In the wild you wouldn't see it that fast. That's why I was saying you're looking at 2 or more generations of does living at a suboptimal level then you would notice the bucks they produce 5 years after that wouldn't be as good. So, probably a decade or more. That's what I think of when people say we used to have lots of deer and big deer 10 or so years ago, but we don't anymore. The habitat prior to those glory days was probably going downhill already.
Brian662
5 year old buck +
Invasive species are taking their toll on the landscape and only getting worse with each passing year.
One can spend dozens or hundreds of hours a year in eradication efforts (not to mention $$$) only for your buck fawns born in your premium habitat to disperse 3 to 10 miles away.
What a cruel return on investment mother nature serves up
One can spend dozens or hundreds of hours a year in eradication efforts (not to mention $$$) only for your buck fawns born in your premium habitat to disperse 3 to 10 miles away.
What a cruel return on investment mother nature serves up
