Louisiana whitetails 2025 2026

[Baker]

Its 35' and raining. Housebound so thought I would put this video together from the farm this yr,

 

[Baker]

For reasons beyond the scope of my technical competency the video didn't post?

 

[Turkish]

Awesome as always! Some questions:

Do you think your lack of 200s is simply due to a lack of older bucks since Laura?

Have you had much of a flush of invasives since Laura opened the canopy? Tallow, privet…?

Any concerns that repeated mowing to set back succession in your savanna will lead to grass dominance?

 

[SwampCat]

The video did post. Some great lookin bucks

 

[Telemark]

Still blows my mind how you get such antler mass on your bucks.

 

[Baker]

Awesome as always! Some questions:

Do you think your lack of 200s is simply due to a lack of older bucks since Laura?

Have you had much of a flush of invasives since Laura opened the canopy? Tallow, privet…?

Any concerns that repeated mowing to set back succession in your savanna will lead to grass dominance?

All great questions.
Yes, lack of top end bucks especially over 200" is a function of how many bucks are in the upper age classes of 6+-8 yrs old. Nutrition may play a role as I believe having cows on the farm for 3 years ' might ' have diminished the year round nutritional plane. But mostly its age. { This also points to how important recruitment is}

yes, there has been a flush of tallow and privet in particular. I've spent thousands of dollars hack and squirt on Tallow. Wasn't a problem before but open the forest canopy and look out. Will be attacking privet and tallow again this yr.

Not worried about mowing leading to grass dominance though your question is insightful. In the long run as the savannah mellow I plan to convert them all to multiple clover species . Some of them are a bit rough for equipment now but I'll address that with time.

As a side note. So much emphasis is put on forest and habitat mgt and that is very important . But candidly you only need enough woodland for escape cover, social distancing , thermal cover and travel corridors. Open areas properly designed provide far more tonnage of food than woodlands thus increasing carrying capacity. Managing for top end production is a numbers game and to consistently produce trophy bucks one must have a lot of bucks growing up in the herd.

 

[BenA]

Enjoyed the video Rusty. I hope you can crank out some more 200's there. I know it's easier to manipulate age structure in the scenario shown, but what (if anything) do you believe Louisiana can do to advance and fill up those age structures through harvest regulations? You would think biologists would want to manage wildlife in a way that allows for a more natural age structure. I wish the age of making harvest regulations solely to increase or decrease herd sizes would end, and we would start to incorporate regulations to manipulate other herd dynamics as well.

 

[Baker]

Enjoyed the video Rusty. I hope you can crank out some more 200's there. I know it's easier to manipulate age structure in the scenario shown, but what (if anything) do you believe Louisiana can do to advance and fill up those age structures through harvest regulations? You would think biologists would want to manage wildlife in a way that allows for a more natural age structure. I wish the age of making harvest regulations solely to increase or decrease herd sizes would end, and we would start to incorporate regulations to manipulate other herd dynamics as well.

Thanks, come visit the farm someday.

I think using govt. regulation to manage for age structure and quality on a state wide basis is lightning in a bottle. Louisiana already has the best tool available with DMAP which allows private landowners great flexibility in managing whitetails on their own property. As you know there are many large landholdings in La. yet the program is only as successful as how individual landowners apply it. With DMAP I can manage my farm exactly as I want to achieve my goals. Once you get to smaller properties where herd management is impossible and no way to control hunter numbers only the decisions of the collective matter and regulating that beyond the broadest scope won't happen.I suppose you could regulate the public property by controlling the number of hunters and overall harvest but that is still a very macro approach to a sophisticated management challenge.

To effectively manage a herd of deer for optimum age structure, carrying capacity, and b/d ratio several things are needed:
First, { second , third, forth and fifth:) } a dictatorship with absolute control over harvest!
Second You have to have either 1) scale---I don't know what the minimum is but start with 5000 acres and more is better. Or some natural features in terrain that allow control of the population I. e. large island, or like properties along the Ms. River defined by river , levee and giant ag outside the levee, or a game fence. You have to be able to control population. This is why I say most people are managing habitat hoping to influence deer activity, Not managing a deer herd.Theres a difference.

State regulations cant control any of the above. Thus they extremely limited in outcomes and have to focus on the macro.