BenA
5 year old buck +
Not doubting your assessments of the nutritional plain on what you have natively growing. But, I think to know for sure the plants don't equal the planted or poured feed, you'd have to measure it. Then, you'd have to take into account competition for food by livestock eating natively growing food. Are they outcompeting the deer for the best stuff? Do you have a group of bucks that have shown a decline in antler measurements from last year?I was hoping this thread would generate good discussion. I'll try to respond to all the thoughts here.
I do believe he has better age structure than I do and that is very critical. He has more of the 5-10 yr olds. I have yet to see that many older bucks in that age class yet lots in the younger age classes that may have been born after the storm. I'll know more about age structure with time and that could be a big part of the difference.. While I haven't sampled native vegetation there is no question in my mind that my bucks spent the majority of the time this summer foraging on native stuff. There is no doubt in my mind that healthy Summer legumes coupled with high quality protein pellets provides higher quality nutrition that native plants in La. { Not so true in Mexico } I do not believe you can get full genetic expression from native habitat only in Central La.!
I may have lost a few deer from fence damage after the storm but I don't think material . Its a misnomer to think game fences are water tight. They are not .However after a time deer figure out the fence and you hardly ever see them near it.
I don't think my genetic potential has been affected in the least. However you can have the best genetics in the world and if nutrition is compromised you do not get full expression. Nutrition lifts the quality of all age classes. What I think is many of my bucks were on a lower nutritional plane because they lived on native habitat thus were compromised nutritionally vs. my neighbors deer which spent more time on clover.
I am convinced without a doubt that you can shift the epigenetic potential of antler expression over time IF you keep nutrition 100% 365 days a year . I think you start seeing the results after the first full cohort of fawns born after the first generation of does have been on peak nutrition their whole life. Maybe some places can get there naturally but for most it takes year round cultivars and protein pellets at strategic times to shift the bell curve of quality