I believe my buck doe ratio in my area is KILLING my rut.... we see them chase a little here and there......but not a whole lot...... in the county hunt the game warden says that for a good population of deer.....its ideal for 2 does per buck......but we have bout 20+ does per buck..... this is my opinion on it and I wanna see if there is anything I can do or if im just completely wrong..... I figure that when a buck is rutting....that his primary goal is finding a doe to mate with....and that his steps to achieving this goal would be to establish his territory, find an interested doe (one using his scrapes) and finally meeting her and mating..... now with a lower doe population...I would come to the conclusion that it would entice bucks to be a lot more territorial because although there are more does than bucks....they are still limited. So I would assume that if a buck is more aggressive.....then we are getting a good full rut out of them...making them let down their guard just a little bit with a large number of does for the picking.....a buck would be able to satisfy his mating needs rather easily without as much moving and chasing and leg work and therefore there would naturally be no need for as much aggression and would not get as "crazy" or "stupid" during his rutting period....making him keep his guard up a lot better does this make sense and if so...would you suggest that I keep to my initial plan going into this season of "thinning the does before the rut then leaving them alone after" (due to the fact she may be pregnant with my trophy 5 years from now)
ALSO! would a higher doe population possibly result in less food opportunities that could be used for horn growing nutrients for the bucks in the area ? given the large difference in the ratio
A skewed ratio will definitely effect the rut and antler growth. Three guys and 10 females are stuck on an island. Those guys will put zero effort into finding one. Now switch that to 10 guys and 3 females. There will be a ton of chaos and intense fights.
that's what im screaming... but a lot of the dudes hunting adjoining properties try to tell me not to kill the does cause they attract the bucks.....which is true...but given our situation....we are just cutting our own throats
You may have a high ratio, but I would wage no where close to 20:1. You should still see bucks on the does, just maybe not the Bucks you want to see.
In MN for the last few years very few doe tags are issued(less than 100 for our zone) to try and get deer numbers up. We saw more quality bucks with a low population than now and more rutting sign scrapes,rubs, ect too. Its a big deal now to see a buck chasing does or fighting. Just like mentioned above the bucks do not have to put any effort into finding hot does. We also have fawns dropping for a couple months instead of a few weeks
A good ratio is always better. I use to think if you left all the does you'd see more bucks. Well, if you have the same number of bucks as you nave does you will. Jake hit the nail right on the head.
the reason I believed the number is because I have sat countless times when a few years ago and have a field with 20+ does at one time and no buck with them........ at that time I was in the mindset that I was only going to shoot a big buck and ALOT of stuff walked hindsight being 20/20...I should have filled my tags wit the does
I believe im going to take a few days this rifle season and bring out the 30-06 and snipe me some does.....its to the point in NC we have a virtually unlimited amount of doe tags....and in my opinion to many buck tags... your allowed 6 deer total....4 of which can be bucks (but do not have to be) and when you fill your tags you can purchase more doe tags...
You say 20+ doe in a field. I say 4-6 of those are buck fawns. Buck fawns count as bucks in your herds sex ratio.
I'd wait until after the season and then do camera survey. Get an estimate and then go to the QDMA website to pull some articles for sharing with the neighbors.
This statement is false i have a proporty that i have had for about 5 years now themnand owner has been nice enough to let me hunt and on my sits and trail cam photos which i spent alot of time in the woods my ratio was roughly 16 to 1 that's 16 does to 1 buck and the fitting activity has always been poor very poor. But wouldn't complain much bc i have other proporty that ha awesome rut action. Ao no its not impossible. It is nothing on a good night t0 see 30-40 deer in one sit there. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
Not biologically possible to be over around 8:1 sex ratio. You are not taking into consideration buck fawns. When you see many "antlerless deer" you need to understand those are not all doe.
If you had 16 does to one buck, with an average of 2 fawns per doe, 50% of them being bucks, you ratio will come back into check naturally.
It is impossible for a free range herd to have that imbalanced of a sex ratio. Read up on the subject.
Ratios won't necessarily come back into balance naturally. Some properties tend to be used as nurseries and doe headquarters. We have an 80 acres that is 30 acres of crop land and the remaining balance in coal dumps and strip pits where I run one feeder and three cameras. I rarely ever get any bucks on camera there and none seem to live there on a regular basis. All I get there is the occasional rut buck passing through late season. Most of the time I'll have anywhere from five to fifteen does and fawns on the cameras there. Many of which are on three different cameras at the same times so I know there are well over twenty does and fawns at any one time on that property that I can account for and either no or extremely low numbers of antlered bucks. I can't explain the why's and wherefore's....I just know it is and has been that way for four years that I know of. The bucks all seem to live off that property and travel willy nilly in and out. Coal dumps all around three sides and a big crop field, probably 300 acres on the other side.
I've always been taught that a 2:1 is ideal. Have a doe fest and take out 3-4 does if you can, you'd be amazed at the results of taking even just a few out if you do in fact have a lopsided buck to doe ratio.
