I'm not sure on the ratio around here but I rarely get bucks on camera on the property I have left to hunt. Two days ago my cousin jumped about 6-7 does and one buck. I've only seen one buck out there before that. I'm guessing the ratio is probably around 7:1 or 6:1 maybe more but I really have no idea. I've never seen rut activity during the day and this year even the scrapes and rubs are down. I usually see about 10-15 scrapes and 5-10 rubs on a 36 acre property and I saw one scrape and zero rubs and I'm sure there might be more but I haven't found them.
QDMA has historically preached a perfect 1:1 ratio but also claims it's almost impossible to reach. Personally I even left the 2:1 ratio target behind a long time ago. Sure, a more even ration increases the rut activity but I have to wonder though it may be desirable by hunters...is it a wise practice for the health of the herd. Get a couple of years back to back of a disease like EHD and I'm betting my herd numbers will bounce back a hell of a lot faster at 3:1 to 4:1 than an intensely managed ranch at 1:1 or 2:1, even if those are achievable. Ours seem to naturally regulate at 3-4:1. Even at that I see bucks chasing does every year, had one chase a doe within ten feet of my pickup last year while it was sitting there running and me sitting in it....got it on video on my phone.
I was sittin there and know what I seen.... and what I got on camera.... and what the wildlife resource commission says their numbers are.... very few bucks....for the doe population we have....but I attribute this (and not to get on the subject of weather its right or wrong...its completely up to the hunter according to the law) to the fact that a lot of people in my area kill bucks no matter what size and the fact that we can kill 4 bucks a year per person (and I know MANY that kill plenty they don't tag every year) so theres a lot more to it than meets the eye
a free range herd that is hunted rigorously and any buck that has any horn showing being shot on sight? would that still apply?
Oh, well then..... No still not possible. Here is an excerpt and link to an article on the subject... ”I often hear hunters, and outdoor writers refer to 10:1 or 15:1 doe:buck ratios. These cannot be pre-hunt adult ratios because as long as the deer herd is reproducing and recruiting fawns, the ratio cannot become more skewed than about five does per buck. The biological maximum is roughly 5:1 because even in the absence of doe harvest, a certain percentage of adult does in the population will die each year from old age, vehicle collisions, disease, predators, etc. Also, about 50 percent of fawns born each year are bucks, thus the sex ratio gets an annual correction when fawns are recruited.” https://www.qdma.com/articles/the-reality-of-doebuck-ratios Also whitetail deer do not have horns. They have antlers.
Leave it be... This thread was not started to have you "correct" anyone's observations... You're just arguing for the sake of arguing... This man is speaking on terms if his HIGH doe to buck ratio is killing his rut. NOT if 20:1 doe to buck ratio is possible. Bo, I hunt northern Johnston County and our ratio is high as well and our rut isn't what I'd like to see. My objective over the next few years is to decrease the doe to buck ratio by taking as many does as I can. IMO all we can do is try something and then put a check by it if it works or an X by it if it doesn't. Good luck!
This isn't really a deer ratio issue because the actual herd covers a larger area, it is more that that 30 acres just happens to be where does bed and not bucks. That could be what others are seeing in thinking their ratio is so far off, we have to remember the amount of area that deer can cover especially bucks. 30 acres is likely 1/10th of a bucks area.
Rutting activity has more to do with age structure of your bucks than ratio. Young bucks don't exhibit typical rutting behavior your looking for. A herd with the majority of bucks being 1.5yr olds will have poor rut activity no matter the sex ratio. Killing more doe will not help. You need to let young bucks mature to see the activity your looking for.
This is exactly right. When I did trail cam surveys...one camera for every ~100 acres, that property reflected a ratio over 20:1...that's the process no matter the actual reality. The actual reality is however that a broader cross section of the surrounding properties still shows the overall ratio in the area to be ~3-4:1 as well as most of the rest of the ranch. This same thing is what others are likely seeing, as you say...but for their individual property, that ratio still holds true as measured specifically to that property. This is also true, to varying degrees at least in my opinion. Which is why we manage based more off age structure than population, among other reasons. Cool stuff happens when you get managed to a point where you have decent numbers of mature bucks. They are more fun to hunt for one thing.
I hunt northern duplin county.... im taking on this same approach....I don't usually like shooting does after breeding...so we have started our doe purging already for the year. hopefully it will show an improvement....I know they will travel farther...but we have about a 350 acre piece we hunt so I believe it would still show some effect.... I appreciate it buddy...and good luck in your area!!!
