Our farm has roughly 4-500 acres which I would say half is crop land. Over the summer we have gotten pictures of lots of bucks so I have been organizing them by age. After this last pull I have confirmed 1 year olds - 13 2 year olds- 3 Cant tell between 1 and 2 - 2 3+ year olds - 2 this brings a total of 20 different bucks on this land. The land is split in half by a gravel road and on the west side I have only gotten a few year and a half bucks so I know there are at least some 2 year olds and most likely a 3 year old or more. Does this seem like an accurate break down of bucks? I feel like there should be more year and a half bucks, but this is Minnesota and people are great at shooting year and a half old bucks.. I am also curious how many bucks in each age class you guys have roaming your woods!
Its very cool that you are keeping track of that. I would say those results are fairly typical of many areas. I never pay much attention to yearling buck numbers, as most will disperse come October and find a new home range, and new ones will come in from other areas. Mn has a good deal of pressure. So depending on your neighbors, you will be lucky if 1/2 the yearlings make it to be 2. Cut those in half again to see the ones that will live to 3....which is about what you are seeing. There are a lucky few places where there is a balanced age structure....but that takes years of strict management and cooperation from neighbors. I would not be discouraged by those numbers....looks like you have a similar situation to a lot of Hunters....maybe a touch better than some
