Let me explain what I mean by the dynamics of a deer population. The first three are estimated either through a camera survey or through observation counts.

Doe to Buck ratio:     This is how many Does there are in relation to how many Bucks there are. If there are twice as many Does as there are Bucks then the Doe to Buck ratio is two to one (2 : 1). (Fawns are not included in this ratio)

Fawn Recruitment:    This is how many Fawns are being recruited into the deer population in early fall. The best way to do this is by calculating a fawn recruitment rate which is the ratio of fawns to Does. So a count of 10 Does and 7 Fawns would give us a recruitment rate of .70

# of individual Bucks:            This is how many different Bucks are on this property or in this area. (This count excludes Buck Fawns)

Mortality Rate:          This is how many deer are dying from causes other than hunting. You can call it natural mortality if you want. Some examples are disease, predation, winter kill, road kill etc. Of all the factors we estimate this is actually the most difficult but again it can vary tremendously from area to area.

Carrying Capacity:     What this means is how many deer can live on this property or in this area and there be sufficient food for them to be healthy. There is a limit on how many deer can be on your property before the health of the deer diminishes and also the health of the habitat. Most areas have a limit on the food sources that are available, especially the food sources that provide the deer with the proper nutrition that they need to be healthy. In an overpopulation situation not only do the deer suffer but so does the habitat.

I can’t emphasize enough the importance of estimating the 5 things I listed above for the property or area that you hunt. If you’re hunting over 1000 acres or you’re hunting under a high fence then you can come up with good estimates for that property. If you are hunting less than 1000 acres then try to work with your neighbors in determining the above. Even if I was hunting 50 acres I would keep track of the first three things I listed just to compare them season to season.

I have seen Doe to Buck ratios of 4:1 (4 Does for every Buck) and I have seen Doe to Buck ratios of .75:1 (which is 3 Does for every 4 Bucks). I am sure there are some ratios even higher and lower than these. There is not one right ratio for every property/area out there. By just shooting Bucks the Doe to Buck ratio will increase. Where Doe hunting is allowed hunters can offset that effect on the Doe to Buck ratio. Because the number of Does you have will determine your fawn recruitment and in turn your deer population, it is important to keep track of your Doe to Buck ratio. Please read my article“Why and how you manipulate your Doe to Buck ratio” where I cover this in detail.

I have seen Fawn Recruitment rates of .40 (4 Fawns for every 10 Does) and I have seen Fawn Recruitment rates of 1.0 (10 Fawns for every 10 Does) I know there are ratios even higher and lower than these. Unlike the Doe to Buck ratio where hunters can influence that ratio, the Fawn Recruitment rate isn’t something we can change very easily. It has been proven that a healthy Doe can recruit more fawns into the deer population than an unhealthy Doe. So, by making sure your deer population has all of the healthy nutrition that it needs may have a positive effect on your recruitment rate. This is known as habitat management. If predation is a big problem in your area then maybe reducing the number of predators will help your fawn recruitment rate. This is easier said than done. Please read my article“Knowing your Fawn Recruitment Rate is Important!” where I explain the importance of knowing your Fawn Recruitment rate.

Being able to estimate the number of individual Bucks on your property or in your area can be very beneficial. It’s easier to do this on properties or areas less than 5000 acres but it can certainly be done on larger properties. Please read my article“How you determine how many different Bucks you have” to see how we do this. Doing this each season allows you to compare your counts season to season and you will know with certainty if your Buck population is changing significantly.

Estimating the mortality rate is the most difficult factor to come up with. Some states have established estimates that you can use as a guideline. How many deer carcasses do you find throughout the year? Because I hunt in the south the mortality rate is somewhat consistent. The main causes for mortality for us (excluding hunting), is predators, road kill and disease. It seems that each year we have 1 or 2 Bucks that are showing signs of pedicle damage. Unfortunately this pedicle damage can lead to a brain abscess which may be a death sentence for that particular Buck. Now if you’re hunting in the north where winter kills can occur or an area where CWD or EHD exists, you will find that your mortality rate can change drastically from year to year.

The carrying capacity can vary tremendously from area to area. One area may be able to hold and offer good nutrition for 10 deer per square mile while another area may be able to hold and offer good nutrition for 80 deer per square mile. Doing a browse impact study will help you determine if your deer population is within the carrying capacity of your property/area or if there is an overpopulation of deer. There are articles available on how to do a browse impact study if you want to try this yourself or maybe a state wildlife biologist will be able to assist you. As the forest/habitat matures you could see the carrying capacity change along with it. This is where land management comes into play to make sure you are keeping your habitat favorable to wildlife and the carrying capacity at the level you want.

So, now that you see how the dynamics of a deer population can change from area to area you can also see how deer harvest requirements will vary from area to area. How many Bucks should you shoot? How many Does should you shoot? (if legal)

The next thing I want to cover is “Selective Harvest”? This can encompass a lot of different scenarios of which I will just list a couple of examples. This should also be decided on a site specific basis.

1. You do not (or at least try not) to shoot any fawns or yearling Bucks. With time afield and studying of pictures from your own area most of your hunters should get pretty good at identifying fawns and yearling Bucks by recognizing their body characteristics. The most common mistake usually made is mistaking a Button Buck for a Doe or maybe thinking a yearling Buck is older because he has nice antlers.
2. You do not shoot a Buck unless you feel he has reached an older age class. This is similar to #1 except that you are even passing up 2 ½ and maybe 3 ½ and older Bucks as well. The best way to do this is by being able to estimate the age of the Buck on the hoof. Ignore the antlers and just focus on the body characteristics. Again, with time afield and studying of pictures from your own area most of your hunters should get pretty good at ageing your Bucks at least into four main groupings. (Fawns, 1 ½ year old yearlings, 2 ½ and 3 ½ plus) Some hunters are even pretty good at ageing the Bucks over 3 ½ but the accuracy level does go down.
3. You can only shoot a Buck if he meets certain antler restrictions. These antler restrictions may be a certain number of points on one side, a certain outside or inside spread (usually outside the ears), a certain gross score or maybe a certain base circumference. This is where things can go really bad. Too often I hear that a hunt club has implemented an antler restriction and they never analyzed the antlers on the Bucks harvested in their own area. This can be a big mistake. If you make a Buck harvest restriction that the antlers must be outside the ears when the ears are up then you’re assuming that most every Buck that is older (3 ½ plus) will have antlers outside the ears. I can assure you that there are many areas where this doesn’t hold true so the outside spread requirement should Not be used. In the advanced version of our software we provide a report that allows you to analyze the antler characteristics of Bucks that you have harvested. If you analyze 3 years of harvest history you will be able to confidently establish an antler restriction if one will work for you. There is nothing worse than having a wrong antler restriction because you end up protecting some Bucks for possibly their entire life because their antlers will never exceed the antler restriction. One Buck here and one Buck there isn’t a problem but if you are inadvertently protecting 20% or more of your 3 ½ and older Bucks then you are doing what I call reverse management. Imagine it being illegal or against your rules to shoot a 5 ½ or 6 ½ year old Buck because his antlers don’t meet your requirements. This is actually happening in some places today.

In summary, by keeping some simple records of all the deer that are shot on your property along with a camera survey you can educate yourself on the deer population on your property or in your area. More and more hunters and hunt clubs are becoming proactive in the monitoring and managing of their deer populations. Make management decisions based on your own facts and not what other people are doing. The dynamics of their deer population could be entirely different than the dynamics of your deer population so you need to make decisions based on your own specific situation. Please watch my video “Why Deer Management needs to be Site Specific” where I show you samples of two properties that have different Fawn Recruitment Rates and different Mortality Rates.

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Trail cameras have become a necessary tool for most deer managers and many deer hunters. Let me explain the three primary uses of trail cameras. Even though I am focused on deer you can use these methods on other animals as well.

1. Deer population surveys.
2. Deer patterning.
3. Security (Catching poachers and trespassers)

Let me now go into more detail;

Deer population surveys:

Because we are deer managers as well as deer hunters this process is the most important process for us. Being able to estimate our Fawn Recruitment Rate, Doe to Buck Ratio and how many individual Bucks we got pictures of is very important in educating us on the dynamics of the deer population in our immediate area. Please read my article “Knowing your Fawn Recruitment Rate is Important!” where I explain the importance of knowing your Fawn Recruitment Rate. Also read my article “Why and how to manipulate your Doe to Buck ratio” where I explain the importance of knowing and possibly even manipulating your Doe to Buck ratio based on your own specific situation. (Your own recruitment rate, mortality rates, deer density etc.) Also, sorting through all of our pictures and determining the number of different Bucks is an important part of our survey. Being able to estimate how many different Bucks we got pictures of gives us something to compare season to season. We do a four week survey with our cameras. We place them at our feeders for two weeks and then we put the cameras on a field or food plot with corn in front of them for the other two weeks. (Placing corn is legal where we hunt) We like to do this with our cameras because we have determined that a small percentage of our deer avoid our feeders. By moving the cameras to a field we usually see a few different deer that do not go to our feeders. I have other articles where I cover the survey process in more detail.

Utilizing our software you can see in the example below how easy it is to track all of this information season by season.

The above sightings information was acquired through observation counts but camera counts will work just as well if not better. As a matter of fact most properties prefer to do a camera survey and just enter those counts into the software. I definitely recommend that everyone do a camera survey and keep track of those counts season to season. Even if I was just hunting 50 acres I would still track the information above just so I had something to compare season by season. Since we are not under a high fence we can see the effects if any our neighbors are having on our deer population. One thing we were able to determine is that our neighbors aren’t shooting enough Does so we are able to compensate for that. We can also see if we are getting our Buck population reduced since we are trying to reduce it. Last but not least is watching our recruitment rate. Many areas are experiencing higher fawn mortality rates because of predators. Even though we have had an increase in our coyote population it has not hurt us yet but it’s important that we keep an eye on it.

Deer patterning:

Many deer hunters like to place trail cameras out in the woods, on food plots or on agricultural fields so they can try to pattern the deer or possibly a specific deer. The camera may be placed on a rub line, over a scrape, near a bedding area or just a heavily used trail. The possibilities are endless. Some hunters have very limited hunting time available so if they can use a trail camera to help pattern a deer then it just might provide them the advantage they need to harvest this deer. Other hunters just like to use the camera as a scouting tool. Believe it or not I’m a little old fashioned when it comes to patterning deer. Even though I use the cameras for a camera survey I don’t use them to scout my hunting spots during the season. This is just my own personal preference. I just like finding appropriate Buck sign and then setting up on the spot to see if I can catch him during hunting hours. On the other hand my nephew enjoys putting a camera out during the season over a rub or scrape line to see if he can identify and pattern this specific Buck. This is one of those things where we say “To each his own”.

Security:

This third use of cameras is not only used by some hunters, it is also used by many wildlife enforcement agencies. Placing infrared cameras around various areas of your property, home, campsite, deer stands etc. just may allow you to catch someone who is poaching or trespassing. Even though we use white flash (color) cameras for our camera survey we have a few infrared cameras that we use to monitor our property. (Access points, camp, feeders etc.) This allowed us to catch a thief a few years ago and it might be something you want to consider.

In summary, trail cameras have opened up a whole new world to deer management, scouting and security monitoring. I have heard so many hunters say that they don’t have any big Bucks on their property and then they’re shocked when they look at their trail camera pictures and sure enough there is a couple of big Bucks. You will learn a lot from the pictures from your property or area. For example, how many daytime pictures are you getting versus nighttime pictures and how many different Bucks are you getting pictures of. If you’re using your cameras strictly for scouting then you may want to consider taking another step towards monitoring your deer population on your property or in your area. If you can educate yourself on the dynamics of the deer population on your property or in your area then you can then follow the changes from season to season. Know with certainty if there are any significant changes to your fawn recruitment rate, your Doe to Buck ratio or your Buck count.

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So, in this article I am going to cover how you can manipulate your Doe to Buck ratio. I will also talk about why you may want to manipulate your Doe to Buck ratio. I like asking other hunters what the Doe to Buck ratio is on the property that they hunt. I would say that 95% of the time they indicate what they think it is but when I ask them how they determined what it is, they confidently say that it’s based on what they are seeing while they are hunting. I ask them if they write anything down, but usually the response is that they don’t need to write anything down. They just know what they are seeing. Our memories are a wonderful thing but to determine the dynamics of your deer population which includes your Doe to Buck ratio, you can’t depend on memories. It’s amazing how your last hunt or two can strongly influence your thoughts. I could ask each individual member of a hunt club what they think their Doe to Buck ratio is and I will probably get a different estimate from each hunter.

How can you estimate your Doe to Buck ratio?
I believe the most accurate methods are trail camera surveys and observation counts. I encourage everyone to do their survey as late in the year as they can but prior to the harvesting of any deer. Where I hunt in Georgia I do my camera survey starting around the end of September. Let me briefly describe the two methods I mentioned above.

Trail Camera Survey: In this method you will utilize trail cameras to count the total number of does and bucks that you see in your pictures. You are not trying to count individual does and bucks for this process. (Most does look the same to me) You are just getting a total count of does and bucks in your pictures. This can be done over a 2 to 3 week time frame. If it is legal for you to put out an attractant (like corn) this helps lure the deer to the camera sites so you can get a good census. 

Observation counts: If your deer (especially bucks) are pretty much nocturnal then you won’t be able to use observation counts to estimate your doe to buck ratio. But, if your deer do move around some in the morning or a bit before dark then you may be able to get a good census using your observation counts. If you and some of your co-hunters are able to spend time on your property just before your hunting season opens then you can count how many does and bucks you see. An agricultural crop or a food plot is a great place to count deer since they are attractive food sources for deer. Don’t expect to go out one afternoon and get a count and use those results for your estimate. You should have a few different people covering a few different areas over a few different days. This will give you enough data to come up with some good estimates. Because many hunters don’t have much time available to do enough observation counts or because their deer are pretty much nocturnal they usually end up doing a trail camera survey which is just fine.

Whichever method you use or you can even use a combination of both methods, you will divide the number of does counted by the number of bucks counted to come up with your own estimated doe to buck ratio. Here are a couple of quick examples:
1751 does / 738 bucks = 2.37 doe to buck ratio
1751 does / 917 bucks = 1.91 doe to buck ratio
I will now use my formula for “Deer Population and Harvest Estimate” to illustrate to you how different doe to buck ratios can affect your harvest requirements. I will show you how the number of does and bucks to be harvested is calculated based on the estimated doe to buck ratio you have before the season and the approximate doe to buck ratio you would like to have next season. In each example I am assuming that there are approximately 30 different resident Bucks on this property and that there is approximately a .70 fawn recruitment rate. The size of this property is irrelevant for the purposes of this illustration. It could be a 500 acre tract or a 2000 acre tract. The important thing is that we are starting with approximately 30 different Bucks and approximately a .70 recruitment rate for all the examples below. (Remember, resident Bucks are Bucks that spend most of their time on your property.)

Please note that the Doe to Buck ratio at the top of the formula is calculated excluding fawns. We are determining the ratio based on deer that are 1 year old and older. When we do observation counts and camera surveys we count fawns strictly as fawns and we don’t try to identify them as doe fawns or buck fawns. For those of you that would like to see the Doe to Buck ratio including fawns we show that estimate at the bottom part of the formula. We do assume that ½ of the fawns will be Does and ½ will be Bucks. Though this may not necessarily be the case each year, over time it is probably close to a 50:50 split.

(Click on pictures to enlarge.)

In the example above I am starting with approximately a 3 to 1 doe to buck ratio and I am purposely trying to get it down to approximately a 2 to 1 doe to buck ratio next season. If I try to keep the same number of bucks (30) and just try to reduce the doe to buck ratio please take note of how the deer population will go from approximately 183 deer down to approximately 132 deer. This is a decrease in the deer population of approximately 28%. If lowering the deer population is my intentions then this is fine. By using a mortality rate of 10% for does and 20% for bucks (your rates may be higher or lower) we estimate that we will lose 12 does and 12 bucks to natural mortality. (Disease, predators, winter kill, fighting, hit by car, etc.) After this, we estimate that we should harvest 50 does and 19 bucks for a total of 69 deer. It’s obvious to see that we need to shoot a lot more does than bucks but we are still going to shoot some bucks. These estimates will allow us to reduce our doe to buck ratio from 3 to 1 down to 2 to 1 and at the same time lower our deer population by approximately 28%.

If my intentions are not to lower the deer population but to keep the population about the same then look at the next example.

In the example above please note that we are starting with the same deer population as in the first example. But notice that next season I have not only indicated that I want to have approximately a 2 to 1 doe to buck ratio but I also indicated that I wanted to have approximately 41 bucks. By increasing the number of bucks on the property I can now keep our deer population around 180 deer and we can have the doe to buck ratio closer to 2 to 1. The estimated mortality stays the same but look at the new harvest estimates. Instead of harvesting approximately 50 does and 19 bucks we will harvest approximately 28 does and 8 bucks. This will not only bring our doe to buck ratio down to approximately 2 to 1, it will also keep our deer population around 180 deer!

In the next example I am showing a property that actually has more Bucks than Does. They actually have 3 Does for every 4 Bucks. When I divide 3 by 4 I come up with .75 which is the Doe to Buck ratio that I use below.

In the example above I tried to bring up the Doe to Buck ratio to 1 to 1. The Harvest Estimate is telling me that I can’t really reach that ratio successfully this season. I should harvest no Bucks and no Does but it’s indicating a -2 under Doe Harvests which is telling me I need to bring in 2 more Does which is not an option. I’ll just have to harvest no deer this season and then try to reach my goals next season.

There isn’t a perfect doe to buck ratio that applies to every property out there. Some properties like to keep a tight doe to buck ratio because it may improve their Buck hunting. Other properties may need to keep a higher doe to buck ratio in order to maintain their deer population and/or allow them to harvest a certain number of deer. Let me give you 3 more examples so I can show you what I mean.

In the example above the property has a pretty tight doe to buck ratio of approximately 1.2 to 1. They also have a mortality rate of about 10% for does and 20% for bucks. These hunters are completely satisfied with their hunting and can shoot approximately 8 does and 4 bucks each season.

But for another property (or even this property if things change) look at what happens if they actually have a higher mortality rate as shown below:

In the example above we now increased our mortality rates to 20% for does and 30% for bucks. In the previous example we could harvest approximately 8 does and 4 bucks but now with the higher mortality we can shoot 3 does and no bucks. (actually the buck population may decrease by 1) This is actually happening to some areas because of the increase in predators such as coyotes. The situation shown above is not acceptable to the hunt group so what should they do? Obviously they should do their best to reduce the predation but if they can’t they will have to increase their deer population. They will probably decide to shoot no deer until they can get the population up.

Let’s look at the next example:

In the example above we increase our doe to buck ratio to 2 to 1 which increases our deer population to approximately 132 deer. So with the higher mortality rates we will at least be able to harvest about 5 does and 6 bucks.

In summary, deer hunters and deer managers should educate themselves on the dynamics of the deer population on their property or in their area. This includes knowing the approximate doe to buck ratio. Even though smaller properties can estimate their doe to buck ratio, the larger the property the more accurate it will be. I prefer determining the dynamics of a deer population on an area that is 1000 or more acres. In many cases getting a few neighbors together can allow you to estimate your doe to buck ratio, fawn recruitment rate, etc. in your own area. As you see from just the 6 examples above there can be and are many variations in the dynamics of deer populations located not just from state to state or county to county but from property to property! We have a 1.3 to 1 doe to buck ratio and 5 miles away they may have a 2.5 to 1 doe to buck ratio.

So here’s the reality check. It’s time we all take responsibility for our own properties and areas. Let’s stop depending on or blaming our state wildlife divisions for deer population problems that may exist in different areas of a state. These state biologists have a difficult job because there is such a variation in the dynamics of the deer populations throughout the state. Just look at my examples above! All they can do is establish limits that will allow most all properties in the state to meet their own harvest requirements. If they establish a season limit of 2 bucks and 4 does that doesn’t mean that you have to go out and shoot 2 bucks and 4 does. Each hunt club or group should try to monitor their own deer harvests season by season so there is clear documentation on what is happening on their own specific property. If they can also keep track of their fawn recruitment rate and maybe even do a trail camera survey then that’s even better. It takes us about 30 seconds to write down the information of a deer we harvest. It also takes about 30 seconds to enter that information into a computer. So if you consider the amount of time (and money) you invest in your hunting then taking a minute to record some information on each deer that is harvested is a small investment of time for actual documentation of your deer harvests season by season on your own hunting property. Know with certainty if your deer harvests are going up or going down from season to season and try to monitor your Doe to Buck Ratio season to season.

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I will now use my formula for “Deer Population and Harvest Estimate” to illustrate to you how different recruitment rates can drastically affect your deer population and harvest requirements. In each example I am assuming that there are approximately 40 different resident bucks on this property and that there is a Doe to Buck ratio of 2:1. (By resident bucks, I mean bucks that spend most of their time on this property) The size of this property is irrelevant for the purposes of this illustration. It could be a 600 acre tract or a 3000 acre tract. The important thing is that we are intentionally trying to maintain approximately 40 different bucks and approximately a 2:1 Doe to Buck ratio for all three scenarios below.

In this first example I am using a recruitment rate of .40

(Click on pictures to enlarge.)

In the example above we have approximately 40 different resident bucks on this property. With a 2:1 Doe to Buck ratio that gives us approximately 80 does on the property. With a fawn recruitment rate of .40 that will give us approximately 32 fawns for a total estimated deer population of 152 deer. I am trying to keep the deer population the same. I am using a mortality rate of 10% for does and 20% for bucks. (Your rates might be higher or lower) As a result of this we estimate that we will lose approximately 10 does and 11 bucks to natural mortality. (Disease, winter kill, fighting, hit by car, etc.) After this we estimate that we should harvest approximately 6 does and 5 bucks for a total of 11 deer.

Now let’s move on down to the bottom of the estimate form where it says “The ending population next summer of 152 includes 21% fawns and 18% yearlings (1 ½ year old deer) The formula is assuming that no fawns will be shot in the current season. This is saying that 39% of our deer population next season will be fawns and yearlings. So, of the 152 deer approximately 59 deer will be fawns and yearlings and approximately 93 deer will be 2 ½ years old and older. In this example since we are going to harvest 11 deer there are plenty of 2 ½ year old and older deer to harvest.

Pro:           You have enough older deer to harvest.

Con:          You should only harvest approximately 11 deer. (6 does and 5 bucks) If you have more than 11 hunters then not everyone will be able to shoot a deer.

Now let’s look at the next example.

In this example I am using a recruitment rate of .75

In the example above we still have approximately 40 different resident bucks on this property. With a 2:1 Doe to Buck ratio that gives us approximately 80 does on the property. With a fawn recruitment rate of .75 that will give us approximately 60 fawns for a total estimated deer population of 180 deer. I am trying to keep the deer population the same. I am using a mortality rate of 10% for does and 20% for bucks. As a result of this we estimate that we will lose approximately 11 does and 14 bucks to natural mortality. (Disease, winter kill, fighting, hit by car, etc.) After this we estimate that we should harvest approximately 19 does and 16 bucks for a total of 35 deer.

Now let’s move on down to the bottom of the estimate form where it says “The ending population next summer of 180 includes 33% fawns and 28% yearlings (1 ½ year old deer) This is saying that 61% of our deer population next season will be fawns and yearlings. So, of the 180 deer approximately 110 deer will be fawns and yearlings and approximately 70 deer will be 2 ½ years old and older. In this example since we are going to harvest 35 deer there should be enough 2 ½ year old and older deer to harvest.

Pro:           You have enough older deer to harvest but if the older deer do what they do best you may have a hard time harvesting these older deer.

Con:          Between harvest and mortality you will lose 60 deer of which many of them come out of the 70 older deer on your property. As a result of this you will have mostly young deer on your property. This happens quite often.

Now let’s look at the next example.

In this example I am using a recruitment rate of 1.20

In the example above we still have approximately 40 different resident bucks on this property. With a 2:1 Doe to Buck ratio that gives us approximately 80 does on the property. With a fawn recruitment rate of 1.20 that will give us approximately 96 fawns for a total estimated deer population of 216 deer. I am trying to keep the deer population the same. I am using a mortality rate of 10% for does and 20% for bucks. As a result of this we estimate that we will lose approximately 13 does and 18 bucks to natural mortality. After this we estimate that we should harvest approximately 35 does and 30 bucks for a total of 65 deer.

Now let’s move on down to the bottom of the estimate form where it says “The ending population next summer of 216 includes 44% fawns and 38% yearlings (1 ½ year old deer) This is saying that 82% of our deer population next season will be fawns and yearlings. So, of the 216 deer approximately 177 deer will be fawns and yearlings and approximately 39 deer will be 2 ½ years old and older. In this example since we need to harvest 65 deer there aren’t enough 2 ½ year old and older deer to harvest which means that you need to harvest some fawns and/or 1 ½ year old deer to meet your harvest requirements.

Pro:           You need to shoot a lot of deer. (For many hunters this may not be a good thing because they don’t like to shoot young deer)

Con:          You have to shoot some 6 month old and/or 1 ½ year old deer to reach your harvest quota. If you don’t harvest enough deer then overpopulation may become a problem on your property or in your area. Too many deer will mean less healthy deer.

So, the point I’m trying to make is that the dynamics of the deer population on your own property or in your own area can be and probably is different from other properties or areas. (Possibly even areas just a few miles away) By dynamics I am referring to your own recruitment rate, doe to buck ratio, deer density, carrying capacity, mortality rates and your harvest selections. (If it’s brown it’s down or selective harvest) I had a guy ask me how many acres we had and how many deer we shot one season. When I told him the size of our property and how many deer we shot, he said that we probably shot too many deer. He obviously feels that there are a certain number of acres per deer to be shot regardless of our own specific situation. As I illustrated above the harvest requirements can vary tremendously from area to area.

Also, let me point out that I’m not advocating that it’s ok to go out and shoot young deer (especially Bucks). What I am trying to point out is that there are some situations out there where it may be in the best interest of the deer population and your hunting experience to take out a few younger deer. In this particular situation, by taking out some younger bucks it would let some of the older bucks get another year of growth. It’s easy to get caught up in deer management where we set our standards quite high on which deer (especially bucks) that we will harvest or allow to be harvested. If you’re not careful you may find that your deer population is growing but the quality of the deer is declining because you have exceeded your land’s carrying capacity.

In the same token, if you should only be harvesting approximately 6 does and 5 bucks and you shoot 10 does and 9 bucks then eventually you may find your deer population declining way below the carrying capacity of the land. You may have healthier deer but your hunting may become much more difficult and the fun factor may go down.

In summary, I’m sure you’ve heard that old quote “With Knowledge Comes Power”. We should all try to educate ourselves on the dynamics of the deer populations on our own properties and in our own areas. If you have large acreage (1000 acres or more) get started now on keeping some simple records that will help you monitor and manage you own deer population. If you have small acreage then round up some neighbors and let them know how important it is to monitor and manage the deer population in the area that you all share. If they know that your intentions are to maximize the hunting experience in your/their area then they just may work with you in keeping the basic records you need to monitor and manage the deer population that you all share. Even if I was just hunting 50 acres I would still keep my records so that I would know with certainty if my deer sightings and deer harvests are going up or going down from season to season. We do this by using the software that I have made available on our website. When one of our club members talks about our deer sightings or harvests it is based on our actual documented records and not our memories.

Note:       With regards to the mortality rate I want to point out the following. By establishing the fawn recruitment rate in the late summer or early fall that rate is excluding fawns that died during the first few weeks of their lives. Thus, the recruitment rate already allows for these early deaths and these deaths are not part of the mortality rate. The mortality rate includes all other deaths for does and bucks (including fawns that may die later in the year)

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First of all, what is Fawn Recruitment Rate?
Essentially, it is the percentage of fawns to does. (1 ½ year old does and older) You are trying to estimate how many fawns survive into the late summer and early fall and are thus successfully recruited into your deer population. It does not represent the total number of fawns that were dropped. The reason for this is because some fawns do not survive into the late summer and early fall. Predators and various health issues (be it disease, an unhealthy mother, still born, nutritional stress etc.) are some of the reasons some fawns die in the first several weeks of their lives. The purpose of the fawn recruitment rate is to give you a factor or percentage that you can use to estimate how many fawns are being successfully added to your deer population each season. It also allows you to compare your recruitment rate to other areas.

How can you estimate your Fawn Recruitment Rate?
I believe the most accurate methods are observation counts and trail camera surveys. I encourage everyone to do their survey as late in the year as they can but prior to the harvesting of any deer. When fawns are first dropped they can remain in hiding for several days so if you do a count in the summer there may still be some fawns not moving around with their mother. Where I hunt in Georgia I do my camera survey starting around the end of September. Let me briefly describe the two methods I mentioned above.

Observation counts: If you and some of your co-hunters are able to spend time on your property just before your hunting season opens then you can count how many does and fawns you see. An agricultural crop or a food plot is a great place to count deer since they are attractive food sources for deer. Don’t expect to go out one afternoon and get a count and use those results for your estimate. You should have a few different people covering a few different areas over a few different days. This will give you enough data to come up with some good estimates. Because many hunters don’t have much time available to do enough observation counts they usually end up doing a trail camera survey.

Trail Camera Survey: In this method you will utilize trail cameras to count the total number of does and fawns that you see in your pictures. You are not trying to count individual does and fawns because that would be impossible. (Most does look the same to me) You are just getting a total count of does and fawns in your pictures. This can be done over a 2 to 3 week time frame. If it is legal for you to put out an attractant (like corn) this helps lure the deer to the camera sites so you can get a good census.

Whichever method you use or you can even use a combination of both methods, you will divide the number of fawns counted by the number of does counted to come up with your own estimated fawn recruitment rate. Here are a couple of quick examples:

783 fawns / 1624 does = .48 recruitment rate

783 fawns /   975 does = .80 recruitment rate

I will now use my formula for “Deer Population and Harvest Estimate” to illustrate to you how different recruitment rates can drastically affect your deer population and harvest requirements. In each example I am assuming that there are approximately 30 different resident Bucks on this property and that there is a Doe to Buck ratio of 2:1. The size of this property is irrelevant for the purposes of this illustration. It could be a 500 acre tract or a 2000 acre tract. The important thing is that we are trying to maintain approximately 30 different Bucks and approximately a 2:1 Doe to Buck ratio for all three scenarios below.

In this first example I am using a recruitment rate of .40

(Click on pictures to enlarge.)

In the example above I want to point out that we have approximately 60 does. This is determined by taking our 30 different Bucks x 2 (our Doe to Buck ratio) When we apply our recruitment rate of .40 x our number of does it equates to 24 fawns. Using these 3 factors we have approximately 114 deer on this property.

We will be recruiting approximately 24 more deer into the deer population next hunting season. I have also indicated a 10% mortality rate for does and a 20% mortality rate for bucks. (Your rates may be higher or lower) This represents the number of does and bucks we expect to lose from other natural causes. (Disease, winter kill, fighting, hit by car, etc.) Please note that we are estimating our harvest requirements at 5 does and 4 bucks for a total of 9 deer. As a result of these harvests and the natural mortality we should keep approximately the same number of deer on this property. (114 deer)

In the next example I am using a recruitment rate of .75

In the example above I want to point out that we still have approximately 60 does and 30 different bucks. When we apply our recruitment rate of .75 it equates to 45 fawns. It also means that our deer population is approximately 135 deer. (This is higher because of the higher recruitment) We will be recruiting approximately 45 more deer into the deer population next hunting season. This is 21 more deer than when we had a .40 recruitment rate. (An 88% increase in the number of fawns added) I am still using a 10% mortality rate for does and a 20% mortality rate for bucks. Because of the higher recruitment rate our harvest estimate now goes up to 15 does and 12 bucks for a total of 27 deer. Again, in this example we are simply trying to keep our deer population the same as it was at the beginning of the season. (Approximately 135 deer)

In the next example I am using a recruitment rate of 1.20

In the example above I want to point out that we still have approximately 60 does and 30 different bucks. When we apply our recruitment rate of 1.20 it equates to 72 fawns. It also means that our deer population is approximately 162 deer. (This is higher because of the higher recruitment) We will be recruiting approximately 72 more deer into the deer population next hunting season. This is 48 more deer than when we had a .40 recruitment rate. (200% increase in the number of fawns added) It is 27 more deer than when we had a .75 recruitment rate. (60% increase in the number of fawns added) I am still using a 10% mortality rate for does and a 20% mortality rate for bucks. Because of the higher recruitment rate our harvest estimate now goes up to 26 does and 23 bucks for a total of 49 deer. Again, in this example we are simply trying to keep our deer population the same as it was at the beginning of the season. (Approximately 162 deer)

In the 3 examples above I have shown you how 60 does can recruit a varying number of fawns into a deer population. It all depends on the properties or areas own specific fawn recruitment. Fawn recruitment rates not only vary within a state, they vary within a county. Stop depending on the state to tell you what your recruitment rate is on your own property because they can’t unless they are doing the specific surveys I mentioned above on your property. The state wildlife agencies do their best to establish Buck and Doe limits as well as hunting dates but when the dynamics can be so different on properties throughout the state it is a difficult task. (Please read my article “State Deer Biologists have a difficult task“ )

Recruitment rates can vary for a number of reasons. I will just give you a couple of the reasons.

1. Are doe fawns successfully bred on your property or in your area? This can definitely be a contributing factor for a higher recruitment rate. On properties where doe fawns are not bred, next season you will be counting them as a doe (1 ½ year old) but there will be no fawn(s) with them. On the other hand if doe fawns are being bred, next season you will be counting them as a doe (1 ½ year old) and there will be a fawn(s).
2. Predators  The number of predators you have on your property or in your area can definitely influence your fawn survival.
3. Overall health of your deer population.

I feel fortunate that we have a recruitment rate of approximately .75 because I believe our state uses an average of .60 for their estimates. I hear many hunters complain about their declining deer populations but when I ask them if they keep any records they simply reply that they don’t need to keep records because they KNOW that they are seeing fewer deer. I clearly remember feeling the same way until we started keeping records and we were truly humbled when the records disproved what we thought (or should I say what we KNEW) You will be surprised at what you can learn about your property and it’s deer population by doing a trail camera survey or keeping observation counts. If you also keep track of all of the deer harvested on your property then you will know with certainty if the dynamics of your own deer population is changing or remaining stable.

In summary, I hope I have shown you why it’s important to know your approximate recruitment rate on your property or in your area. You should keep track of this season by season so you will see if your recruitment rate is changing or remaining stable. Utilizing our software we know what our recruitment rate has been for the last several years and if we have a problem with it we will have the documentation to prove it. If we see our recruitment rate changing then by using the formula above we will adjust our harvests accordingly. In my next article I will be reviewing the pros and cons of having a low recruitment rate and a high recruitment rate.

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1. Always try to position yourself downwind from where you expect the deer to be.
2. Try to find trails leading to and from a bedding area so you can set up accordingly.
3. Utilize the location of rubs and scrapes to help you determine a good stand location.
4. Utilize food plots and/or agricultural crops to catch deer coming to feed.
5. Use scent attractants to lure that elusive Buck in.

• And this list goes on and on and on.
  All of these strategies are good but they depend on you having deer on your property. (Duh!)
  Well, approximately how many deer do you have on your property or in your area?
  How many Does?
  How many Bucks?
  Is your property or area capable of carrying more deer than it currently is?
  Do you have too many deer on your property or in your area? (Deer become less healthy because of this)
  What is the approximate Doe to Buck ratio on your property or in your area?
  What is the approximate fawn recruitment rate on your property or in your area?

The questions above are all valid questions and should be addressed for every hunting property out there. You’ve probably heard the saying “Don’t put the cart before the horse”. It is important to have a good feel for the dynamics of your deer population on your property or in your area. If we can manipulate the dynamics of our deer population which in turn will allow us to shoot more deer, bigger deer or make our deer healthier then we are going to do that. For example;

1. If we can determine that we could safely increase our deer population then we are going to do that. If this would increase our chances to shoot a deer and possibly an older or bigger deer then this is important to us. If we now have 3 big Bucks in the area instead of 2 the odds of us seeing and/or shooting a big Buck just went up.
2. If we determine that we have a high Doe to Buck ratio and that by reducing the Doe to Buck ratio we just may improve our Buck hunting then we are going to do this. We may have lots of Bucks on our property but if they don’t move around during daylight then they might as well not even exist since we won’t see them.
3. If we see a lot of deer and we determine that our property or area is overpopulated then we will adjust our harvest guidelines to bring the deer population to a more healthy level. These unhealthy Bucks are probably not reaching their full antler potential and the unhealthy Does may not be introducing the number of fawns into the herd that they could be if they were in good health. Plus these fawns may not be as healthy as they could be.

Consider the following sports (professional, college, high school etc.) and do the managers and coaches utilize the statistics that they get to make decisions?

1. Football        Avg.yards per carry. If you have a running back with a 1.6 yard average and a running back with a 3.5 yard average which back will probably get more playing time?
2. Baseball       Batting average. If you have two comparable fielders and one is hitting .375 and the other is averaging .175 who do you think will be in the starting lineup?
3. Basketball   If you have two forwards and they both are comparable on defense but one is shooting 65% and the other is shooting 50% who do you think will be in the starting lineup?

The point I’m trying to make is that just about every sport out there depends on statistics and statistical averages to maximize the performance of not just the individual players but especially the team as a whole. Hunting properties should also keep track of certain information so that their deer hunting experience is maximized. If it was really difficult to determine all of this information I would understand why many hunt groups don’t want to be bothered with keeping some records. But, this stuff isn’t that difficult as I outline below. Also, many hunters feel that records don’t mean anything. Well, tell this to the coaches involved in the various sports and the deer managers throughout the world. Even though smaller acreage properties may not be able to determine all of the stuff below, properties with 1000+ acres are missing out on a great opportunity to monitor and manage their deer population and also maximize their hunting experience. Remember, if you have smaller acreage try to round up some neighbors so collectively you can represent more acreage and thus keep track of the information for the entire area.

Here is a brief summary of the information that is important for your hunting property:
Please read the “Quick Overview of the Software” or watch the instructional videos on our website for more details.

1. Keep track of how many Does and Bucks you and your hunt group harvest each season. Since we all come back to camp or go home and share this information with someone it is simple to just write down the information so it can be entered into the computer later. In our software you will then be able to see exactly how many deer you are harvesting season by season. You will know exactly how many deer are being shot each season and you will know if your deer harvests are stable, increasing or decreasing. You have the ability to analyze your deer harvests by moon phase, AM/PM, age, section and hunter.
2. You have the option of keeping track of actual observation counts or a camera survey counts if you prefer. We actually keep track of our actual sightings so we can compare our average sightings per hunt season by season. This allows us to see if our deer sightings are going up, going down or remaining about the same. All of our members do this and because we all know how valuable this information is we all gladly participate in writing down our sightings. We are not under a high fence so it is important to keep track of our sightings in case our neighbors are shooting too many or too few deer. If you have no desire to write down your actual sightings then you should at least do a camera survey. Please read my article “Should I track my sightings or do a camera survey” for more details. These methods may allow you to estimate your Doe to Buck ratio and your Fawn recruitment rate which can be valuable information.
3. Use your trail cameras to determine how many individual Bucks you have on your property. This would be interesting even for smaller acreage properties. Even if I only had 50 acres I would do this just so I could compare the count season to season. This certainly doesn’t mean that Buck is living on your property but it lets you know that he is in the area. If I have averaged 10 different Bucks the last 5 years and then suddenly I only get pictures of 5 different Bucks this year then I want to know this so we can make some harvest adjustments if we deem that necessary. If our property was in the north and we had a horrific winter then could this indicate that maybe we lost 50% of our Bucks to winter kill? That’s certainly possible. On the other hand if I have averaged 5 different Bucks the last 5 years and then suddenly I get pictures of 10 different Bucks this year, again I want to know this so we can make some harvest adjustments if we deem that necessary.

In summary, we hunters spend a lot of money on hunting and we do our best to hunt strategically so we have an opportunity at seeing and/or shooting a deer. We should also do our best to keep track of our deer populations, deer harvests, deer sightings or camera counts? If manipulating our Doe to Buck ratio might improve our hunting then we want to try doing that. If we need to reduce our deer harvests one season so we can improve our hunting in subsequent seasons then we will gladly do that as well. If we can influence our deer population so our hunting will improve then that is a high priority for us. So, instead of just focusing on shooting a deer on your property, put a little effort into analyzing your deer population and you may determine that you can change the dynamics of your deer population and in turn improve your hunting!

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Now let me review some of the advantages of a high fenced property.

1. First and foremost is the fact that they don’t have to deal with the neighbor influence like we unfenced properties do. I will cover some specifics below. But, let me point out that some high fenced properties do have to deal with someone climbing their fence, cutting a hole in their fence or people shooting through their fence. I’m being polite using the word “people”. They dislike trespassers just as much as we unfenced properties do. But overall in most cases the trespassing if it exists has a minimal effect on their deer population.
2. Because of the high fence they in effect have their own deer herd. As a result of this many of them can come up with a good estimate of their individual number of Bucks, their Doe to Buck ratio and their fawn recruitment rate. As a result of this they can then come up with a good estimate of their deer population and even the number of deer they need to harvest in order to either maintain, increase or decrease their existing deer population.
3. They can establish food plots, supplemental feed stations and enhance their natural habitat so it is capable of carrying the number of deer that they would like to keep on their property. Unfenced properties can do this as well but we usually end up feeding our neighbor’s deer in addition to our own resident deer. Providing food plots and supplemental feed can get expensive. For those properties that have to deal with frequent drought conditions then they are probably erring on the side of caution so they don’t try to carry more deer than their habitat can sustain. Most people would rather have fewer and healthier deer instead of many and unhealthy deer.
4. When they let that Buck walk they don’t have to worry about one of the neighbors shooting him. He should be around next season unless he succumbs to natural mortality (fighting, disease, etc.).
5. Even though they can pressure their deer as much as an unfenced property can, they don’t have to worry about pushing the deer off of their property. But, their deer are just as capable of becoming nocturnal as deer on an unfenced property.

Even though I cover the use of our software in a couple of different articles and videos I have been asked to detail the steps on how a property can estimate their deer population and harvest requirements. I will list each of the factors that you need and how you can determine them. If you have your own methods for determining each of the following factors then that is just fine. The important thing is that you can come up with a good estimate of each of the following factors.

1. Estimate the number of individual Bucks that you have on your property. With the use of trail cameras you can probably get a good estimate of the number of individual Bucks on your property. Please read my article “How do you determine how many different Bucks you have” where I cover this process in detail.
2. Estimate your Doe to Buck ratio. This is the ratio of Does to Bucks. You can use observation counts or camera counts or both. If you and some of your other members are out on your property prior to the season and most of your Does and Bucks are moving around then your visual sightings can give you a good estimate of your Doe to Buck ratio. This doesn’t mean that three guys can go out for one afternoon and use those counts to determine the Doe to Buck ratio. You need several people with several days of sightings. Use some common sense here. You probably have a good feel for the movement of your deer. If they don’t move or especially if the older Bucks don’t move until dark then your observation counts will probably not work. In this case you should do a trail camera survey. Please read my article “How I use my Trail Cameras” where I cover this process in detail.
3. Estimate your Fawn recruitment rate. This is the ratio of Fawns to Does. You can use observation counts or camera counts or both. If you and some of your other members are out on your property prior to the season and most of your Does and Fawns are moving around then your visual sightings can give you a good estimate of your fawn recruitment rate. This doesn’t mean that three guys can go out for one afternoon and use those counts to determine the fawn recruitment rate. You need several people with several days of sightings. Use some common sense here. You probably have a good feel for the movement of your deer. If the Does and Fawns don’t move until dark then your observation counts will probably not work. In this case you should do a trail camera survey. One word of caution is, do not do these counts too early in the year since the Fawns will usually remain secluded in the woods for a few weeks right after they are born. The momma Doe may go moving around but her fawn(s) may stay in their bedding area. Please read my article “How I use my Trail Cameras” where I cover this process in detail. In many areas late September and after is probably best for doing your observation counts and/or camera survey.

Once you have determined the above factors you are now ready to estimate the deer population and the harvest requirements. I am using a hypothetical situation where it was determined that there are approximately 41 different Bucks, an estimated Doe to Buck ratio of 2.20 to 1 and an estimated Fawn recruitment rate of .68. I am using an estimated mortality rate of 10% for Does and 15% for Bucks. In this first scenario I am also indicating that we want to keep the same number of Bucks and the same Doe to Buck ratio which will result in the deer population remaining the same for next hunting season. Please note that Fawns are not included in the Doe to Buck ratio. When we estimate our Doe to Buck ratio it always excludes fawns. Remember, you will be using your own factors that you have determined for your own property or area.

(Click on pictures to enlarge.)

Example 1

In the example above we have approximately 192 deer of which 41 are Bucks, 90 are Does and 61 are Fawns. Since I have indicated that I want to have the same number of Bucks next season and the same Doe to Buck ratio my estimated population will be the same next season. The formula will tell you the estimated mortality and the estimated number of deer you should harvest for both Bucks and Does. In the example above it says that we should shoot 19 Does and 19 Bucks. Because I frequently hear hunters say that they always seem to have a lot of young deer I added the information at the bottom to give an estimate of the percentage of Fawns and Yearlings (1 ½ year old deer).  It is interesting to see that our starting population includes approximately 32% Fawns. But, what’s more interesting is seeing the estimated population next season includes 32% Fawns and 28% Yearlings. That’s a total of 60% of the deer population will be Fawns and Yearlings. This would definitely explain why it appears there’s a lot of young deer!

I have always understood the effects that mortality can have on a deer population but seeing it quantified above has been very interesting. In the same token I understand Fawn recruitment rate but I was never able to put a number on it. Seeing the calculation of Fawns being added to the deer population has really opened up my eyes.

Do you know approximately how many Does you should shoot to get your Doe to Buck ratio down to a tighter ratio? What if you want to decrease your Buck population? Do you know someone that wishes their Fawn recruitment rate was a lot higher? Take a look at the next three examples to see the effects of changing the Doe to Buck ratio, decreasing your deer population and how a Fawn recruitment rate can drastically affect the dynamics of your deer population.

Example 2

In the example above we have decided to reduce the deer population by tightening the Doe to Buck ratio. We want to keep the same number of Bucks though. The top part still shows us starting with approximately 192 deer but notice the change to the “Desired ratio next summer”. We are now trying to bring the ratio down closer to a 1.5 to 1 Doe to Buck ratio. This in turn will bring our population down closer to 145 deer which as indicated above is approximately a 24% decrease in the population. Take a look at the new harvest estimate which indicates that we should shoot approximately 47 Does and 19 Bucks for a total harvest of 66 deer. Getting the ratio down requires that we shoot some additional Does. Ten years ago we were basically just guessing how many Does we needed to shoot.

Example 3

In the example above we have decided to reduce the deer population by reducing the number of Bucks. We want to keep the same Doe to Buck ratio as in the previous example. The top part still shows us starting with approximately 192 deer but notice the change to the “Desired # of individual Bucks next summer”. We are now trying to bring the Buck population down to approximately 35 different Bucks. (excluding fawns) This in turn will bring our population down closer to 124 deer which as indicated above is approximately a 35% decrease in the population. Take a look at the new harvest estimate which indicates that we should shoot approximately 56 Does and 25 Bucks for a total harvest of 81 deer. Getting the population and the number of Bucks down requires that we shoot some additional Does and Bucks. Ten years ago we were basically just guessing how many deer we needed to shoot.

Example 4

In the example above I went back to example 1 where we had 41 Bucks and a 2.2 to 1 Doe to Buck ratio. What I changed was the Fawn recruitment rate from .68 to 1.00 so I could show you the effect that a high recruitment rate can have on your deer population. Instead of approximately 192 deer there would be approximately 221 deer. The fawn estimate went from 61 to 90. The thing that I want to point out is the percentage of fawns and yearlings in next season’s deer population. Yes, approximately 76% of next season’s deer population will be fawns and yearlings. I hope this opens your eyes to the effect that the recruitment can have on a deer population.

Example 5

In my final example above I am showing a completely different scenario where we determined that we could safely increase our deer population by at least 10%. The example above shows that we currently have approximately 25 different Bucks and a 2.2 to 1 Doe to Buck ratio. We have an approximate recruitment rate of .68 and a total estimated deer population of 117 deer. By indicating that we would like to have 30 different Bucks next season and a Doe to Buck ratio closer to 2 to 1 the harvest recommendation is 7 Does and 7 Bucks. The new population estimate is 131 deer which as indicated above is a 12% increase in the deer population.

I apologize for getting carried away with all of the examples but I have learned more from using this formula than I have the numerous books and articles that I have read. I have written thousands of computer programs through the years but I have to admit this formula is my all time favorite. Having this visual presentation makes it much easier for people to understand how the various factors can affect a deer population. What’s really cool is I can tweak my factors again and again and the results are shown almost instantly.

In summary, every high fenced property should be able to establish their own estimates so they can determine what will work best for them. Let me assure you that the factors will vary from property to property. These factors are:

1. Number of different Bucks.
2. Doe to Buck ratio.
3. Fawn recruitment rate.
4. Doe mortality rate.
5. Buck mortality rate.
6. Carrying capacity of the property.

Since you have chosen to make a big investment in your hunting property you should also commit a little bit of time and effort to keeping some records of your deer population and harvests. Even though a high fenced property has some great advantages they have to be careful with their deer herds. An overpopulation of deer in a high fence environment can be disastrous. By keeping some records you can experiment with your Doe to Buck ratio and you may find a certain ratio that will maximize your Buck sightings. You can also track your fawn recruitment rate to see how it fluctuates as your deer population changes. So start keeping some simple records and be as knowledgeable as you can about your own deer population.

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With that being said let’s now discuss some things that you may be able to do to improve your hunting. The problem is what do I mean by “Improve your Hunting”? For some people it means that they want to see and possibly shoot more deer. For other people it may mean that they want to see more Bucks. And then there are people that are seeing enough deer but they want to see more older or bigger antlered Bucks. So you need to determine what you would like to improve and what your own expectations are for your own property.

Here are a few things that you may be able to do to improve your hunting:

1. Reduce Hunting Pressure. Wild deer have a natural fear of people. Whether you are walking through the woods leaving a human scent trail, sitting in a stand and a deer winds you or you are shooting at a deer, these situations all alert a deer to danger. Too many of these encounters can make a deer relocate to a different area or possibly just become nocturnal. Obviously if your deer are totally nocturnal then you won’t see any deer during daylight (shooting) hours. You might as well not even have any deer. To increase your odds of seeing and possibly shooting a deer you should try to minimize the amount of pressure you put on the deer on your property. I have seen properties where there is one hunter for every 20 acres and I have seen properties where there is one hunter for every 500+ acres. More than likely the property with fewer acres per hunter will receive more hunting pressure which could affect daytime movement of their deer. Unfortunately most hunt clubs have to have a certain number of members in order for everyone to be able to afford the lease payment. If this means that you must have one hunter for every 20 acres then it is what it is. The only other thing that you may be able to consider is establishing some rules or guidelines that may help reduce the amount of pressure on your deer. These rules would be specific to your own situation and would have to be accepted by all of your members. Here are some examples. Can you limit the number of people on the property at one time? Can you limit the amount of walking around on the property other than to and from their stand? Can you limit vehicle usage including where vehicles can drive? Please read my article “What is Hunting Pressure?” where I cover this in more detail.
2. Land Management. I am referring to food, cover and water. You can also refer to this as Habitat Management. Many hunt clubs are not afforded the opportunity to supplement or enhance the habitat on the properties that they hunt. As a result of this they can’t really make any changes in this regard. But, if you are able to manipulate your landscape then creating habitat that provides the deer with healthy food, cover and water will definitely allow you to keep more deer (and possibly healthier deer) on your property. More deer means more deer sightings and more deer shot. (unless you’re having issues with #1 above) You may be able to plant food plots and/or provide supplemental feed (if legal). You can get with a biologist (possibly even a state biologist if they have time) or a forester to determine if you can plant certain trees or plants that will benefit your wildlife. They may recommend clear cutting, select cutting, burning, chopping etc. They will be knowledgeable of the various trees and plants that will be adaptable to your specific area and they will know how these trees and plants can benefit your wildlife. If you are not the landowner then encourage the landowner to consider enhancing their property to not only benefit the wildlife but possibly even increase the value of their property.
3. Harvest Guidelines. If you would just like to see more deer and your area is capable of carrying more deer without diminishing the health of the deer then you can establish harvest guidelines. You may decide to limit the number of Bucks and/or Doe’s each hunter can take. This may allow you to increase the deer population in your area which in turn may increase your deer sightings. If you want to see more older or bigger antlered Bucks then maybe you can establish some rules on which Bucks may be harvested. You may be able to establish an APR (Antler Point Restriction) which will protect your younger Bucks. You shouldn’t establish an APR without collecting and analyzing data on a large sampling of Bucks that have been harvested in your own specific area. Many hunters just randomly establish the restriction “If the antlers are outside the ears” then you can shoot the Buck. Even though this will work on many properties it will not work on all properties. Please read my articles “Antler Restrictions gone Bad” and “How to analyze your Buck’s Antler Characteristics”.  Instead of an APR the better way is to have your members learn how to age a Buck on the hoof. If you have not done so already please watch our video “How to age a Buck on the Hoof”. If you are able to protect your 1 ½ and 2 ½ year old Bucks then the age structure of your Buck population will definitely go up. This simply means that you will have a lot more 3 ½ year old and older Buck’s which is what you are trying to accomplish. Some properties may want to protect 3 ½ and 4 ½ year old Bucks which is entirely their decision to make. Remember, everyone’s situation is different!
4. Manipulate your Doe to Buck Ratio. If you want to see more Bucks and older and bigger antlered Bucks then first of all you must have Bucks/older Bucks in your area. If you know that they are in your area but you just don’t seem to have any luck seeing them during hunting hours then consider this. Older Bucks are slick. Several years ago at the crack of dawn I watched an older Buck herd up a group of Does and force them to bed down in a 1/4 acre area. I remained in my stand until after lunch and went back to camp. I decided that I would go back to my stand about 3 hours before dark. Sure enough, just before dark I saw the Does and this older Buck slowly leave the area where he had bedded them down. He was certainly controlling his harem. Also on this same property we would walk or drive our 4 wheelers around the property and quite often we would jump a Doe, and a Buck would be bedded down with her. We knew we had a lot of Bucks on the property but we just weren’t seeing many of them while we were hunting from our stands. On this particular property we had about a 3.5 to 1 Doe to Buck ratio. These experiences are why we decided to tighten up our Doe to Buck ratio on the property we currently hunt. We wanted to make the Buck’s have to move around to find a Doe instead of him just having Does all around him. Tightening our Doe to Buck ratio has been a key to our management success. Do not just guess at what your Doe to Buck ratio is. You should do a trail camera survey and/or keep track of your observation counts. I cover this process in some of my other articles. But, keep in mind if you are trying to increase your deer population then you may want to leave your ratio high until you get your population to the desired level.
5. Work with your neighbors. Right now many of you are thinking “forget this”! Your neighbors shoot all of your deer. Unfortunately, there are properties where deer are purposely not shot and then some of these deer do get shot on neighboring properties. We used to think that every Buck we let walk was being shot by our neighbors. That is until I put my trail cameras out after the season and we surprisingly proved that most of the Bucks we let walk did survive the season. You take the initiative and try to meet all of your neighbors. Tell them that you would like to try to improve the hunting in the area and would like to see if several of the neighbors would be interested in discussing the possible ways to improve the hunting. A BBQ get together is a great way to meet, discuss and share information on the hunting in your area. You might be surprised at how many hunters would like to see the hunting improve. If you can gather enough neighbors to cover 1000+ acres then you may be surprised at what you can accomplish. I would try even if we only had the cooperation of 100 acres. Remember that these Bucks are slick and because he screwed up and walked by you doesn’t mean he’ll walk by someone else. I actually consider this step the most important step for unfenced properties. The more neighbors you can recruit the more acreage you will have participating in a common management plan. Just remember that everybody will not agree on everything so each person or group will have to give or take. As an example, even though you may want all 1 ½ and 2 ½ year old Bucks protected maybe some of the neighbors will only want to protect 1 ½ year old Bucks. You should look at this optimistically in that at least they are letting yearling Bucks walk. Your group and possibly some of the other groups would go ahead and let the 2 ½ year old Bucks walk since you are trying to get the Bucks out to an older age class. Remember that a 2 ½ year old Buck is harder to shoot than a 1 ½ year old Buck so don’t assume that all of the 2 ½ year old Bucks will be shot because they probably won’t be. As the neighbors start to see that the management plan is showing positive results then they may go ahead and support protecting 2 ½ year old Bucks as well. The difficult thing about this is you won’t see this improvement in one season. It may take three or four seasons before you start seeing the results that you are striving for. Once you start seeing the results though, it is a very gratifying feeling. One other thing that is important is that you should keep records of the entire participating area each season. If everyone would write down some basic information on each deer that is shot you will be able to analyze your deer harvests for the entire participating area. Being able to follow this information season by season is invaluable. Don’t depend on your memories to decide if the management plan is failing or working.

Even though we feel that we have great hunting, we are always looking for ways to improve it. It is important that we continually monitor our deer sightings and harvests so we will immediately recognize if something is changing (for better or worse). You won’t just hear us say that we are seeing more or less deer than we used to see. We will show you our records which will prove what is happening! We have disproved our memories multiple times and that goes for our younger hunters as well. It is truly amazing how one bad hunting trip can make you think that your hunting is going bad.

More and more hunting groups are keeping records and are continuously monitoring their deer harvests and sightings. They realize the importance of keeping track of this information. Knowing how many Does and Bucks you have harvested each and every season is important. Add to that the age and weight of each of these deer and you now have some very important information that can be used in analyzing your property. On the other hand many groups keep no records and simply continue to do what they have been doing for years or possibly decades. The problem with this is that situations can and do change and it’s important to recognize when your situation is changing.

Here are just a few examples of how your situation may change:

1. You may get new neighbors. Suddenly the neighbors that used to selectively harvest deer like you are replaced by neighbors that shoot any deer that they see. Or maybe their number of hunters has doubled or tripled. As a result of this the new neighbors may now be having a diverse effect on your deer population. On the other hand it is possible that the new neighbors may not harvest enough deer. Don’t chuckle because this is happening in some areas today. If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say “Our neighbors shoot all of our deer” I would be quite wealthy. Heck, we said the same thing several years ago until we started keeping some basic records and doing some trail camera surveys. We were quite humbled when we proved that our neighbors were not shooting all of these deer that we were letting walk.
2. Your deer mortality rate is changing. This may be caused by severe weather, predators (coyotes, wolves, bobcats…), disease, etc. If some of your deer succumb to the severe winter or a disease outbreak then this will have an effect on your deer population. Also, if predation is increasing it will also have an effect on your deer population. Because of these things we have to analyze our deer sightings and/or trail camera counts to determine if we need to reduce or possibly increase our deer harvests in the upcoming season.
3. You may not be harvesting enough deer. Sometimes we get so caught up in selective harvest guidelines that we may not be harvesting enough deer (especially Bucks). When the deer population exceeds the carrying capacity of the area the health of the deer will decline. You may be happy that you are seeing a lot of deer but would you still be happy if you knew that Buck that has 130 inches of antler on his head could have had 140+ inches if the deer population wasn’t so high. In the same token your fawn recruitment rate which is currently .55 might be .65 or higher if the Does were healthier than they are. (Fawn recruitment rate is the percentage of Fawns to Does)
4. You may be harvesting too many deer. It’s easy to become complacent and you just continue to shoot deer like you always have. If your deer population takes a hit because of a harsh winter, disease or over harvest then you need to be able to determine this and possibly reduce your deer harvests in the upcoming season to allow the deer population to rebound. We want to know if collectively we used to average shooting 10 Bucks each season and now we are only shooting 5 Bucks each season. If we did this on purpose then fine but if not then we need to figure out what has happened and how can we fix it.

In summary, ask yourself if you can improve your hunting. Get together with your entire hunt group and possibly even your neighbors and discuss the possibility of improving the hunting in your area. You may be surprised at how many of the hunters would like to improve the hunting if it’s possible. Discuss the possible ways that you may be able to improve the hunting and see if everyone will agree on some guidelines that everyone can follow. No, you’re not trying to take the fun out of hunting. You are just trying to make it more fun by seeing and possibly shooting more or bigger deer! Have everyone write down some simple information on each deer that they harvest and then you or one of the people in the hunt group can record all of this information so you will know how your management plan is working based on facts. If you’re not happy with your hunting it’s easy to blame the state biologists because the bag limits are too high or the hunting season is too long. It’s also easy to blame the neighbors and yes there are some difficult situations out there but let’s each take the responsibility for our own properties and start establishing our own guidelines for our own properties. (Of course we need to stay within the state laws) Each and every one of us should do what we can to preserve this great sport we call “Deer Hunting”.

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Like many of you we have scrapes and rubs that assist us with our hunting strategy but it’s all for nothing if the Buck isn’t moving around during daylight hours. How many of you have gotten a night picture of a big Buck or seen a huge scrape or rub made by a Buck but you never see that Buck during hunting hours. I’m sure many of you can relate to this. This is all part of the hunting experience and it makes the harvesting of this Buck even sweeter if you finally have the opportunity to take him.

So how was your rut this past season? Every year I hear some hunters say that they had a terrific rut and other hunters say they didn’t have a rut. The interesting thing is that even on the same property one hunter may say they didn’t have a rut and another hunter may say that it was a great rut. The one guy may have shot a big Buck and the other guy may not have seen a Buck. This is why it is so important to collect harvest and sightings information for all or most of the hunters on the property so you can collectively analyze the property as a whole and not just the experiences of one or two hunters. There was a season where my sightings were way down and I was beginning to think that our deer population had decreased as well as the rut was subdued. Once we looked at all of the harvests and sightings of our entire group it was obvious that I just had a bad season. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We have experienced fantastic rutting activity since 2009. During this same time frame we have heard many hunters within the same county that we are hunting say that there was a poor rut or no rut at all. Even some of our neighbors said their rut wasn’t very good. How can this be you ask! There can be many reasons for this and I will just point out a few of the reasons here:

1. These hunters weren’t in the woods when the Bucks were actually on the move.
2. The hunting pressure on the property has forced the Bucks into a completely nocturnal pattern.
3. The Doe to Buck ratio is so skewed that the Bucks don’t have to move around much to find a Doe.
4. The Buck population on the property is real low.

Now let’s get to the main purpose of this article which is “When is your Rut?” and is there a way for you to figure it out. Here’s a few ways that hunters use to determine when the rut is on their property.

1. Most state agencies provide information on when the rut is throughout the different areas of the state.
2. Longtime hunters from the area that you hunt can probably give you a good estimate on the timing of the rut based on their experiences.
3. If you keep track of your Buck harvests each season then you may see a pattern develop on when most of the Bucks are being harvested. Preferably this would include most or all of the hunters hunting your property.
4. If you keep track of your Buck sightings each season then you may see a pattern develop on when most of the Bucks are being seen. Preferably this would include most or all of the hunters hunting your property.

We relied on all four scenarios listed above in the order that they are listed. First we looked into the state estimates and asked other area hunters so we could guesstimate when our rut would be. As we accumulated our harvest information that soon replaced what we found from scenario 1 and 2. As we accumulated our sightings information we got a real good feel for the time frame that we had the most Buck movement. This was the most important thing that we did but what if we weren’t in the woods while there was this rutting activity going on. Because of this we decided to take it one step further to prove when our Does were actually being bred. We field dress every one of our deer so it made sense that while we were doing this why not take a couple more minutes and if it was a Doe then pull the fetuses so we could age the fetuses to see when she was actually bred. We were pretty sure that most of our Does were being bred starting in the second week of November so we decided to start checking for fetuses from the middle of December to the end of hunting season. I felt that after about five or six weeks from being bred we should be able to find and get an accurate measurement of the fetus if the Doe was in fact bred. If you hunt an area where the breeding takes place in September then you could start looking for fetuses later in October. If you are not allowed to shoot any Does later in the year then pulling the fetus is not an option for you. You should then rely on your Buck sightings and/or harvests to determine the time of year when you are seeing the most Buck movement.

For those of you who can shoot Does later in the year you should start checking for fetuses so you can prove when that particular Doe was bred. It’s really not that complicated. You simply need to buy a fetus measuring ruler. It is interesting to see the various breeding dates from season to season and to be able to identify a specific time frame when most of the actual breeding is being done. If you felt that there was no rut then this should certainly prove to you that there was a rut and you just weren’t in the woods to witness it or it was all nocturnal activity. Even though the chart below allows us to see when the actual breeding is taking place, we rely more on our actual sightings of Bucks to dictate when is the best time for us to be hunting. But, the chart is still valuable so we can see if there are any fluctuations from the norm.

I have included our fetus information below so you can see what information we cumulate. These were just the Does that we shot later in the season when we started pulling the fetuses. For those of you that are interested in when the actual breeding is taking place on your property then start checking your Does for fetuses. There are some articles on the internet covering how to remove the fetuses and how to use the measuring tool. If you can do this then you will establish a time frame of when the Does on your property are being bred instead of just guessing.

Many of you may think that this is more trouble than it’s worth but if you have any questions about when the rut is on your property, a little extra work just might provide you with a better insight into when your rut actually is. If you’re field dressing your deer anyway and it’s later in the year then why not take a couple more minutes and see if you can find a fetus and then measure it. I sit in a tree stand for 5 or 6 hours on one morning hunt so I have no problem spending an extra couple of minutes gathering this reproductive information. After I started doing this a few years ago our other hunters watched me do this and now we are all comfortable in removing and aging the fetuses. We have one guy that is not comfortable using the measuring tool so we are all willing to jump in and help. It’s cool hearing my fellow hunters tell me the breeding date of the Doe that they shot. It’s this kind of interest that makes our whole group appreciate the effort that we all put into the monitoring and managing of our deer population.

In summary, whether you are unsure of when your rut is or even if you are confident when your rut is why not spend a couple more minutes when you field dress your Doe to find and age the fetuses. You just might find the reason why your Buck sightings went up or went down or occurred at a different time this season. We had one season before I started writing down the breeding dates where we had a Doe that was bred on 10/31 which explained to us why we had some unusual early season Buck movement.

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I remember when I first started deer hunting I just assumed that the Buck with the biggest antlers was the dominant Buck and did all of the breeding. I soon learned that this was a misconception. As a result of spending thousands of hours afield during the pre-rut, rut and post rut I want to share what we have learned about what makes a Buck a dominant Buck. Because we shoot such a small percentage of the Bucks that we see we are afforded the opportunity to observe and sometimes get video of many different Bucks both young and old. It is always interesting to see two Bucks confront each other but based on what we see most of the time one Buck will back down before an actual fight ensues. This may be because the dominance has been previously determined or one of the Bucks just doesn’t want to fight.

I believe there is a combination of traits that make a Buck a dominant Buck. I haven’t listed these in any particular order but I believe attitude does play a big part.

These traits are as follows:

1. Attitude
2. Body Size (including Strength & Endurance)
3. Antler size or characteristics
4. Age

Let’s talk about each of the above traits.

Attitude:         Have you ever been in a public place like a bar, concert, ballgame, school, park, etc. and seen a smaller guy get obnoxious with a guy that is much bigger than he is. I watched a 140lb guy with a bad attitude confront a 230lb linebacker looking guy and the bigger guy simply walked away. This is what I mean by attitude. Just as dogs can have different temperaments I believe deer can have different temperaments as well. At least once each season I will see a Buck that is bigger in body size simply move away from a Buck that is smaller in body size to avoid a confrontation. I used to scratch my head over this because I was certain the bigger bodied Buck could have easily won the fight. I’m not necessarily referring to a 5 ½ year old or older Buck that backed down. They may have both been 3 ½ years old.

As fall approaches and the days shorten the Bucks testosterone levels increase and his attitude is certainly going to change. I just believe that in addition to the influence that testosterone has the Buck has his own underlying character or personality. (Like the linebacker looking guy above)

Body size:       If you have two Bucks that decide to start a pushing match and possibly even an all out fight, a much heavier Buck may have the advantage. I’m not talking about a small weight advantage. I’m talking about a large weight advantage. Since we have some Bucks that max out at 140lbs and some Bucks that max out over 220lbs there can be a decided weight advantage with some of our Bucks. The smaller Buck will usually back out of the confrontation but if he has a bad attitude like we talked about above then he may end up being killed in the fight. Or if he possesses more strength and/or endurance maybe he’ll wear down the bigger Buck if he doesn’t back down.

Antler Size:     I can’t tell you if a Buck freaks out like we hunters do when he sees a huge set of antlers on another Buck but when you see a 4 ½ year old Buck back away from a younger Buck with huge antlers that is smaller in body size it sure makes you wonder. In addition to just big antlers I’m sure you’ve seen a Buck or seen pictures of a Buck with weird antlers. I am referring to an antler characteristic that may give this Buck a distinct advantage in a fight. He may have extremely narrow and tall antlers that may fit inside of a more normal rack. He may have extremely long brow tines. He may have some non typical growth that will penetrate the head of another Buck when they clash antlers. We’ve had some Bucks with some crazy looking spikes coming off of their beams or their skulls. So what I’m saying is if two Bucks do decide to fight or even spar certain antler characteristics just might allow one of them to hurt the other even if that other Buck is bigger in body size. This may help this unusual or weird antlered Buck to become a dominant Buck.

Age:                 I wish we could say that with each year of age a Buck becomes more dominant but it’s not that simple. In most cases the 2 ½ year old Buck will probably be dominant over the 1 ½ year old Buck. Also in most cases the 3 ½ year old Buck will be dominant over the 2 ½ year old Buck but attitude and body size can certainly make an exception to this. When it comes to 4 ½ year old and older Bucks the other factors really come into play. Age alone will probably not be the deciding factor of dominance. Each season we have a couple of 4 ½ year old Bucks that we let walk. We usually have the opportunity to observe and/or video them during the season. These Bucks are usually pretty big in body size but most importantly have big antlers. They usually show the signs of being the dominant Buck. We see them running off other Bucks and standing guard by their doe. We also see them spending most of their time on a certain area of our property. This indicates to us that they have claimed their territory.

On the other hand we occasionally see some 3 ½ year old Bucks that push away some older Bucks. The other traits that I described above are definitely a contributing factor to this.

As I have said in many of my other articles we all need to analyze our own properties because each property or area will probably be different with regards to the various factors within its deer population. The age structure of the Buck population in your area can influence which Bucks are dominant. If your area has a high percentage of its yearling Bucks harvested each season then you will have a very young age structure with your Bucks. As a result of this you may not have very many older Bucks in your area.  A 2 ½ year old Buck may be dominant simply because he is the oldest Buck in your area. On the other hand if you have a good percentage of older Bucks in your area then the factors described above will certainly come into play. With regards to breeding being done mostly by the dominant Bucks the Doe to Buck ratio in your area can affect which Bucks will actually breed. A high Doe to Buck ratio may enable a higher percentage of non dominant and yearling Bucks to breed whereas a tight Doe to Buck ratio may limit the amount of breeding done by non dominant and yearling Bucks.

So why should you care if a Buck is dominant or not. If you’ve read my other articles then you know that we are continuously trying to improve our hunting. If you simply shoot any Buck that you see then this recognition of the dominant Buck is probably not necessary. On the other hand if you practice selective harvest then recognizing the dominant Bucks can be very important. We know that our property is only going to hold a certain number of Bucks. As the rut approaches the Bucks start establishing their territories. By using our actual observations and trail cameras we can see what Bucks are staying in certain areas of our property. We also know from our pre-season trail camera survey that there are some Bucks with good antlers or good antler potential and there are some Bucks with not so good antlers in our area. As I discussed above the dominant Buck isn’t necessarily the Buck with the biggest antlers. We usually have a few Bucks that we and our neighbors determine are cull or management Bucks. These are usually 3 ½ year old and older Bucks that have poor antlers for our area. What we don’t like happening is having one of these cull Bucks that happens to be a dominant Buck establishing his territory on our property. When this happens he becomes a high priority harvest for us. Why, you ask? This Buck that has poor antlers may now be keeping one of the other Bucks that had good antlers off of our property. This good Buck may be one that we want to shoot or may be one that we would like to see given another year to grow. But if he isn’t spending any time on our property then we obviously don’t have any control over the situation. Fortunately we are able to work with our neighbors and we are all aware of these cull Bucks so there’s a good chance that this cull Buck will be harvested by one of us.

I often hear some hunters say that they are not going to shoot a Buck unless he has bigger antlers than a previous Buck they shot. I truly respect and understand what they are trying to do and their intentions are good but consider this. What if they are passing up a Buck that is an older, dominant Buck and he just has poor antlers. They may be inadvertently allowing this dominant Buck to control a particular area of their property and he may actually be keeping some bigger antlered Bucks away. Add to the fact that he may pass along his poor antler quality to his offspring then they may actually be doing their area more harm than good. This past season I shot a dominant 4 ½ year old Buck with good antlers early in the season. He had taken over about an eighty acre area of our property. A few days after I shot him a different Buck moved into the area. It actually worked out well because the Buck that moved in was a 3 ½ year old Buck with good antlers and great antler potential. I got a lot of video of this 3 ½ year old Buck and we know that he survived the season so we’re anxious to see what he looks like next season.

In conclusion, with careful observation and possibly the use of trail cameras you may be able to determine which Bucks are the dominant Bucks in your area. Knowing this just might influence your hunt group on which Bucks should be harvested. Many hunters don’t even think about the possibility that a particular Buck may be keeping other Bucks (possibly good antlered Bucks) away from their property. So next time you decide to pass on a Buck because his antlers don’t meet your expectations just be careful that this isn’t an older Buck that may never have big antlers. Considering this just might influence your decision on whether to shoot him or not. If you have not done so already please read my article “It’s all about the Antlers” where I cover the importance of the age of the Buck versus just the size of the antlers. Also watch my video “How to Age a Buck on the Hoof” where I try to show you how to use the Bucks body characteristics to estimate how old he is.

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