Harvest
Recommendations
Harvest is the key to managing a deer population. It
maintains deer numbers
within the carrying capacity, or food supply produced by the
range. Harvest also
is used to obtain and maintain a desired adult sex ratio and a
desired age structure
of the population by adjusting both the buck and doe kill.
Harvest
recommendations area made annually based upon that year’s
census data.
Composition of the herd plays a vital role in this determination
as well as your
personal goals.
Bucks:
Buck harvest will primarily be based on your goals for the
property.
Depending on your desire for quality or quantity, buck harvest
will differ. If your
deer management
objective is to produce bucks with larger antlers, then they
must be allowed to
reach older ages. This means that the harvest of young,
immature bucks should be restricted. Restricting hunters
to mature bucks along
with the harvesting of bucks with undesirable antlers is a
good management
strategy.
Does: The
recommended doe harvest will depend upon the overall deer
density,
the estimated carrying capacity of the range, the observed sex
ratio, and fawn
production and survival.
With the knowledge of approximately how many bucks, does, and
fawns are
present on your ranch at any giving time, the decision about how
many deer
should be harvested during the upcoming deer season can be made.
Buck to
doe ratios and fawns to doe ratios are also good indicators of
your progress
toward obtaining your goals and objectives.
The Real World Example
Take the example of two similar ranches with 200 deer on each
ranch. Ranch A has a
buck/doe ratio
of 1:1 while Ranch B has a 1:3 ratio. Ranch A has 100 bucks and
100 does
while Ranch B
has 50 bucks and 150 does. If both ranches have a 50%
recruitment rate,
Ranch A ends
up with 50 fawns and Ranch B ends up with 75. Therefore, the
population
of Ranch A is
250 deer the following year while it is 275 for Ranch B.
Obviously a more
intensive
effort will be needed on Ranch B to maintain the desired deer
density.
Let us help you develop an
excellent white-tailed deer population on
your
ranch through sound management.
