Apparently I have created one. My buddy finally got off his ded arse and got a feeder going with a camera a few weeks ago.Pulled the card Sunday to discover ...... could we get a drum roll... 5,600+ pictures that did not include a racked buck.Not too worried though, there were plenty of bucks there the last few weeks of season last year.

It's because of all the summer food you're supplying. There was a habitat consultant on the old QDMA forum that used to talk about this. I forget who it was. He said that he dealt with a lot of high rollers in the Midwest that had unlimited funds to play with. The result was that they typically ended up over run with does. The first thing he recommended to them to help balance the situation was to reduce all the summer plantings. Now me personally I don't have such an issue with the doe sink if you're a smaller land owner. It kinda sucks for the first part of the season but when thenrut rolls around it always seems to pay off.

If you have a bunch of does, the bucks will show up when the time gets right.

The same approach that CNC has to natural vegetation management also applies to natural herd management. The only way to be overrun with does is if the bucks are dead. That's just how it works. In the absence of human intervention there would be the correct balance. Using your trigger finger to manage a deer population is the same mentality to me..... as tillage is to CNC. You have been told your whole life that you need to kill some of those pesky does because you've got "too many".

To me that's nothing but a load of BS. If you want more bucks you gotta figure out how they are dying. Because they are dying at a faster rate than the does. Simple as that. We have been blasting does so long that people deer hunt like we use to rabbit hunt and it's gotten us NOWHERE. I hear the exact same tune today as we heard 20 years ago. Need to kill some of these does, blah, blah. Show me the improvement that has made somewhere. The average buck's age class killed in this state is still probably a 2.5 year old just like it was in 1990.


I would say the bucks are just not at your feeder. They will show up shortly I would imagine. Most are going to be 2.5 year olds. A 5 year old buck in Alabama is just a little more common than finding Bigfoot.

I don't think you understand how deer distribute themselves across the landscape.

Oh I know the bucks are there.They are just tucked away in the thinned pines staying far away from those cantankerous biotches. Unlike us they don't have to put up with them but a few weeks a year.The only camera he set up is in the middle of the grocery store so the results are skewed, but we usually have at least one nice batchelor group hanging in that area.I had hoped to get a few feeders/cameras set up in a few areas more suitable to bucks but as usual no time. I have never been a big doe shooter, I like seeing deer when I hunt, dont really have any brown/down neighbors and I have turned into a total puss in my old age. I don't really like shooting anything much these days but will make an exception for a mature buck.If I need some freezer meat I can always invite someone out on halves and let them deal with it, but otherwise the girls around my place are pretty safe.

How many cams you have out? How many acres? I've had them where no racked bucks and bunches of does and fawns come all Summer and the next cam over the hill has only bucks.

And as far as having a bunch of does and deer in general, you can have a lot of them if you have enough food , it's that simple.

It’s a little more complex when talking about how bucks and does are distributed. Does seek out places where they will have the best chance of successfully giving birth to and raising fawns. It revolves around food AND cover. Both of these dictate how many does will use and area before social conflict becomes an issue. Coyotes are having an impact on this as well as does will seek out areas that are void of coyotes.


They also don’t tolerate young bucks dispersing into these area either and typically run then off when the area is already at max social capacity. I’ve read that buck dispersal can take place when does go to give birth as well as right before they get ready to breed. I tend to think that most of ours probably disperse before does give birth but later born fawns may come back and stay with mama longer. These dispersing bucks don’t get to take up residence the areas where the does have congregated to give birth and raise their fawns for the first few weeks or months. They are kicked on down the road and have to establish their future core area outside of these prime fawning grounds. Its one of the reasons I believe we see bucks inhabiting different areas outside of the rut.

Does it look like I'm talking about how bucks and does are distributed?

Why don't you just try and have a discussion instead of getting defensive

THAT ^^^^^ would be the pot calling the kettle black.

But to address your post……You said….

”…..and as far as having a bunch of does and deer in general..... (I’m assuming this means bucks since that pretty much the only other option)..... you can have a lot them... (again I’m assuming bucks and does)….if you have enough food, it’s that simple.”

The only point I was trying to make is that it’s not that simple…..more food does not simply equal more deer of both sexes……it’s more complex than that.

I’ve never heard anything called a doe sink.

To help illustrate my point……..I’ve done some experimenting on my place over the years. I typically hold around 20 does in January and up until a couple years ago it didn’t fluctuate much. One season I decided to up my winter food plot plantings and max out what I could possibly plant…..I went from planting 3 acres to about 10 acres…..all of it being within the same 10 acre area. You know how many does I ended up with that January…..yep, about 20…..I’ve planted this, that, and the other and no matter what I did I ended up with about the same amount of does as long as I kept the plantings at about 3 acres or more….That was about where "winter grain forage" became limiting……The reason why it never changed didn’t have anything to do with food……It was because the surrounding bedding cover was maxed out with the amount of doe groups that would tolerate one another. Prime cover within close proximity to the field had become the limiting factor.

Does taste better than bucks. Spikes, well that's another debate.

I don't want to have a discussion with you, I was addressing the OP , but you just gotta jump in , you just can't help it. I don't think it's possible to have a discussion with you BTW, more like listening to you lecture.

I have discussions with folks all the time with no issues. Some of you just can't stand to have your opinion questioned. You can't stand for it to look like someone may know something you dont...

For anyone who has never heard the term "doe sink"......it's a common occurrence amongst landowners who practice QDM. Folks tend to take a piece of property with the goal of improving it by adding food plots, fruit orchards, better bedding, etc......What many find happening is that after years of making improvements....they suddenly become heavily populated with does and very few bucks are present outside of the rut. Its due to how does flock to the best areas with the best food and cover for raising fawns......and then prosper.....while running off the dispersing young bucks. The property fills up it's carrying capacity with mostly doe groups.

2 Dogs - I have a field like that - I hardly ever see does in this spot we call the trough field. It is a buck hang out!! It is like a boy only site I joke some times - I had to nice shooters showing up there last year before season To muzzleloader and some other small bucks - some pictures I would hav 4-6 deer in picture - all male. It is the same this year minus the shooters - but I think they will show up in the next 3-4 weeks. Field is Surrounded mostly by young pine thicket - hardwood head just off the left side 40 yards from field and 2 year old clear cut off the back side.
Now on other side of the place - we hav the opposite - girl spot - see 3-8 does per sit - spike common - sometimes see Rack buck - decent size field surrounded by like 11 year old pines.

I know what having a bunch of does is. I’ve just never heard anybody call it a doe sink.

It's a little different than just having a bunch of does.....It isn't a result of someone shooting a bunch of bucks while not shooting any does.....It's a result of mostly habitat manipulation. I've seen the same thing happen at my place. I rarely have any bucks in here until the rut and then they come out of the wood work. I When I first bought the property it was the exact opposite. I've got pics of a field full of nice velvet bucks that would be in here early in the season.....It's just a.matter.of how someone chooses to manage

What does any of this have to do with me not ever hearing someone refer to it as a doe sink?

Not sure.....I didn't quote you or call you by name if you'll look back....I thought maybe since you mentioned such that there might be others who had never heard the term. Nobody had explained it so I threw it out there as to what it was.... It's no wonder folks don't talk about deer on here anymore.....It's become an asshole sink

Yep, sounds familiar. I've seen it on my place several times. Some places bucks will always be there and some places bucks and does may flip flop spots from one year to the next. Why I wondered if the OP has just one cam out , across the hill might be the He Man Woman Haters Club.

Never said you quoted me. Your response came after my statement. Don’t know why you’re getting so defensive. I simply stated that I’ve never heard anyone use the term before to describe the condition. But yet, you want to turn it into name calling session for some reason.

Sure

One asshole in particular....

Pour out some salt and a put a camera on it. You will get pictures of bucks if you have any.

I only have one camera out because I am 350 miles away making a living and my sorry arse buddy up there does not like getting out in the heat.And both the Polaris and Beast are in the shop right now now. So at least he has some excuse.Hopefully in a couple years I will be up there most of the time and will be able to have a bunch out.I had hoped to have about 3 good cell cameras and good large capacity feeders to go with them this year, but my three hospital stays this year put a bit of a damper on discretionary income.

Just in case there's any confusion about "played yourself": (NSFW link)

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Played%20yourself