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Re: Mortality rate of bucks by age class?
[Re: mman]
#2744132
02/21/19 10:10 AM
02/21/19 10:10 AM
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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 34,589
Boxes Cove
2Dogs
Freak of Nature
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Freak of Nature
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 34,589
Boxes Cove
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I was glad to see the thread come up and wondered if it would lead to a good discussion.
I used to read on age class stats, high grading, replacement rates etc.... We came up with criteria for killing that seemed fair for most everyone.
We decided on age class of 3.5 and the buck had to meet 1 of 3 criteria
3.5 years old
or a
20 inch main beam
or a
15 inch spread
After gathering data we determined the majority of bucks that had 20 inch main beams or 15 inch spreads generally were 3.5 or older on our lease.
Occasionally some younger bucks would have equal to or better than what our average was. For the most part some of the better hunters would let those walk realizing their potential.
Getting a number of deer hunters to agree s harder than herding cats.
I heard some guys from Westervelt stating that a club with more than 10 hunters was almost impossible to get them all to agree. Our club has a meet 2 of 4: 4 in bases 15 in spread 18 in main beams 7 in tine. It's not too restrictive. The only problem I have with age requirements is that there is no way to age a deer with any amount of certainty. No system is perfect. Some of our mature deer never have spreads greater than 12" while some of our younger deer may have 18 in spreads. We've killed mature deer with short tines and young deer with long tines. Usually our older deer have great mass but I remember one older deer that had no brows (6 pt) and his antlers were slick (not knobby at all) and were not even 4". He weighed 170 lbs in late January, not an ounce of fat, and his teeth were worn down flat. Your last paragraph is why spread should never be a factor in shoot / don't shoot and measuring antlers IMO. Spread ain't nothing but air, air is everywhere. BTW, I could see how your club's system saves a lot of bucks , by the time you figure all that out , he's gone.
"Why do you ask"?
Always vote the slowest path to socialism.
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