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Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 762 Likes: 6
4 point
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4 point
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 762 Likes: 6 |
Humans are the primary predator of deer (coyotes and disease are giving us a good competition) and we have relatively recently become highly selective about what deer we choose to kill. If a 4 year old buck with a huge rack walks into a food plot with a 4 year old buck with a smaller rack, the larger one is likely getting shot, therefore stopping its ability to spread those superior genetics.
Imagine if thousands of years ago deer had a bright orange patch on them that made it easier for wolves to spot them. With enough time, that patch would genetically get smaller and smaller as those deer with smaller orange patches continued to have better survival odds.
The only thing I could see negating the long term (several hundred years) impact of a predator preference for killing large racks would be if the larger racked deer is almost always chosen as a mating partner over a smaller racked buck of the same age. Even if the buck with superior genetics gets killed sooner than a smaller buck, if the larger buck breeds 50 does in a 4 year lifespan while the smaller buck breeds 35 does in 5 years of living, the better genetics will still propagate further. Has it ever been proven that a larger rack is a significant advantage in a fight between bucks of the same age?
Thoughts?
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Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 1,963 Likes: 7
8 point
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8 point
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 1,963 Likes: 7 |
I think the increase in nutrition we provide them will outweigh the pressure from focus on racks and we’ll only see bigger for the foreseeable future.
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 13,752 Likes: 257
Booner
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Booner
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 13,752 Likes: 257 |
The proper term is called "high grading" a herd. Been happening for the past 70 yrs in Bama. The other issue to contemplate is that at least 50% of a yearling buck's genetic makeup, comes from the mother. So with wide open, season long doe killing, you're also wiping out a significant portion of the other side of the gene pool that had previously been somewhat/patially protected and passed on, back in the days before it was legal to kill does all season long. I think that long term, the free for all doe killing will eventually be recognized as very detrimental to both deer genetics and population.
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Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 762 Likes: 6
4 point
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4 point
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 762 Likes: 6 |
The other issue to contemplate is that at least 50% of a yearling buck's genetic makeup, comes from the mother. So with wide open, season long doe killing, you're also wiping out a significant portion of the other side of the gene pool that had previously been somewhat/patially protected and passed on, back in the days before it was legal to kill does all season long. I think that long term, the free for all doe killing will eventually be recognized as very detrimental to both deer genetics and population. Very true. We won't "prefer" to kill a doe with superior antler genetics to another random doe since we won't know just by looking at the doe. But mass random doe killing would expedite the loss of better antler genetics since lingering quality antler genetics in does would keep getting reduced faster with a young doe population, rather than the average doe living to age 6 or 7 as they would with more protection.
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 11,785
Booner
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Booner
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 11,785 |
No because antler size is about reproduction, not survival
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 8,363
14 point
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14 point
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 8,363 |
The proper term is called "high grading" a herd. Been happening for the past 70 yrs in Bama. The other issue to contemplate is that at least 50% of a yearling buck's genetic makeup, comes from the mother. So with wide open, season long doe killing, you're also wiping out a significant portion of the other side of the gene pool that had previously been somewhat/patially protected and passed on, back in the days before it was legal to kill does all season long. I think that long term, the free for all doe killing will eventually be recognized as very detrimental to both deer genetics and population. Agree with this. Stop high grading all your best 2 and 3 years olds people.
"The Tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson
" Chuck Sykes is a dictator control freak like Vladimir Putin " WmHunter
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Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 1,190
6 point
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6 point
Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 1,190 |
The proper term is called "high grading" a herd. Been happening for the past 70 yrs in Bama. The other issue to contemplate is that at least 50% of a yearling buck's genetic makeup, comes from the mother. So with wide open, season long doe killing, you're also wiping out a significant portion of the other side of the gene pool that had previously been somewhat/patially protected and passed on, back in the days before it was legal to kill does all season long. I think that long term, the free for all doe killing will eventually be recognized as very detrimental to both deer genetics and population. Growing up in SC, we could kill all the bucks we wanted but does were limited to certain dates. We almost never shot them. And people naturally enedd5uo more selective on their bucks. I saw more bucks and bigger bucks than I do in Alabama. I recognize that the herd building efforts decades ago affect the size, but still.... more bigger bucks
-Keith
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