Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum What if…..

Real good is 1.4-1.7

I start getting a little concerned if there’s a repeated pattern or trend multiple years of less than 1.25.

That can be hard to obtain an accurate estimate on observations alone, because most 1 year old does were not bred as fawns, yet appear as adults during the open season. They should be excluded from the estimate entirely.

Let’s refigger it then with 1.5 fawns per doe and a little less natural adult doe mortality…..I think 50% fawn mortality is probably a pretty good ball park figure to use around here

So now if we start with 18,000 does and take out 4,000 through harvest and another 1,000 due to other causes…….that would leave us 13,000 does……..If those have 1.5 fawns each and half survive…..that’s 9,750 fawns surviving…….half of those are does…..add that back to 13,000 and we come to 17,875 does for next year….……..I like that a little mo better……..

The extra 40-50% we added onto doe harvest in a lot of counties around here mattered…..I think upping the doe harvest from 4,000 to 6000 in this scenario where you have 18,000 does would make a difference……This is what I was saying to Gobbler in an earlier post about Bullock Co…..The 50% increase in doe harvest definitely mattered so I would take that into consideration when coming to any conclusion about a total population level…..

Most populations can withstand 20% harvest annually and remain stable under normal recruitment rates. Keep that in mind. Some populations can remain stable with an even higher harvest rate, but recruitment needs to be very high. Doe lactation rates are an important factor to consider when determining reproductive success.

How do you know there was a 50% increase in doe harvest?

That would be about right then.........taking 4000 does from a total population of 18,000 does would be 22% harvest

Is that 20% harvest mostly all does, 50/50, or mostly bucks? Or does it matter?

Maybe this should be a spinoff thread, but in reference to Matt saying many expect to see “dozens” of deer in a hunt, how many do most actually want to see? For me, around 6-8 deer per sit is all I want, especially if I can see 3-4 bucks. Much more than that and the hunt almost becomes tiring; constantly trying to check around me for new deer without spooking the deer already at my stand. I figure the more I am seeing beyond that number, the more likely one is to smell me or see me, and (other than peak rut) the less likely a mature buck will want to be anywhere near that many does and young bucks.

Too many, especially does, also tends to cause all the deer to seem the same with no unique attributes. Like trying to catch a catfish but a school of tiny bream keep stealing your worm. Like anything, proper balance is very difficult to obtain though. Most places I have hunted my whole life have had far too few deer, then a few tracts have far too many.

I would think that you could have 18,000 does and the buck population vary greatly depending on buck harvest rates of a particular area…….You’re spitting out right at 5,000 buck fawns per year in our scenario……How many of them do you NOT kill??......The total buck population could be as little as a few thousand after harvest or it could be more than the doe population…..although I doubt its getting that good anywhere in this state that isnt fenced in

I just wanna huntem in my yard..live some place where theys plenty..an just walk to the treestand from my house..if you live in the right place..you can do that. I do not..i live in the WRONG PLACE…😐