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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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