I don't want to make money off the lease. But I do want to have a club where all the members can be successful. I think I have a good group of guys in the club now who get the direction I have been going, even when I wasn't the Pres. We soil tested, limed, and got a biologist out there to look at the property. We have implemented some of her suggestions. We decided as a board not to allow baiting green fields, and whats been interesting is, I think we have seen more deer on green fields. Could be the lime, or it could be people are staying off them.

I will not be successful as a pres or lease holder if I am the only person who sees or kills a deer. I have new guys that have seen alot of deer this season, which is good. My first year we had people who didn't see any. I think I killed 2 my first year, 5 last year (2 kiddo kills) and this year 4 so far (3 kiddo kills). Most of the guys like to see the kids shoot them, which is why I have passed on so many opportunities to shoot a doe.

But I also wouldn't cut anyone slack if they complained about how many I see. I do all the tractor work, and when you are riding arounf on a tractor, you get to see alot you miss zipping by on an ATV or truck. And I go and back track deer I see to find out where they went. And since I have passed so many, I have gotten to observe them and learn. Since I have done almost all the planting, I have learned what the deer like out there too, and have spent a ton of my personal money planting those forages.

I have also done some analysis, and based upon the data I can find about Shelby county, think we need to fix our low density problem before shooting a bunch of doe's. So I asked the Timber Co if we could shoot 6 to 8 spikes to help rebalance, and showed that my buck to doe ratio is really skewed more for bucks than doe's. I want more doe's and less bucks, because I figure I can pull a buck off a neighboring piece of property. I don't think I can have a trophy club without a high fence. And only about 5 or 6 members. I just don't have the acreage.

For the 2022-23 season, I think we might need a doe limit, once we hit it, no more can be shot. And it will probably be low. If you could see my spread sheet, its really easy to see if you kill a bunch of doe's you will end up with a property with bucks and very few doe's. Doesn't matter what the denisity it. The only thing denisity helps is it allows you to kill a greater number of doe's.

I guess no one thinks about that when they talk about managing a property. The biologist wanted us to kill 15 doe's this year. If we did that, and did it again next year, I would have 4 doe's on the property, assuming a 1 to 1 ratio, all doe's have twins one of each sex, and no predation, and killing 6 bucks. THats with a deer density of 30 per square mile. Shelby is 30 to 60. I certainly don't believe I have 60.

I can't sustain a club with 4 doe's.