I dont think Lockjaw is really as far off base as what y’all are making him out to be. Just look back at the chart Swampy posted of the kill numbers in the late 80’s and early 90’s……….We killed around 50-75K does each year but 200-250K bucks ……..We used to have a lot higher population base than we do now. We probably have half the deer we had back then. More does on the land produces more bucks that can be killed. What Lockjaw is suggesting to do is the very formula for what we were doing in the late 80’s early nineties when populations were still growing and expanding. The big difference was that back then 50-75K does didnt represent as big of a portion of the total populatoin as it does now with half the amount deer on the land. We would probably have to knock this back to killing a fraction of that number in does now for a several years to see any significant growth occur.
Something that's being missed is that not all areas have less deer. In my part of south Montgomery county we have as many or more deer than we've ever had. I've lived in the same place for 31 years, so I know what I'm saying.
It's all private land with most of it having fairly light hunting pressure, especially on the killing side.
It's to the point we are going to have to increase our doe harvest. As far as I'm concerned, you can't have too many bucks and we're a long way from having a balanced buck to doe ratio.
The population situation needs to be addressed on a local basis
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