I have yet to be convinced how this whole genetics and quality management can really effect a free flowing fluid population such as a wild deer herd. The first thing is that deer move and during the rut they move extensively. So with out seeing it happen there is no way anyone can tell which bucks are breeding which does, so in the whole scheme of things how is killing a buck with less than desirable horns going to change anything? You must realize that the genetic make up that produced that buck in the first place has to still be in the herd, especially if both the parents are still there. Any one with breeding knowledge knows that with a very controlled selection process that the male genes can be passed and tracked with in most species. Horses and cattle being those that extensive records are kept on both males and females to produce certain desirable traits most commonly. With deer I feel that at least 50 percent, and probably more, of the genetics come from the does and we have no way of effectually "culling" those. So even if we kill the "cull buck", his mother and sisters are still out there with the potential to produce either a superior or another inferior buck, even when breed by the biggest baddest 200 inch buck in the country. Also even if the "cull buck" doesn't have genetics to produce massive horns, he might have many other qualities that are more important to the herd. Things such as body size, intelligence, the ability to produce more buck fawns, or even just knowing how to cross a highway with out being killed. There are many things that are more important than horn size to the herd.
If genetics were a major factor to deer herd make up why is it that other places haven't been successful in manipulating their herd genetics by introducing other strains. I can't remember where, but it might have been in Deer and Deer Hunting magazine, that I read about experiments in Texas and other Southern States where they tried to import Midwest bucks into their local herds. They did notice some improvement for a while but after a few generations that improvement disappeared. If genetics were the major key we give it credit for, then why hasn't every Texas fenced ranch like the King Ranch, imported enough Iowa deer to grow some deer that are bigger that a German Shepard?
Another issue I have is with population numbers. Here in Iowa we have been trying to, and have significantly, reduce population by harvesting more and more does each year. While the over all population has dropped so has the buck harvest and, I think, the buck population in general. Again different things I have read indicate that as we try to manipulate the population by killing more does, nature compensates by upping the birth rates and upping the number of doe fawns. In a declining population many of this years doe fawns who are just a few months old will breed successfully and older does will produce more twins and triplets with a very large majority being does rather than bucks. Look back at all those fetus pictures posted about the late antlerless season and i think you will find 3 or 4 does to bucks there. While a one to one or one to two, buck to doe ratio might be beneficial to us as hunters, it is not to deer as a herd. Another example is the coyote population. With abundant food supplies it is virtually impossible to kill out or even really reduce a coyote population. As more animals are killed the litter numbers go up and even in certain situations there might be more than one litter per year and the numbers of females go up significantly as long as food and habitat are sufficient.
My personal belief is that we need to get back to a more natural deer production method. With all of our QDM, food plots, supplemental minerals and such, I believe that we are actually diminishing the personal value of trophy deer. Think about it, in 1954, when Iowa had it's first deer season, almost any buck was a trophy and a 130 or 140 was a monster. What we have done is make many hunters look at these bucks as trash or "culls" if they aren't 150 or 170s and there are a bunch more of them because we are almost trying to raise them like Herefords. The one thing that has changed is that now we keep looking for a way to raise bigger bucks through technology and I question where it will all end. I very much dislike the way all this trophy deer thing has been commercialized, and see it as totally the reason we are having to battle so hard on the Non-resident hunter and landowner issue.
