Nonres,
You bring up a good point. We really could use a 'Hunters Helping the Hungry' program here in Iowa. It would make it easier for hunters to get meat they don't need to people who can use it. It also could do a lot counter the anti's efforts to make us look like bad guys.
wibohnt,
Congrat's on your son taking his first buck. That's how memories are made. Let's make time for the videos next fall.
Baby-G,
Thanks for the kind words. The buck won't be a main subject of a painting but he might end up in the background some day. I was lucky enough to tape him several times before the harvest. I thought it might be fun to let people try to guess his score based on stills from the video. You can see how far I've gotten on that project since last November. I am planning on having him at the Deer Classic in March.
Limb Chicken,
It is hard to say how many shed antlered bucks I've seen because they look so much alike. This year I've seen more bucks injured, apparently in fights, than ever before and I think that is part of the reason for so many dropping early. Also lots of busted racks. From what I've seen, there should be quite a few sheds out there already.
Buckhunter,
The main reason to take does is to lower or maintain the deer population in an area. If you want more deer in your area I wouldn't shoot many does yet. Once you get the population where you want it you need to take quite a few to maintain a stable population. With a healthy herd in prime habitat I've heard of harvest numbers from 28-40% to maintain a stable population.
In Iowa most fawn will get bred the first fall and have a single fawn the following spring. Most older does will have two or sometimes even three fawn. Since the spot I'm in has too many deer, in my opinion, harvesting mature does is the most effective way to try to control the population. Of course it also helps improve the buck/doe ratio at the same time. Not shooting young bucks helps develop a more natural buck age structure.
Another interesting factor is buck dispersal related to social pressures. Holzenbein and Marchinton (1992) radio-tracked fifteen male fawns orphaned shortly after weaning and nineteen that grew up with their mothers. By 30 months of age, 87 percent of the bucks with surviving mothers had dispersed from their birth ranges, but only 9 percent of the orphans had left theirs. Survival was also much higher among the orphans than among bucks with their mothers.
In other words, shoot the button buck's mom and he'll have about a 90% chance of staying in the area. Keep the doe and the buck will have a 90% chance of leaving by age 2 1/2.
The bottom line is how you want to impact the deer herd in your particular area. Every time a deer comes in range and you decide to shoot or not to shoot you have made a deer management decision. If you can get most of the deer hunters in your area to agree on how you all want to manage the herd it becomes more fun for everyone. It takes a lot of talking, a lot of education and a lot of time but the results can be worth it.
There is a lot of good info in the book Quality Whitetails, The Why and How of Quality Deer Management. You can get it by calling the Quality Deer Management Association at 800-209-DEER.
Old Buck
