Quality vs. Quantity

I've hunted in North Central Wisconsin for about 11 years now, gun hunting, bow hunting, etc. Every year our family will shoot the first respectible buck that comes into range. We havn't practiced quality deer management ever. But every year there seems to be a monster buck, 10-12 points, 18-20 inch spread shot every year on our farm. Does it really pay to practice quality deer management if we know at least some bucks will make it?

: buck that comes into range. We havn't practiced quality deer management : ever. But every year there seems to be a monster buck, 10-12 points, 18-20 : inch spread shot every year on our farm. Does it really pay to practice : quality deer management if we know at least some bucks will make it?

One school of though is shooting the first buck you see is quality deer management, in that you're weeding out the ones too dumb to avoid you.

samg

You don't say how many people hunt and get bucks or how big your farm is but every year some bucks will survive the hunting season. If you let some respectful size bucks go in a few years more family members may get that buck they dream of. I hunt about 190 acres adjacent to a large piece of posted property with 4 other people and for the last 5 yrs. we have been taking spike and 4pts. at the rate of 2 or 3 per year and letting decent 6,8,and 10's with 12 to 16' racks go by and every year we see larger racks. I got a 10pt. 140 class this year and 2 yrs ago a friend got an 8 pt. with a 23' inside spread. I saw 2 other big rack bucks this year at a distance.It seems to be getting better each year.I think good deer management works.

Wildlife Management is detrimental to the future of our resources. You stated that you productively harvest a nice buck every year from the 'farm.' Management involves much more than selective harvest. To make it rather simple, variables include: 1. Quality of animal habitat 2. Annual weather conditions 3. Quality of the soil

There are basically two variables in antler size: feed and genetics. On your farm, all deer have about the same feed. If a rancher looks over his bull calves and eats the best, saving the runts for breeding, how will his his herd look after a few generations? Mostly runts. The same applies to deer. Yes, leaving a couple big ones will give you a continued source of a few big ones, but the runts do their share of breeding too, a lot more than is generally realized. Here in southern Idaho, we have an area along the Nevada border that carries a lot of runt mulie bucks. They even act effeminate. In October when the big boys are still staying alone, these runts will be with the does. Many have antlers and body size so small that they are hard to differentiate from does. These are often older bucks, too, not just yearlings. I have shot a number of them that are 2x2's with antlers under 6' long that are 3 and 4 years old. One year I shot a 4x4 with a rack 6' wide and 8' high. A game warden at a check station checked his teeth - 4 yrs old. His body size was only slightly larger than a decent doe. There are some big bucks in the area, too, but these runts are getting their share of the breeding done.

Would I be correct in assuming that you meant something like 'critical' here, instead of 'detrimental'?