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    Small Property Harvest Numbers

    My family and I are on our first year on a 120-acre tract on the Hamilton/Bosque County Line (Hamilton Side). I'd like some input on how we can manage our harvest numbers so that we have a good family lease. Mainly concerned with seeing/getting deer and having meat in the freezer, not looking to manage for maximum antler potential.

    so here is the background...

    property has a 30 acre wheat field, a perennial creek lined with mature live oaks and pecans, and several nice cedar thickets that are good bedding areas. Our neighbor to the south has a high fence that parallels the creek and this is a major travel corridor between agricultural fields in the area. Our neighbor to the west has about 400 acres and our landowner pays her to not let anyone hunt it (hopefully this will get incorporated into our lease eventually as that potential has been discussed). I don't have information about the properties to the north and east other than them being large wheat fields or pasture.

    We have had really good luck getting pictures the past few months and have counted 11 different bucks on camera. 4 of which are certainly older than 3.5 years. It is difficult to estimate doe numbers, but I have seen as many as 6 in one photo. Based on that and other pictures I am estimating that maybe 10 or so use the property on a regular basis, but this is just an educated guess.

    my youngest brother and I are planning to bow hunt only, and my mom and dad (who will likely always hunt together) will rifle hunt along with my middle brother.

    With that information, here is my thought. I would like to take 3-4 bucks and 2-3 does. This would give us some flexibility and allow everyone to take at least one deer. I know that it would be way too many typically, but I'm thinking because of the other variables we might be able to make it work. what do you think.

    #2
    5 deer. 2 total bucks and 3 does

    My conservative, non professional opinion.

    BP

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      #3
      If you feed protein year round, I would think you might make it work. Like elgato says, "nutrition available 24/7/365" is the key not only to antler development but also to fawn births and survival. If your willing to pay the feed bill, you can carry a higher stocking rate. However, if you stop the protein at some point, especially during a dry time, things could go off the rails pretty fast and you lose a bunch of deer.

      Also - going on a strict number quota that is the same every year doesn't really jive with Mother Nature. Some times things are good and there are a lot of shooters, some times not.

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        #4
        Thanks, we definitely want to play it by ear and not be rigid with the numbers.

        how much protein do you think that would be? I haven't ever done the protein thing, so I have no frame of reference.

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          #5
          2 bucks and 5 does. If you can shoot more does by arrow, do so. Other's will just pour in to replace. If the gun goes off too many times, you can really drive the deer out or suppress activity on what deer you have living there.

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            #6
            PM Sent

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              #7
              Originally posted by B Littleton View Post
              Thanks, we definitely want to play it by ear and not be rigid with the numbers.



              how much protein do you think that would be? I haven't ever done the protein thing, so I have no frame of reference.

              Our place is 190 ac low fence and we fed 1000lbs protein + 150 lbs alfalfa per week this summer. That's about $1000/month, so not cheap. A couple weeks ago i converted one protein feeder to a corn spinner, so that reduced cost and we're tapering off the alfalfa as well. It should start raining soon which will help the native vegetation, and hopefully the 2 acres of food plots I planted take off. If we get good rain our protein bill will go even lower I think. That said, we will probably still spend $7k a year on feed (split between two families), which is kinda high, but hunting is really my only hobby and we like seeing lots of nice deer and turkey when we're at the ranch, plus, you only live once, right?

              We're drawing in lots of deer from the surrounding properties and it's been really dry since May, which explains some of the high consumption. Luckily our neighbors don't hunt much, so I'm not just totally feeding someone else's deer. We need to cull 2-4 bad bucks, and we have 2-3 6+ year old nice bucks that we might take a look at after the rut. (This place hasn't been hunted in 7 years so it's a little over-stocked). We have a lot of young bucks and had a great fawn crop, so that's one reason we kept the protein up through the dry summer (to help with fawn survival). We have about a 1-1 buck/doe ratio, so we don't need to hammer the does, but there are a couple we're looking for (one really old, one with a growth(cyst?)).

              After the season I'm going to change one of my protein feeders to the Krivoman timed feeder, so that I can shut the valve at night and reduce consumption some. When you look at trail cam photos, I see the weak deer in the herd (spikes, loner does, etc) coming to the feeder late at night and gorging. Stopping the protein at night will reduce the waste to coons too.

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