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5.5 for management deer?

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    5.5 for management deer?

    Chance started s great thread and many posters had great info that I enjoyed reading.

    I didn't want to jump his thread so I am asking advice on this one.

    Many ranches have different plans on management deer as well as trophy deer.

    I have heard shoot management deer as early as 3 years old. Others at 5.

    What is yalls take.

    #2
    Just depends on the individual deer. I don't think there's a one size fits all approach. We have a buck on our place that we are planning to cull as a three year old, but we've got a clear history with him since he grew his first set of antlers. FWIW, I don't believe in culling any deer less than three.

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      #3
      For the most part the only deer that get culled early 2-3 are spikes. At 4 we start culling deer that we believe are inferior. These include deer no brows, 7 pts, 8 pts with no mass and small frames.

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        #4
        As you know, ours is 5.5 and under 140. I've been leaning more to letting the bucks get older the last few years. We have several culls that make nice jumps into the 40's and 50's when they get older. With our management program for the last 15-20 years, now it is hard to find culls on our place. The good and bad is that most of our management deer fall between 135-145 class now. We only shoot a couple bucks a year that are 5.5 or older that score under 130.

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          #5
          Originally posted by BrandonA View Post
          For the most part the only deer that get culled early 2-3 are spikes. At 4 we start culling deer that we believe are inferior. These include deer no brows, 7 pts, 8 pts with no mass and small frames.
          this is what we do -

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            #6
            Tkk. Low fence right?

            Big mike. Same with the pasture we were on. Culls were hard to find.

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              #7
              To answer that you first need to have an idea of the harvest pressure, potential carrying capacity of the area, and probable population & buck to doe ratio. Tougher to do on small low-fenced properties, but worth managing towards. As long as you're hunting a low-fenced area that is managing habitat for deer that pass through your place then I think you have to be real with yourself and realize the only thing you can effectively CONTROL is the habitat within your fence. (Pray you have neighbors that are like-minded.)

              Now, can you also influence the maturity of bucks passing through your place? YES... and that will make all the difference as opposed to not managing for greater maturity. A person only needs to realize that in most parts of the state hunters are competitive and their standards decline as the season progresses or change in relation to emotional perspectives causing most bucks to be shot at less than three years of age.

              As a result, if you can mature a buck beyond three years of age on land that provides more than everything that it needs in order to be it's healthiest then you have placed yourself in a better situation than the majority of hunters in Texas. You're likely hunting deer that are older and healthier than the majority of bucks in Texas too. Good habitat, great nutrition, available water, lean towards maturity and protect your carrying capacity...then make a decision about how long you wait to harvest a buck past three years of age. Set the game game board, know the rules of play and then make your decisions.

              I'm sure it has been posted already, but harvesting spikes in a low-fence situation could be a big mistake without knowing density, buck/doe ratio and harvest pressure, especially young bucks or bucks on poor lands.
              Last edited by Bobcat; 09-16-2016, 10:06 AM.

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                #8
                One of the most overlooked parts of deer management is improving the natural habitat. If you lease then that becomes harder obviously. However if you own your property than it becomes easier.

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                  #9
                  We are mld 3 which helps but we cull in every age group with a criteria.

                  Both out high fence and low fence get managed the Same
                  Spike at 1.5 gets eliminated
                  Less than 8 points at 2.5
                  Less than 120inches at 3.5 unless he's got some good kickers
                  4.5 ten points or more better score more than 135
                  5.5 more than 145inches and at least ten points get a pass to 6.5

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                    #10
                    Depends on the goals of the ranch/lease. On our lease, I want to grow 150"+ trophy deer. This seems to be about the top end our country can produce consistently. There will be the occasional 160 or 170, but I KNOW it can do 150's regularly. Anyway, I don't pay much attention to a buck at 1 or 2. At 3 I'll look them over and see what redeeming qualities they have and most of the time they get a pass. At 4 we really look at them hard and make some decisions. Do they have the potential to hit 150 in a few years? Or at least get close? If there is any hint of that potential they are plenty safe. I always err in favor of the deer. A 5 year old that only scores in the 120's will likely get shot. If he's over 130, he's VERY safe as these are the bucks that will most likely hit our goal in a few more years. At that age and score, he could possibly hit 150 in 2 or 3 more years. A 6 year old needs to be knocking on 140".

                    We don't have a hard and steadfast age rule on culls/management deer. If they are total junk at 3 then I don't want to wait another 2 or 3 years to HOPE they do something spectacular. We have too many other bucks with greater potential. And notice I didn't say anything about spikes. I think in 10 years we've killed one or two for some kids first deer, but that's it. In our situation I don't think killing spikes is beneficial. But I can totally understand on other ranches it may be a necessity.

                    Anyway, that's a quick rundown of what we do.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by BrandonA View Post
                      For the most part the only deer that get culled early 2-3 are spikes. At 4 we start culling deer that we believe are inferior. These include deer no brows, 7 pts, 8 pts with no mass and small frames.
                      Yep

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                        #12
                        I am jealous of you guys that to get to grow an watch deer

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by Cull hunter View Post
                          Tkk. Low fence right?

                          Big mike. Same with the pasture we were on. Culls were hard to find.
                          yes LF

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                            #14
                            I have 5000 acres of bow hunting only, so our ability to truly manage the land is pretty hard to do. I believe in 3 categories of deer when managing an area of land for a quality herd. We categorize Culls, Management and Trophies for the purpose of taking deer at certain ages as well as their ability to become a trophy. As far as a cull goes, we define these as undesirable bucks, bucks we don't want in our breeding herd. We do give them a chance to grow but at 3 years of age minimum they are on our hit list. The management bucks we define as a mature buck of at least 5 years old having what we consider the ability to become a trophy or will not quite get there, if they score less than 125 PY and are 5 years old or older they become a target. We define our Trophy bucks as 5 years and older scoring more than 125 PY. We look at all bucks especially beginning at 4 years old and begin to asses their growth ability. I believe every buck with good genes will have what I call a BLOOM year once in his lifetime, a year that he really blows up aside from all years. Some may bloom at 4, others at 5 or 6 years old, so we try and keep this perspective in mind as well with bucks that we feel have trophy potential. I've seen bucks that get up to 150" 10 point at 5 years old and fall back after that, each year never to improve but on the other hand there are bucks that go the opposite as a 150" 10 point at 5 years to a 170" 10 point at 7 years old. I believe the range conditions have a lot to do with the age and quality factors in a bucks life. All we can do is learn from one another, learn from the deer themselves and work with Mother Nature to reach our goals when managing a deer heard.

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                              #15
                              Dry years versus wet years?

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