Is your management plan really working?

[CrookedArrow]

Watching Mr. Middleton's video (nice video btw) where he took out the 8 point 3 1/2 yr old and he made reference to the management plan for his place.

Curious for you that have a management plan has it made a difference? I have not stayed on a lease long enough to really incorporate any kind plan for more then a season or 2.

Is the protein, cotton seed, culling of does, bucks etc really working out for you and your group? Does it work only when the ENTIRE group is on board? or can you be the self one and still have better, bigger deer?

Fill me in. Oh and BTW.................I am in no way poking at Michael's deer. Looking at it I may have passed on it only because he was a bit young. But I can also understand it was a 8 at 3 1/2 and probably not going to be more then that.

[Johnny Dangerr]

Takes years and the county needs to be on the same page.....

[flywise]

Takes years and the county needs to be on the same page.....

[AntlerCollector]

Any supplemental feeder works! Adding protein pellets, cottonseed, etc. helps the deer without a doubt. It provides them with added nutrition they don't get naturally. The culling of animals as per of a management program can also work well. This really isn't an issue if deer management works or not. The are many places in Texas that have proven results.

[AntlerCollector]

Any supplemental feeder works! Adding protein pellets, cottonseed, etc. helps the deer without a doubt. It provides them with added nutrition they don't get naturally. The culling of animals as part of a management program can also work well. This really isn't an issue if deer management works or not. The are many places in Texas that have proven results.

Sorry I hit the submit button and didn't mean to.


As far as where I hunt in Eldorado, I added cottonseed, protein, rice bran, mineral blocks, and a water station in my hunting areas. Over the last two years I've seen an increase in deer numbers. The highest scoring deer on our place was shot by my wife this season. We both killed bucks that were about 25-30 lbs heavier than bucks where killed in prior seasons. I hope this is a result from the work that I've put in to help the deer herd.

[Mike Murphey]

Our place is under a management plan brought in by a game biologist, (Ruben Cantu) out of San Angelo. Most wildlife guys and gals from Texas Parks and Wildlife will tell you not to put out supplemental feed but we do by having free range protein and cotton seed. That's why we went with a game biologist that didn't have ties to TPW. Some of the guys will say they have a program but that program might being good for the hunters ad not for the deer herd. It took us at least 5 years to see the difference in our program. The first thing we noticed was the deer weights coming up, and now we are seeing the antlers getting better and a better balance of deer age groups. We took a 170" buck this year and that bucks weight was at 210 lbs live weight. That not bad for our area of Ft. McKavett. Deer herd management is not about killing its about taking the right deer each year, and balancing the protein feed.

[Mexico]

"Culling" does not work unless you're behind a high fence, and even then it takes years to see results. You can't shift the evolutional curve with outside influence on your herd. There's been tons of studies done on the subject, and they all came up with the same conclusion... basically you're killing a deer and that's about it. My mgmt plan is to feed the heck out of them, let e'm grow and see what happens hoping some of the genetically superior deer will make it. And yes it works, just takes lots of money and patience.

[texas shag]

Our management plan is focused on two things. Providing the highest level nutritional plane we can, and letting the deer get old. We don’t consider taking male mouths out of the herd until 5.5, trophies are harvested at 7.5 and we try to take older does. Culling isn’t nearly as important as age and nutrition IMO. If you have those two ingredients, then culling is another step. But in the words of a wise man on this board “know your herd” before trying to cull.

Our culling is not to remove inferior genetics, it is to reduce months on the property. In turn, with less competition comes less stress, which should lead to maximum antler expression for the bucks we are interested in.

[DKey88]

"Culling" does not work unless you're behind a high fence, and even then it takes years to see results. You can't shift the evolutional curve with outside influence on your herd. There's been tons of studies done on the subject, and they all came up with the same conclusion... basically you're killing a deer and that's about it. My mgmt plan is to feed the heck out of them, let e'm grow and see what happens hoping some of the genetically superior deer will make it. And yes it works, just takes lots of money and patience.

Mexico sure knows how to grow them, has some Muey Grandes on his place!!!

[Smart]

"Culling" does not work unless you're behind a high fence, and even then it takes years to see results. You can't shift the evolutional curve with outside influence on your herd. There's been tons of studies done on the subject, and they all came up with the same conclusion... basically you're killing a deer and that's about it. My mgmt plan is to feed the heck out of them, let e'm grow and see what happens hoping some of the genetically superior deer will make it. And yes it works, just takes lots of money and patience.

Culling DOES work to remove the mouths of live deer with less than ideal antler traits and does so that your better deer can have access to the property's food supply. That helps in your "feed the heck out of them" category...

[Mexico]

Culling DOES work to remove the mouths of live deer with less than ideal antler traits and does so that your better deer can have access to the property's food supply. That helps in your "feed the heck out of them" category...

That would be population control, genetic culling does absolutely nothing in a low fence environment. You don't have to believe me do a little research.

[Smart]

We manage our place to have a good time for our members and their families and try to kill some good deer for our area. We remove mouths of less than desirable deer and let the younger deer with what we view as good antler traits, get some more age on them. Some of us supplemental feed and provide water at 7 out of 14 feedpens and some cannot afford to or chose not to. We kill some good deer every year and for the most part folks are happy.....so yes our specific management plan is working..





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[Smart]

That would be population control, genetic culling does absolutely nothing in a low fence environment. You don't have to believe me do a little research.

You are hooked up on semantics.....culling is killing.....and we cull to remove mouths once they reach a certain age. I never said anything about genetics and have read the "studies" years ago..

Besides genetics talk by non-biologists or non-deer farmers is just campfire fodder anyway.



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[Mike Murphey]

Culling is just one part of the management plan....you need to first see how deer you have on your property, along with age groups. Getting the numbers to where you want them is the first priority. We strive for 1 deer to 15 acres. 20 acres would be better still. Letting the bucks age before they are taken out of the herd is the next step. You need to teach your hunters to age deer!
Culling out the genetics that you don't want breeding the herd. Taking out excess does is also there....too many things need to happen first before you get to far ahead and say you are managing the deer herd.
The most important part is knowing your deer herd, knowing the deer per acres, knowing your buck to doe ratio, and your habitat of the property, and let the bucks grow old!

[S-3 Ranch]

That would be population control, genetic culling does absolutely nothing in a low fence environment. You don't have to believe me do a little research.

I am with you on this , the only way to achieve trophy bucks is AGE
Feed the crud out of the deer and lying off the trigger
Culling only takes out potential trophy bucks ,
IMO some bucks grow in waves, doing better some years and worse others
Some most buck pop with proper age , culling potentially removes great deer before maximum possible potentiality
There are some exceptions but most are obvious exceptions