Management/Cull age?

[ar3731guy]

of all the deer ive killed and or guided ive only ever seen 1 spike that was older than 2 yrs old. and im talking over 1000 deer. the ranch i managed in SOUTH TEXAS we started shooting culls at 3.5. if a buck was 7 pts or less or less than 100" he got dirt napped. at 4.5 if he was 8 pts or less he got dirtnapped. at 5 if he was under 140 dirtnap. with that management criteria we were growing some very big deer. my 2 centavos....

[Cbb1722]

We've had a 4 yr old spike shot at my old place in gause. But that was before the antler rule was in affect so there was several bad deer around because the neighbors killed anything with horns, so it never gave the deer time to get older and bigger and breed. Had a spike come in early this past season in brazos he was well over 2, he just never gave a good shot opportunity. But I'm more of a meat hunter rather than a trophy hunter. But I do let the good looking "legal" young bucks go

[wingnut4540]

We start culling deer that are 3.5 with 8 points or less unless he has some other character such as drops or kickers, we will also let a 3.5 yr old 8 walk if he has super long main beams. We started seeing that if they have long main beams most of the time when they hit 4.5 to 5.5 they sprout a G4 or 2.

[FCTrapper]

of all the deer ive killed and or guided ive only ever seen 1 spike that was older than 2 yrs old. and im talking over 1000 deer. the ranch i managed in SOUTH TEXAS we started shooting culls at 3.5. if a buck was 7 pts or less or less than 100" he got dirt napped. at 4.5 if he was 8 pts or less he got dirtnapped. at 5 if he was under 140 dirtnap. with that management criteria we were growing some very big deer. my 2 centavos....

Is that new office job going to allow you more time on TBH?? Hahaha

I sure hope so. Glad to see you posting on the game mgt section Andy.


To the Original question. We start looking at mgt/culls at 4.5. We don't always kill them but at that point they are on the radar.

[ar3731guy]

It does! more downtime during the day but more hunting time for me during the season!

[TXhoghunter94]

depends on the deer, but usually around 3.5 years.