How many East Tx fawns does it take….

[Anvilheadtexas]

….. typically to end up with one 5 1/2 year-old buck?

The attrition has to be pretty significant right? I’m talking about how many buck Fawns have to hit the ground for everyone that goes to 5 1/2 years old? Free range low fence good old fashion East Texas deer… these things have stuff trying to eat them even before they hit the ground. And then there’s legal hunting, illegal hunting, predators, cars, fences and everything else that might kill a deer.

I wonder if there is a study in this or a rule of thumb.

Anyone?

[MadHatter]

Interesting question.
I'm gonna wag 25:1

[Ætheling]

No idea but I would imagine if graphed that the curve exponentially drops after the first year. You would think that most die as fawns due to predation. Everything else is variable. In many parts of E TX a 5.5 year old is a really old deer lol.

[AntlerCollector]

It only takes one

[Anvilheadtexas]

No idea but I would imagine if graphed that the curve exponentially drops after the first year. You would think that most die as fawns due to predation. Everything else is variable. In many parts of E TX a 5.5 year old is a really old deer lol.

I bet it goes up significantly after 3 months? I would imagine the first several weeks are brutal… even in the best of conditions. I would say natural predation drops off quickly after that.

[Drycreek3189]

On my 80 acres this is the first year I’ve seen zero fawns on my cameras. I have three out year round on mineral blocks, one corn feeder, and one protein feeder. No fawns this year, but plenty of hogs and coyotes. Bastage across the road has a 100 acre pen with coyotes in it. He runs them with dogs. They dig out and escape, that’s why I have an inordinate amount of coyotes. My son snared eleven one year off of 80 acres. That’s too **** many !

[bullets13]

….. typically to end up with one 5 1/2 year-old buck?

The attrition has to be pretty significant right? I’m talking about how many buck Fawns have to hit the ground for everyone that goes to 5 1/2 years old? Free range low fence good old fashion East Texas deer… these things have stuff trying to eat them even before they hit the ground. And then there’s legal hunting, illegal hunting, predators, cars, fences and everything else that might kill a deer.

I wonder if there is a study in this or a rule of thumb.

Anyone?

There are a ton of variables. There are some big leases in east texas with thousands of acres and good management. Those leases will produce many more 5.5 yo bucks than most of east texas.

I live in southeast texas and throw corn in my backyard from September to January every year. I see tons of does and spikes, but this is the first year I've seen multiple racked bucks in 7 years (a 4-point, a 2.5 yo 8-point, and a 3.5 yo 6-point). There are 60 acres of woods behind my 18-acre property, but also more than 50 houses within 2 miles of my house (shooting is legal out here), and 2 separate deer leases within 2 miles of my house. For obvious reasons there are very few 5.5 yo bucks in the area. Because of the housing density there aren't a whole lot of predators, but there are a few bobcats and coyotes around. I don't think they have nearly the effect on the deer population as all of the local yokels blasting deer out the back window when they see one, or the guys on the deer leases shooting the first legal bucks they see.


In between those two extreme examples is my deer lease, which is probably a fairly common example for most of East Texas. I hunt on 450 acres with 4 family members. We generally let young bucks walk, but also understand that there are several leases of similar size in the area, and homesteads where people will shoot deer. There are also people in the area who poach year round for food. Every few years we'll get a really nice deer on camera that's 5.5 or older, but mostly see 3.5-4.5 yo deer. If a deer in that age range comes out and it makes you happy, you take it because the odds of you seeing it again the next season are almost nonexistent. As for predation issues, that seems to vary from season to season. Over the course of about 10 years we killed about 5 coyotes total. In the last two years we've killed 15 coyotes and 3 bobcats. Their population explosion put a major dent in our fawn retention for two seasons. So that's certainly another factor that plays a big role.

[bullets13]

No idea but I would imagine if graphed that the curve exponentially drops after the first year. You would think that most die as fawns due to predation. Everything else is variable. In many parts of E TX a 5.5 year old is a really old deer lol.

I'd say most of east texas. Especially for a buck. We don't shoot many does on my lease, so the odds of them making it that old is a little better than for the bucks.

[Preacher Man]

No idea, but I will echo the statements above. Very few deer in my area make it to 5.5 because most will be legal deer at a much younger age and get shot.

I shot a 6.5 year old in 2014. That's the last buck I've seen on my place in ETX that was that old.

[Deerguy]

5% tops

[Anvilheadtexas]

5% tops

So 5%.. for every 1 that gets that old, there are 20 that for whatever reason do not.

It has to vary based on the immediate habitat hunting pressure and what not. As it has already been describe. Some areas it’s probably 1 in a 100.

My guess is under normal East Texas conditions it’s probably 1 in 30. That includes fawns that die day one. Just a guess. Regardless… lots of fawns have to hit turf in order for you guys to see or hope to see that 5.5 buck.

[steve morton]

5%

5% tops

I'd like to believe that many.

[COPPERHEAD]

Yearlings are just to tender & tasty
......

[Capt.Bryan]

Depends on if he ever reaches 13" Sorry couldn't resist. I know at my house I have 12 acres and had 14-18 does pretty.regular everyday since march and I would say 10 were bred. As they begin dropping fawns, (the does showed up thin) I saw 1 single fawn and 2 sets of twins. I now have nubbin buck yearling left out of 5 fawns this year. Coyotes and hogs are bad here and I still have 12 or so does showing up still.

[SwampRanger]

I think it could be calculated by how many you see that age on camera, then 4.5,3.5, 2.5, etx

Have 2 that are 5.5, 8 that at 4.5, 6 that are 3.5 etc?