Originally posted by jjas: If you have 800 private acres to hunt and you're not happy with the buck/doe ratio, then why doesn't your group take more does or limit the number of bucks taken? We have a rough idea of how many deer are on the properties we hunt and we set goals on how many does and bucks we feel should be taken. When (if) those goals are met, those properties aren't hunted again that season.
Never said I wasn't happy with the buck:doe ratio on the farm I hunt. We run alot of trail cameras 8-9 months out of the year to keep a good "inventory" on the local herd. Antlerless harvest decisions are based on inventory.
That said, even on 800 acres...it is difficult to manage without outside influence. Some deer get killed on neighboring properties and a few get poached by trespassers I'm sure. We just can't take off work and patrol the property lines 40 days/year.
By our best estimates, the farm tends to run a ballpark 3:1 doe to buck ratio on any given year (not including fawns). I'm confident that is a much better ratio than the majority of the state. There may be pockets of very low deer density with better ratios...but who wants that?
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
