I think I may have brought this up before but figured it was worth asking again. At what point do we decide our herd is balanced. We keep hearing that as part of Qdm and population control we need to shoot more does, not saying we shouldn't but follow me hear. We continually here our herd is way out of balance; 1:5, 1:6, or 1:8 as I saw in a recent post. How is this logical? Does have been atleast 50%(60%+ last year) of the harvest for the last 4 or 5 years, so that is atleast one dead doe for every buck for a time period about as long as the life expectancy of a wild deer. Is there supposed to be a bunch of 15 year old does left over from when we shot less than 50%. And the does don't seem to be getting hit harder in one area over another, does made up 50% or better of the harvest in all but on region last year according to GON. Another thing is natural/man made mortality, seems to me I see 10 dead does to one buck on the side of the road. Unless does drop females 5 or more to 1 male I don't see how it can be argued that our herd is that far out of wack. If this isn't the case, then I would have to think that after the last few years our herd is pretty close to balance, if not tipping toward bucks. If my reasoning is faulty, please someone set me straight. Thanks for any feedback.
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Ga. Buck to doe ratio
- Thread starter ejm
- Start date
sgsjr
Banned
It seems like reckless management to me allowing a relentless harvest of does. There will have to be an end to it one day, either by curtailing doe harvest or limiting the hunters. Simple statistics will show that once you reduce a heard from say 60 per square mile to 40 per square mile, it is much easier to reduce it to 20 deer per square mile than the initial reduction.
For years in GA. the DNR had trained us that the doe was a sacred animal, with one subtle adjustments in their numbers necessary, now it seems that they consider them useless and expendable.
I really feel if you want to have more bucks reach older age, continue with the buck management we are doing now and SHORTEN the season back to about 6 weeks. Continue on with a doe management plan.
For years in GA. the DNR had trained us that the doe was a sacred animal, with one subtle adjustments in their numbers necessary, now it seems that they consider them useless and expendable.
I really feel if you want to have more bucks reach older age, continue with the buck management we are doing now and SHORTEN the season back to about 6 weeks. Continue on with a doe management plan.
