Giving their deer enough time to mature, if the nutrition isn’t there for goodīut to take it a step further –and maybe complicate the cull decision further-I think the nutrition available in an area is more accurately defined as the carrying capacity of an area. So even if good genetics are present and hunters are Research he’s done in years past, Larry is able to correlate poor nutrition to Really resonates is in talking about the nutrition. Hang some cameras in the thick woods you can’t really hunt to see what really lives on your property.
More likely they are those old, smart deer that only show up on camera in the deep dark of night. If there aren’t good bucks being killed that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. But if there are good bucks in your area it stands to reason those genetics should be passed on. Are The Genetics Present?Įven in controlled deer herds, the buck-doe pairings can cause huge swings in year-to-year antler production, but genetic management in wild deer is nearly impossible to fully control. Consider the age of the deer before deciding to lay him down. Whereas an older buck with spiked antlers may be doing the best he will ever do. A buck growing his first set of antlers may be doing so because he was a late fawn and he’s just behind in development. When taking into account the age of a spike, Larry says it perfectly when he states “If spike bucks are killed as spikes I can assure you they’ll never develop a bigger set of antlers.” Simple, but true. In the debate on whether spike-antlered bucks are inferior –and therefore harmful to a long-range goal of increasing trophy quality in your deer population-you really need to look at all three of these factors before culling out your spikes. In an earlier blog I stated that three things go into antler development: age, nutrition and genetics. His answer made me look at our operation and evaluate whether we were following his sage advice.
6, 2019), long-time outdoor writer, wildlife biologist and television personality Larry Weishuhn was asked the question: “I thought the rule was ‘once a spike, always a spike’…Should I be giving them a year or two more?” In a recent article published on Sporting Classics Daily (Nov. Larry Weishuhn of Sporting Classics Daily tackles this age-old debate, combining scientific research and personal antidotes to give you the straight scoop
0 kommentar(er)
