buck to doe ratio when to take does?

[bullfood]

We hunt a non agricultural area south of Orillia. The land is rough and used to graze cattle which grow well on what the locals call sweet grass.There is mixed bush, large meadows and swamp on our 400 acres which is surrounded by at least 1000 more.
Over the years we have harvested only 3 big mature bucks and have seen a few more. Our game cameras seem to indicate that we have a good number of 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 yr old bucks and many does and fawns. This year the fawn and buck numbers seem to be down. So far while hunting and scouting we have a ratio of about 8 to 1 does to bucks. We have taken 2 dry does in the gun hunt and let a number walk in the bow season.
Should we be taking more does now in the bow hunt to bring the ratio into proportion?

[vixenmaster]

I have heard lots of ppl talk about not shooting Doe's before the rut. Their reason is the more Doe's the better chance of a hot Doe comin by you & bringing a Buck with her. imo thats alot BS, the more Doe's you have the less the big Bucks have to actually chase. Plus is you have lots of Doe's & yer winters get real bad most of yer big Bucks get wore down running too many & some don't make it as the lose all their body fat reserves when food supplys get hard to find. I shoot my Doe's from the 1st day of season right on thru rut & after. I don't want lots of Doe's they're just meat waiting on the canner or freezer. I have taken 3 off my place this season & i watched 14 of them under & around my stand a week ago. Let them go waiting on a Buck. I looked in our freezer 2 days ago & got a shock most of our deer meat has been given to needy ppl around here. Seems i have to get back out in this freezing cold for another deer or 2.

[bigbuckonly1]

The closer together the ratio the better it is- idealy 1 to1, or 1 to 2.

[wabi]

The perfect ratio gets into a wide range of factors with a lot of it depending on the total population the land will support, but I like to think in terms of something under 1:3 is probably desirable.

Where I hunt the limit is 1 buck per season, but 6 deer are allowed. That means 6 does, or 1 buck and 5 does total harvest for a season. Ohio does seem to have a few gainfully employed taxidermists, so I'm guessing the management plan the DNR has established works.

BTW - my harvest so far this season is 1:1, but I intend to up the doe kill before season ends. My experiments in making summer sausage has left me short on ground meat, so I need to re-fill the freezer.

The snow has me thinking of setting in my ladder stand with the old T/C Hawken this evening since there's a 2 day (Sat/Sun) "extended" gun season this weekend. If this one shows up on time........................

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[j.krug]

Yep, your ratio of does to bucks sounds a little high.
As mentioned I would bring it down to 3:1 if possible and depending on the habitat.

[Tired Rooster]

Unfortunately, hunters unwillingness to kill does in certain areas can cause in a relatively short period of time a huge imbalance in a deer heard. The more does the less opportunity to see that nice buck during rut also. No reluctance here to put does in the freezer. I've put three in there thus far this season. The hunting of whitetails still holds magic for me. I have never allowed myself to become a "trophy" hunter. I'm a deer hunter and I enjoy hunting deer. Nice rack is a cherry on top. But my blood pressure rises and my heart beats 90 to nothing still over that doe I have been fortunate enough to take.

[Cossack]

If you want more bigger bucks, hold off on killing them until they are mature...at least 3.5 yrs old....and get the neighbors to do likewise. Have a gander at Quality Deer Management principles.

[GaryM]

Our buck to doe ratio is way out of kilter around here. It leads to what I call the "silent rut". The remaining bucks have little competition breeding does and they stay nocturnal for the most part.
We tried to get everyone to participate in the QDM...quality deer management program but around here that's like pulling teeth. Everyone agreed until a little buck walked in front of them then all bets were off. Gary

[Tom]

A while back I read a report on Deer and Deer Herd Health. Basically they said that a healthy herd had a ratio of 4.2 Does for every Buck. I do not know how they came to this ratio, but here is part of their explanation as I remember it.

This ratio will insure only the healthy bucks (in the prime of their life) get to breed. If there gets to be more then this ratio, less healthy bucks get to breed and pass on their blood line. IF the ratio drops below that , then the bucks will become run ragged and some does might not even become breed.