Better management of deer in a specific area can mean larger bucks

ALBANY ‒ There was a time in the not so distant past when “herd management” for Georgia’s white-tailed deer population simply meant letting them live and breed. However, as the state’s deer herd grew from approximately 250,000 in the 1940s to more than 10 million today, management goals have changed.

I previously worked in a profession where the mantra was “What gets measured, gets done.” I believe the same applies in deer management, where anything you can do to improve a given herd beats doing nothing. Many hunters, particularly those on small or leased tracts of land, believe falsely — in my opinion — that there is nothing they can do to improve the deer population on these properties.

In discussing deer populations, the terms “herd” and “population” are synonymous, referring to an interactive group of animals living on a specific area. The Georgia 2015-2024 Deer Management Plan states, “The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division manages deer herds for long-term sustainability in balance with dynamic habitat capabilities and social tolerances on a regional scale.”

The plan, which expires this year, indicated that the state’s deer population was estimated to be 25 deer per forested square mile. This ranged with some densities being measured as low as 10 deer per forested square mile and others having a population exceeding 100 deer per forested square mile. The WRD relies primarily on regulated hunting to manage Georgia’s deer population.

A review of the WRD plan shows that there are many issues for consideration in conjunction with population goals. Deer-vehicle collisions, baiting, the use of suppressors, dog hunting, hunter recruitment and retention, and standardization of violation penalties and other considerations are addressed in the plan. The 2025-2031 plan is currently being developed utilizing the data collected under the existing plan as well as a series of public forums that were held earlier this year.

For hunters with the ability to have a level of control on the deer herd on a specific area, the management goals invariably focus on seeing more and larger bucks. To achieve this, hunters will probably need to harvest more does. The major reason: Regardless of many variables, any given area will support only a finite number of deer. This is referred to as the “carrying capacity” for that area.

Let’s assume that a doe will have a pair of fawns, one a buck and the other a doe. After the first 18 months of their life, it is believed that the doe will urge her buck offspring to leave the area. At the same time, more mature bucks in the area will also put pressure on the youngster to seek refuge elsewhere.

However, the female offspring will usually remain in the same area, sharing the same range as her mother. Therefore, over time, a matriarchal herd will develop consuming resources and filling the carrying capacity of the area. In this situation, it is highly unlikely that the 18-month-old buck driven out of his area of birth will consider this area as a likely refuge to establish a new home range.

One of the more methodical ways to determine an area’s buck-to-doe ratio is to do a trail cam survey prior to and following the hunting season. The first survey should provide a fair evaluation of the area’s ratio and what percentage of does should be harvested to reach a targeted goal. A second survey immediately following the season can help determine how successful these efforts were.

Over the long-term management of the area, an increase in the sighting and harvesting of mature bucks will be the ultimate measure of the success of a management plan.

Divide the area you are surveying into blocks, depending on the size of your property and cameras available, leaving a camera on site in each grid for at least 10 days. When reviewing photographs, keep a tally of the mature (non-fawn) does and separate tally of both the total bucks and the number of identified individual bucks. These can be identified by the body and antler characteristics.

A basic formula established by a number of management groups is:

· Total bucks photographed = X 60

· Total photographs of (individual identified bucks) = Y 10

· Total photographs of does (not fawns) = 210

· Buck-to-Doe Ratio

Y ÷ X = A 10 ÷ 60 = .1666

A X Z = Number of Does .1666 X 210 = 35

Y ÷ B = Buck-to-Doe Ratio 10:35 giving you a buck to doe ratio of 1:3.5

Most believe that the holy grail for this ratio lies somewhere between a 1:1 and 1:5 buck-to-doe ratio depending on the goals established for the area. Once you have established the desired ratio on a given property, further management depends on a number of other things, including how many deer in total you want to harvest annually. How many of the bucks on the property do you want to include in the total harvest and what quality standards do you want to set for these bucks?

Another critical factor in the quest for having bigger deer lies within the structure of the herd’s various cohorts. Cohorts are basically the deer born into the herd each year. Over time, a number of these deer will be removed from the herd due to natural mortality or harvest. Allowing bucks in each cohort to survive allows the bucks remaining in the ratio to become older and larger and with the potential to develop more antler mass if trophy hunting is a goal for the property.

Other variables come into play with each success in the management plan. Believe that control over a minimum of 500 acres is required before a management plan is a consideration. However, I have hunted and continue to hunt small tracts well below that limit, managing what I have control over with success. In some instances, I have been able to collaborate with adjacent landowners and hunters, further improving the herd in a given area. In other instances, the small tracts I hunted were in areas with limited pressure from other hunters who did not recognize the area’s potential.

I firmly believe, regardless of the limitations in control hunters might face, controlling what you can will make a difference.

Staff Photo: Tom SeegmuellerStaff Photo: Tom Seegmueller

Staff Photo: Tom Seegmueller