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Post by Bwoods11 on Nov 20, 2020 10:34:07 GMT -6
Nobody wants the rifle hunt moved except those that do. Its clear the power is focused on keeping a boot on the neck of the herd. And the power has all the power. Now, I wonder if they wouldn't get antlerless harvest up if they did move it out of the rut. Imagine the does still focused on food, and the bucks hunkered down being invisible. The meat oriented should have fewer chances at a buck and end up eating doe. But again, a better buck structure would also likely lead to fewer guys shooting does when they know there are more big bucks around. That to me is the only "selling point" that may lead to moving the season. Every year MN deer hunters shoot more bucks than does. That's just dumb from a herd management perspective. Boy you nailed it there. Terrible management.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Nov 23, 2020 10:01:03 GMT -6
Caveman... on my properties in Minnesota —we shoot more does than bucks. Not saying everyone should do that . Depends on the farm. We usually shoot about 3-4 does total and 1-2 bucks. This is on a total of 530 acres (scattered farms)...
2020–No bucks yet this year. 2 does
Buck to doe ratio is still skewed but it’s been worse.
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 28, 2020 8:17:27 GMT -6
Caveman... on my properties in Minnesota —we shoot more does than bucks. Not saying everyone should do that . Depends on the farm. We usually shoot about 3-4 does total and 1-2 bucks. This is on a total of 530 acres (scattered farms)... 2020–No bucks yet this year. 2 does Buck to doe ratio is still skewed but it’s been worse. This year, I would say we again saw about 50:50 bucks to does when I consider everything over 6 months old. My back hay field holds about three does plus fawns. I myself saw more bucks than does during rifle season. Friends to the west about two miles say they need to shoot more does, but they have seen high numbers of yearling bucks as compared to other years. Could a high reproductive rate be the difference as most of the bucks I see are yearlings?
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Post by smsmith on Nov 28, 2020 8:30:10 GMT -6
Caveman... on my properties in Minnesota —we shoot more does than bucks. Not saying everyone should do that . Depends on the farm. We usually shoot about 3-4 does total and 1-2 bucks. This is on a total of 530 acres (scattered farms)... 2020–No bucks yet this year. 2 does Buck to doe ratio is still skewed but it’s been worse. This year, I would say we again saw about 50:50 bucks to does when I consider everything over 6 months old. My back hay field holds about three does plus fawns. I myself saw more bucks than does during rifle season. Friends to the west about two miles say they need to shoot more does, but they have seen high numbers of yearling bucks as compared to other years. Could a high reproductive rate be the difference as most of the bucks I see are yearlings?My uneducated guess is that nature makes up for the high buck harvest here via more does dropping an increased number of buck fawns. Lots of buck fawns = lots of yearling bucks the next year. It seems an inordinate percentage of the fawns I see here are buck fawns.
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 28, 2020 9:34:27 GMT -6
This year, I would say we again saw about 50:50 bucks to does when I consider everything over 6 months old. My back hay field holds about three does plus fawns. I myself saw more bucks than does during rifle season. Friends to the west about two miles say they need to shoot more does, but they have seen high numbers of yearling bucks as compared to other years. Could a high reproductive rate be the difference as most of the bucks I see are yearlings?My uneducated guess is that nature makes up for the high buck harvest here via more does dropping an increased number of buck fawns. Lots of buck fawns = lots of yearling bucks the next year. It seems an inordinate percentage of the fawns I see here are buck fawns. Some old information from an article by Ozoga and my memory is that the nature may change the sex ratio by a bit less than 5%. I also think many more doe fawns are lost in the winter as they don’t reach the critical winter survival weight. More buck fawns make spring and then hunter harvest and winter stress after participating in the rut reverse the survival trend.
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Post by biglakebass on Nov 29, 2020 8:52:45 GMT -6
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Post by Bwoods11 on Nov 29, 2020 12:00:30 GMT -6
Wow, look how many more bucks shot than does? Over 60% of the harvest 😕
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Post by biglakebass on Nov 29, 2020 12:10:41 GMT -6
Thats not an anomoly. I thought the same but looked at previous harvest reports. We have had some years much higher buck harvest than antlerless.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Nov 29, 2020 12:26:20 GMT -6
Well you learn something new ever day!
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Post by mnfish on Nov 29, 2020 13:40:10 GMT -6
mark- do you think they will make the number? Assuming the numbers aren't juked
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Post by Bwoods11 on Nov 30, 2020 9:37:04 GMT -6
I know a former archery/gun dealer pretty well, he swears MN hunters do not register every deer. Matter of fact he guessed the number at 20-25% of deer that are not registered. This is based on conversations with thousands of clients. I don't how accurate he is, but I would guess it is more than we think.
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Post by biglakebass on Nov 30, 2020 10:40:56 GMT -6
But thats nothing new I wouldnt imagine. I am sure its been going on for a very long time. I would be its a higher percentage now that dont get registered with online registration. People get home and may likely just not do it. I have honestly been guilty of realizing a day or two late that I hadnt registered the deer online. When we had to go to the gas station it was a rite of passage to bring your deer in.
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Post by smsmith on Nov 30, 2020 10:52:23 GMT -6
But thats nothing new I wouldnt imagine. I am sure its been going on for a very long time. I would be its a higher percentage now that dont get registered with online registration. People get home and may likely just not do it. I have honestly been guilty of realizing a day or two late that I hadnt registered the deer online. When we had to go to the gas station it was a rite of passage to bring your deer in. I was on my way to the taxidermist to drop off the antlers/cape this year when I realized I hadn't phoned in the registration. I pulled over and took care of it quickly. It's very easy to forget about doing it when you no longer get a registration tag/have to check in a deer in person.
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Post by biglakebass on Nov 30, 2020 13:35:00 GMT -6
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Post by wklman on Nov 30, 2020 14:06:28 GMT -6
There's a lot of people that wait until muzzleloader to use their doe permits.
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