9/22/2023 0 Comments Small spike buck![]() Maximum size was reached at 5 years in the Mississippi State University research pens (Jacobson 1995) and at 6 years in South Texas wild populations (Hellickson et al. Studies with known-aged deer show how antler size increases dramatically with age. Although the specific year may vary, it is clear that maximizing antler production within a population requires that bucks live until at least their fifth year to fulfill their potential for antler development.įigure 1. The age bucks reach maximum antler size varies, and nutritional resources influence that age, but it is typically around five or six years. Three-year-old bucks develop about 75 to 80 percent of their ultimate antler growth, but it usually takes 4 years for a buck to reach 90 to 95 percent of his potential. One of the surest ways to double the size of antlers is to let bucks grow from one to two years of age, since at two they will have reached about 60 percent of their ultimate antler size. A yearling buck (yearling bucks are about 1.5 years old during hunting season) grows antlers that are only 25 to 30 percent of his maximum Boone & Crockett score (the Boone & Crockett system is the most commonly used technique to measure antler size). One of the simplest facts about antler growth is the direct relationship between age and antler size (Figure 1). Genetics ultimately controls the limits of antler growth, but nutrition and age have the greatest implications for most management programs. The amazing process of antler growth is regulated by a number of complex physiological relationships. Adequate numbers of bucks ensures that all does are bred during their first estrus (breeding cycle) but inadequate buck numbers can lead to missed breeding and recycling of unbred does, which extends and delays the breeding season. Increasing the number of bucks and the prevalence of older bucks within a population can improve the timing and duration of the breeding season. A lengthy rut may increase the overall stress of the rut on bucks, resulting in reduced body weights, higher post-rut mortality, and possibly reduced antler development in later years. Southeastern deer populations that have an unbalanced sex ratio and only young bucks may suffer from a longer and later breeding season, resulting in late fawning and stunted yearling antler development. The benefits of this are twofold-more bucks alive within the population and more older bucks. The first step in improving buck age structure involves protecting young bucks from harvest. Shifting buck age structure from mostly yearling bucks to a mix of all ages has significant biological benefits to the deer population and improves the overall quality of the hunting experience. Although all are important to an effective management program, age structure management is often considered the most important. They require hunters to harvest or not harvest the types of animals needed to fulfill management goals.ĭeer management involves manipulating several deer population parameters, including density, sex ratio, and buck age structure. Antler restrictions are just a specialized type of selective-harvest criteria-tools to fulfill management objectives. ![]() If your goal is maximizing antler size of harvested bucks, you must have an older buck age structure.Īntler restrictions are commonly used to increase buck age structure by targeting only bucks with antlers that meet certain criteria. The term “age structure” is used to define the relative numbers of younger and older bucks in a population. ![]() Because older bucks typically have larger antlers than younger bucks, a population of older bucks is needed to increase the antler size of harvested bucks. Of these, managing for buck age structure may have the greatest impact. Habitat management, food plots, adequate doe harvests, and increasing buck age structure are commonly prescribed in deer management programs to accomplish this goal. Interest in managing white-tailed deer has never been greater! A common goal of many deer hunters is maximizing antler development of the bucks they manage and hunt.
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