To Cull or not to Cull?

[sticknstringarchery]

First question, Do YOU cull bucks or no, why or why not?

I missed the buck below 4 weeks ago. It was the only shot I have taken all season. If he gives me a chance I will take him. I won't make the same mistakes I made the first time. After all it was my first shot with a bow on a real deer. I haven't seen him on camera or in person since and thought I scared him off. As far as I know he never knew I was there. He didn't take off running just kind of trotted off out of sight. He is now back and in my food plot. I have this camera set up on an angle where the food plot isn't in it but, it is growing nicely.

After missing him I figured it was a good thing because I know he is a young guy. There are some pretty good sized bucks running around here and I am torn as to whether or not to "CULL" bucks in the future. A guy about 2 miles away just killed a 3 year old 13 point with an inside spread of just over 24".

If this one ends up being my first arrowed deer I will be estatic. Heck any deer I will be but, for the future I want some opinions. I am in this for the long haul and I want to be able to score big later. If that means culling bucks and letting nice big racked young ones walk to do it thats what I will do. I am interesting in managing my small acreage as best I can so I am trying to come up with a plan as to what all I need to do in the future.

[muddy]

I don't because I don't own my own land. I don't really believe in culling young deer because you don't truely know what a buck will do until they're 4 or 5 years old anyway. Even a spike can blow up. My buddy had matching sheds off a 125-130 inch 3.5 year old 8 pointer last year and they thought about culling him. That same buck put on 70 INCHES this summer and they shot him and he scored 189 and change. You never know what bucks will do.

[dan]

All small bucks become big bucks eventually... Killing them cause they are inferior is in my opinion actually an excuse to kill them. Yes managment can be done. But right now while your new to hunting and managing the best thing you can to get better results is let all the bucks grow up... Culling inferior racks is for people seaking record breaking bucks... In my book any mature buck is awesome no matter what shape the rack is.
However, if you have never killed a buck before, I would recommend just having some fun and killing a couple before worrying about managment.

[bowhunter15]

Even a spike can blow up. My buddy had matching sheds off a 125-130 inch 3.5 year old 8 pointer last year and they thought about culling him. That same buck put on 70 INCHES this summer and they shot him and he scored 189 and change. You never know what bucks will do.

They did a study in some fenced in Texas area where they kept tabs on the antler growth of a bunch of young deer for the first few years of their lives. They found that the spikes on average had just as good of antler development at the bucks that were fork horns and little sixes their first year. So I'd have to agree with Muddy. The only way I could possibly see it actually working is if you have hundreds of acres all to yourself. Then you get a bunch of guys who wouldn't mind shooting an "inferior" 3.5 year old. Any younger than that and its hard to tell what the bucks potential could really be (but as Muddy said, you can still have those 3.5's that still blow up). Then the "mature shooter bucks" would be allowed to live until they're 5.5 to 6.5 to get those extra years of spreading good genes before they're shot. At least, that's how I assume they do it at the places where it's done.

But seriously, there's a TON of variables that are most likely out of your control unless you have tabs on all the deer in a large radius (because remember they travel quite a bit during the rut spreading their genes around) and can either control their harvest or have several conjoining landowners who are in constant agreement. Then if you decided to cull a buck, well, there goes your tag. Unless you can get someone else who wants to shoot it like I said. Seems like this is the way a lot of TV "management" hunts go.

If the above conditions sound like something you could do, and you want to, you could, but I'm guessing that's not at all the case here. That buck you have a picture of looks quite young, probably his first real rack, and you have absolutely no way of telling whether or not he will grow up to be a booner at this point. Like Dan said,

right now while your new to hunting and managing the best thing you can to get better results is let all the bucks grow up... However, if you have never killed a buck before, I would recommend just having some fun and killing a couple before worrying about managment.

. That's what I would do if I were you.

[sticknstringarchery]

So I take it killing a couple of these younger smaller guys when given the chance isn't going to hurt anything then?

I am focussing more on food plots and habbitat improvements before I really get into trying to manage the herd so to speak. I know there is at least 200 acres I sort of have a say in due to me and my brother hunting my land and no one else hunting the other that is owned by the family. The rest is leased to a cow breader and just to keep everyone happy we leave the cow areas alone. There is another 400 +/- acres behind ours and one of the guys that hunts it has said they let the young ones walk. So does the guy beside us that has around 100 acres. I am not even sure 500acres is enough to really manage with culling if culling does even work.

[rudy78]

The best form of managent is passing little bucks, that will pay huge dividends especially if those around you are doing it. There is no way to cull a buck less then 4.5 in the wild with harldly any sort of success, 95% of the time it's guys justifying shooting a smaller/younger buck then they hoping for. Iwish they would just say that is what they are doing instead of making themselves sound good by saying they culled. To me the only successful culling is with killing an older deer with smaller antlers in hopes another mature buck will move into the area but that is hardly culling it's killing a mature buck.

[ Post made via Palm ]

[GRFox]

I would almost go as ffar as saying that culling was something that was done before we knew he science behind genetics. I don't think it would be a good isea to "cull" anything that isn't at least 3.5 with an inferior or jackked up rack.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Scot]

I am in agreement with most of the folks here. Culling is not some thing that is realistic in a Free Range fair chase circumstance. You do not know what the genetic potential of a buck will be until it is 4.5 years old or older. Personally I have no experience with seeing an abundance of older age class bucks. Where I live if a buck gets to the age of 3.5 it is an old timer.
With how you have described your circumstances it sounds as if you have a pretty decent piece of property that isn't heavily hunted and your neighboring property owners are selective. Those things should contribute to there being a lot of potential for the bucks there to get some age on them.
I also agree with what others have said in that as a new bowhunter you want to walk before you run. You need to become comfortable with all aspects of taking deer with archery equipment. There is only one way to do that and that is to take deer. If you have doe tags and you have an abundance of does on your property I would be filling those doe tags with your bow. If you want to take your pictured buck take him. You hunt for your own enjoyment and satisfaction not to prove any thing to anyone else or to abide by their standards.
Good luck to you!

[Brad]

I agree with what was said above, unless you have a ton of acreage (1000's of acres) culling wont do much if any good, and certainly not until you know what they will be. I hate when someone shoots a deer and then says it was too take him out of the herd, thats an excuse. If someone shot one that was smaller ect, just say it and I will be happy for whoever shot it. I also agree with what was said above regarding what you shoot. The first deer you kill with a bow is the hardest, because up until you do, you dont know that you can. If that buck comes by smoke him! I started bowhunting when I was 12, I killed my first deer with a bow when I was 17 and he was a 5 pointer on public land. When I killed him I would just walk in the woods at random and set up a stand, so I saw very few deer, and had even fewer anywhere near range. It took me up until last year before it got easier to pass up a 1.5 year old deer with a bow. Now I have raised my bar to 2.5 or bigger and once I get a few more of them then will raise the bar to 3.5 or better. Bowhunting is a personal sport, you have to do what makes you happy, and if that means shooting a spike whack him and be proud of him. You have to build a foundation to get to the next level, you don't go from 1st grade math to algebra without learning the basics and that is the same for hunting. 1.5 year old deer are relatively common as you get better hunting with a bow, but until the point comes when you can figure out how they work and live their lives, it will be darn near impossible to go to the next step (2.5 or bigger) without a ton of disappointment and frustration, and you need that feeling of accomplishment. Whenever I get down with hunting, I look at the ones I have shot and say to myself you know what, it can be done because it has been done!

[Bucky]

Agree with others... You can't tell what a buck will be until at least 4yrs of age... Sometimes they can blow up at 5 or 6 as well... No way 2 tell at 1.5yrs of age. As far as managing, 500 acres is really the very min u need, I know of properties free range that are 2K+ acres and managing free range animals is difficult because they definitely leave the property a fair amount. The best management u can do is pass the young deer and hope + improve your properties bedding and food situation. If you don't have a water source you will need one 2 keep more animals calling your place home.

[ Post made via iPad ]

[sticknstringarchery]

Agree with others... You can't tell what a buck will be until at least 4yrs of age... Sometimes they can blow up at 5 or 6 as well... No way 2 tell at 1.5yrs of age. As far as managing, 500 acres is really the very min u need, I know of properties free range that are 2K+ acres and managing free range animals is difficult because they definitely leave the property a fair amount. The best management u can do is pass the young deer and hope + improve your properties bedding and food situation. If you don't have a water source you will need one 2 keep more animals calling your place home.

[ Post made via iPad ]

I am working on habbitat now. It was the first thing I started looking into. I wasn't sure if "culling" was as stated above, just an excuse or if it was something that really made a difference. I deffinately didn't know you couldn't tell what a buck would be before 4. If that is the case we have some that will be huge if they make it that far or they look like they will to me anyways.

I have two nice water sources on my property. One is a natural spring that i dug a watering hole in with a back hoe this past spring. It runs right down the middle of my property. I have started with a little over 3/4acre of food plots this year and next year plan on expanding that to around 4 acres.

Is there a ratio of acreage of food plots to acres of land?

Does anyone know what I need to do to creat more bedding?

[NightwishMike]

I have two nice water sources on my property. One is a natural spring that i dug a watering hole in with a back CENSORED FOR BAD LANGUAGE this past spring. It runs right down the middle of my property. I have started with a little over 3/4acre of food plots this year and next year plan on expanding that to around 4 acres.

Sorry for off topic post but this made me laugh right out loud.

[sticknstringarchery]

I have two nice water sources on my property. One is a natural spring that i dug a watering hole in with a back CENSORED FOR BAD LANGUAGE this past spring. It runs right down the middle of my property. I have started with a little over 3/4acre of food plots this year and next year plan on expanding that to around 4 acres.

Sorry for off topic post but this made me laugh right out loud.

I just noticed this. I guess I need to type it backh*e from now on. Geez!!!

[NightwishMike]

[Bucky]

www.outreachoutdoors.com + QDMA forums are a good start

What type of ground do you have tillable/timber. High ground or low... it all depends. What do the neighbors have? Water and bedding cover to me are the most important ingredients to keeping deer on your property during shooting hrs....