Public land antler growth

[oldrank]

I have noticed for years now that the 1.5 yr old bucks on the public land I hunt are generally very small spike style antlers. Some may have a couple odd points here n there but usually r less then 20 inches of bone. The 2.5 yr olds are small basket 6 or 8 pts. The same class of deer on neighboring private will b substantially larger in body and rack size. Do u guys think the constant stress of human intrusion could impact the size of our deer? Another theory I heard talking to another hunter in the area is due to our liberal doe permits alot of public land adult does r killed so alot of our breeding is done by fawns in Dec n Jan.. this produces late fawns born to young deer and sets our growth back. Any opinions on this?

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[phade]

Much of yearling and 1.5 y/o racks can be attributed to birth date.

[cbniner]

Plus genetics can be different only a couple miles away, for example in Kansas certain properties are loaded with split brow bucks while the neighboring properties is loaded with giant bodied bully 8 pointers

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[Peeps22]

The way i see it, most of the public land i hunt the deer use both public and private land. The public isnt big enough to just hold deer there without them ever moving through or across private land. And even the private land gets hunted and pressured just as hard as public around where i hunt. So i guess in my case i dont think public or private land would limit the overall body and rack size of a deer just because of pressure and harassment.

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[stash59]

Some of it could be genitics.

Another thought is that the public is less desirable to the deer in general. So the smaller weaker subdominant deer are forced to live there. Just my own theory.

It's more than likely a combination of many factors.

[PK_]

The better looking young bucks on public are the first to go down, those same deer on private are generally protected.

I bet there are a lot of variables. Plus public woods are generally pretty empty of humans during major antler growth.

Interesting topic though.

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[Hawthorne]

Maybe better food on the private. I hunt an area where its all ag land , fence rows , and small woodlots. I hunt another area 4 miles down the road thats all timber and river bottom with very little ag. I see a difference in body and rack size between the two areas. The ag area has bigger bodied and bigger racked deer for the same age. The river bottom heavy timbered area has a bigger population of deer. Just 4 miles i see a difference.

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[oldrank]

Some of it could be genitics.

Another thought is that the public is less desirable to the deer in general. So the smaller weaker subdominant deer are forced to live there. Just my own theory.

It's more than likely a combination of many factors.

I have also thought it could b the dominant vs submissive factor.

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[whitetailassasin]

I see a lot of deer born late here. And those usually end up being spikes and small wraps that may have 3 or 4pts. But a good crop of bucks still are born 1.5 yr old with 6-8pt racks just many people confuse them as 2.5 yr olds because they see the rack and don't examine the body structure. A lot I look at when I judge a age. Body size, mass, nose, belly, how it behaves, the list goes on. And in most cases guys want to judge rack size as age. I've had a few bucks aged in Michigan with 13-15 in spreads and dressed 165-170 that were 1.5 yr old bucks that I was thinking we're 2.5s based off having basket racks. In my area private land bucks and public bucks travel back and forth so I don't see a distinct difference there. I once read an article saying shoot all spikes for they will always be spikes, then I read an article that said a spike will surpass racked bucks after mature ages and be bigger. I say if your 3.5 and older in my neck of the woods your on my hit list.

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