Texas Hunting Forum

Proper deer ratio on land?

Posted By: WestTexasGolfer

Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/20/16 06:42 PM

Say you have 50 acres or 100 acres whatever is easier to figure... What is the proper doe to buck ratio per acre if you have unlimited source of food???
Posted By: Mr. T.

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/20/16 06:46 PM

1 to 1 is perfect. 1 to 1&1/2 is great. With unlimited food and water. So on a hundred acres of great property, I would say 7 bucks and 7 does. Others feel free to jump in and prove me wrong.
popcorn
Posted By: redchevy

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/20/16 06:53 PM

I would think ratios wouldn't matter much on land size. On smaller acreage you can run a higher buck ratio to give more buck options and only keep the number of does needed for replacement. What you trying to do?
Posted By: JJH

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/20/16 07:02 PM

On that size property you cant control the ratio unless it's high fenced.
Posted By: Txhuntr2

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/20/16 07:25 PM

The "proper" ratio depends on your goals. Specifically, whether you are managing for trophy bucks or quantity of bucks. There are also more factors in the equation. TPWD has some good articles on deer herd management that are specific to the various ecoregions of Texas. That would be a good place for you to start your research if you are interested in a deep dive into the subject of whitetail management.
Posted By: stxranchman

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/20/16 08:46 PM

If I had unlimited food resources then I would run 3 bucks per doe or the keep the amount of does needed to supply you with enough buck fawns. Less work killing does. Then it will depend on what your habitat will take or how deep your pockets are as far as density.
Posted By: Texas Dan

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/20/16 09:54 PM

Originally Posted By: Mr. T.
1 to 1 is perfect. 1 to 1&1/2 is great. With unlimited food and water. So on a hundred acres of great property, I would say 7 bucks and 7 does. Others feel free to jump in and prove me wrong.
popcorn


I would go with a number closer to ten.

What many people often overlook is that deer have a built-in dispersal mechanism that helps limit inbreeding. Simply put, deer want their "space" as much as we do, which means you will not dramatically increase deer numbers by throwing up more feeders. Supplemental feeding impacts quality more than it does quantity.
Posted By: Deerhunter61

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/20/16 11:11 PM

Originally Posted By: JJH
On that size property you cant control the ratio unless it's high fenced.


Yep
Posted By: stxranchman

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/21/16 01:17 AM

Originally Posted By: Texas Dan
Originally Posted By: Mr. T.
1 to 1 is perfect. 1 to 1&1/2 is great. With unlimited food and water. So on a hundred acres of great property, I would say 7 bucks and 7 does. Others feel free to jump in and prove me wrong.
popcorn


I would go with a number closer to ten.

What many people often overlook is that deer have a built-in dispersal mechanism that helps limit inbreeding. Simply put, deer want their "space" as much as we do, which means you will not dramatically increase deer numbers by throwing up more feeders. Supplemental feeding impacts quality more than it does quantity.

loco If he has deep enough pockets he can have tails sticking out of the HF fence on all sides giving him quality and quantity.
Posted By: WestTexasGolfer

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/21/16 03:20 AM

Originally Posted By: stxranchman
Originally Posted By: Texas Dan
Originally Posted By: Mr. T.
1 to 1 is perfect. 1 to 1&1/2 is great. With unlimited food and water. So on a hundred acres of great property, I would say 7 bucks and 7 does. Others feel free to jump in and prove me wrong.
popcorn


I would go with a number closer to ten.

What many people often overlook is that deer have a built-in dispersal mechanism that helps limit inbreeding. Simply put, deer want their "space" as much as we do, which means you will not dramatically increase deer numbers by throwing up more feeders. Supplemental feeding impacts quality more than it does quantity.

loco If he has deep enough pockets he can have tails sticking out of the HF fence on all sides giving him quality and quantity.


This is what we are looking to do pack them in and go with it. violin
Posted By: Mr. T.

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/21/16 12:21 PM

Originally Posted By: WestTexasGolfer
Originally Posted By: stxranchman
Originally Posted By: Texas Dan
Originally Posted By: Mr. T.
1 to 1 is perfect. 1 to 1&1/2 is great. With unlimited food and water. So on a hundred acres of great property, I would say 7 bucks and 7 does. Others feel free to jump in and prove me wrong.
popcorn


I would go with a number closer to ten.

What many people often overlook is that deer have a built-in dispersal mechanism that helps limit inbreeding. Simply put, deer want their "space" as much as we do, which means you will not dramatically increase deer numbers by throwing up more feeders. Supplemental feeding impacts quality more than it does quantity.

loco If he has deep enough pockets he can have tails sticking out of the HF fence on all sides giving him quality and quantity.


This is what we are looking to do pack them in and go with it. violin


Ohm my quote was for low fence land. High fence, 100 acres can easily handle 100 bucks and 100 does.
Posted By: redchevy

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/21/16 12:34 PM

Originally Posted By: WestTexasGolfer

This is what we are looking to do pack them in and go with it. violin


Go where with it?
Posted By: titan2232

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/21/16 12:38 PM

I can't speak for everyone on my lease, but my feed pen indicated a 5 buck to 1 doe ratio last year from almost a 20K picture count. What's the possibility of this ratio throughout a 3200 acre low fence place?
Posted By: Mr. T.

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/21/16 01:51 PM

The possibility of that is not good, however if it is you have the best place in the world to rattle bucks in. I have been on a place that had a 2 buck to 1 doe ratio before. So, I guess anything is possible, but a 5 to 1 seems out of balance to me.
Posted By: J McCoy

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/21/16 09:31 PM

Yall are doing better than me, I have a 6 doe to 1 buck ratio....
Posted By: krmitchell

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/21/16 09:35 PM

Originally Posted By: J McCoy
Yall are doing better than me, I have a 6 doe to 1 buck ratio....


I was thinking the same, last survey said 4 doe to 1 buck. Recommendation was to start hammering the does this year.
Posted By: J McCoy

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/21/16 09:41 PM

That's all I hammer, every year.... AR County.
Posted By: don k

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/21/16 11:07 PM

I have about a 1.5 to 1 ratio. The main reason is that I do not want many deer competing with my Ibex.
Posted By: Erathkid

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/22/16 12:49 AM

Originally Posted By: titan2232
I can't speak for everyone on my lease, but my feed pen indicated a 5 buck to 1 doe ratio last year from almost a 20K picture count. What's the possibility of this ratio throughout a 3200 acre low fence place?
That's about what we have. Sounds unbelievable, but its true. Problem is, as soon as the rut kicks in, they leave. You really have to hunt hard until Thanksgiving. After that, all bets are off.
Posted By: Hunter3007

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/23/16 11:35 PM

What you guys think the ratio needs to be on a 2600 acre . Last survey we counted 120 does and 26 bucks by helicopter
Posted By: Hunter3007

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/23/16 11:36 PM

What do i need to start doing started protein this past feb for the first time
Posted By: stxranchman

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/24/16 12:07 AM

Originally Posted By: Hunter3007
What you guys think the ratio needs to be on a 2600 acre . Last survey we counted 120 does and 26 bucks by helicopter

What area/county in the state? I would run TC's to get an actual hard number count on bucks. Then do incidental blind counts to back up the ratio. Actual buck numbers ratio in to doe numbers will give you a better total deer number. Does your doe numbers indicate does only or just a total number of antlerless deer? If not then what is your fawn crop %? Depending on terrain and canopy IME I would not put any trust in a helicopter count for actual numbers. I would value it year to year for trend data though. For 3 yrs in a row we killed more bucks/does than I saw on the helicopter counts on a fairly large ranch in South Texas. As far as ratio I would shoot for a 1:1 buck to doe and anything under 1:2 buck to doe would be good.
Originally Posted By: Hunter3007
What do i need to start doing started protein this past feb for the first time

I would get with my TPWD biologist to get CC for that ranch area. Then find out if there is any past harvest data available. I would get his input on what to do as far as harvest for this year. I would also get him to evaluate your habitat.
Posted By: Hunter3007

Re: Proper deer ratio on land? - 09/24/16 12:22 AM

Thanks for the info im in webb co
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