We've added Triple T does in the past. This year we want to do it again and add about 20 doe. My question is where to get them from. Our GB told us to leg us know where we want to egg them from, so my partner told me to look into it.

So, some of y'all in the know, where would you recommend I egg them from? We want them from a good ranch, but being budget minded, price matters. I know price can vary. Where would recommend?

Thanks

TTT deer should not be bought or sold. You should only pay for the cost of catching, transporting and releasing them only. If I were going to get deer I would look at several factors. 1st would be how the long the ranch I am looking to get deer from has been managed. I don't want deer from a ranch that is just taking off numbers to get under CC. I do not want doe from a ranch that is just starting to manage. I do not want all older does or all doe fawns either. 2nd would be how does your habitat compare to their habitat. Moving deer into new habitat is stressful. They need food, water and bedding cover similar to where they came from. 3rd reason ties into the first two and that is does your ranch and their ranch supplemental feed/do food plots. You don't want to move deer from a South Texas habitat into the Hill Country if both ranches do not do the same supplementing. Moving deer from one habitat to another without supplemental feed will end with results you do not like. 4th will be how many doe are already on your ranch that are native to that ranch? Moving 20 doe onto a ranch where they will not be the majority of the new genetics is not going to do what you want long term. It will be a short term boost with those genetics then be filter back out over time. You need to impact the genetics with the new deer long term. 5th thing I would want to know is what your management plan and goals are. 6th thing I would look at from the ranch the doe are coming from is what the bucks look like today and in the past on that ranch. 7th thing I would want is to know who is catching and moving the deer. I would want to know what there success rate is on moving deer and how long they have been moving deer. Also are they reputable. 8th thing I would look at would be is there room for these new deer on your place. You are not moving just 20 doe but potentially 60 deer total if all 20 doe have twin fawns. Plan for numbers. Stressing your habitat and ranch with numbers is not what I want. Last thing to remember is that the doe are not near as important as the fawns they carry inside them. Those fawns are your future. They will now be "native" deer to your ranch when they are born. They will be the deer you can impact your ranch herd with. They will be the deer you can manage the way you want to and shape the herd on your ranch. Have a plan in place to manage numbers on your ranch so that you do not have to kill these does or their offspring for a couple of years. Manage your predators now. They will impact your success rate also. I would consider myself lucky if you are going to be able to move in deer a second time in those kind of numbers. Usually does not happen that way. I would make some calls to talk to several people who TTT deer and get feedback from ranches they have worked with.

Great information again, stx, thank you.

Under the guidance of our GB, we took out about 40-50% of our population last year ( you'll be happy to know that all spikes got hammered). And this year we are going to be hammering does in prep for the triple t's.

Last year we took a better mindset and are much more management conscience now.

One of the problems is that I don't know where to get that information from. Is there a list of participating ranches somewhere where I can start doing some homework?

We're east of Freer on 44 in sandy soil with heavy brush coverage, so that is good advice to stay away from hill country raised deer, or similar differences. I hadn't given that too much credence, thinking that acclimation would come naturally and much easier in the past. It just wasn't a criteria of mine.

Do you have any recommendations or people I should look into? Feel free to pm me anything.

Where can I get information on participating ranches so I can look into them?

A lot of the better well known ranches in south Texas are TTT does each year. If there is a ranch that you would like deer from, try to look up the ranches website or google the ranches contact information and give them a call. I've gotten quotes from some of the more "famous" ranches and prices where anywhere from $800-$1,500 per doe.

Might check out these guys. We did a video for RR Game Ranch, and they have a top notch operation, and are really focused on having the best does.

Check out the 2nd video. First video is just about the hunting, 2nd video is about their breeder operation

http://www.1023media.com/rr-game-ranch-texas-deer-hunt/ RR Game Ranch

Thank you. This is probably my best avenue.