A friend sent me these pictures taken the end of December? Why are these deer so skinny? Yes I know they are culls.

The rut can take a lot out of a buck especially if there are lower numbers of does and the bucks are having to work extra hard to find receptive does. There are a lot of things it could be causing them to look thin. Available browse, quality of available browse...……..
I typically keep my feeders full and running until at least April just to give the deer something extra to eat when the harder months of February and March hit.

Rut. Generally the winter period and late summer depending on rainfall are the 2 worst times of the year for deer.

Like others the rut. Some look fine, some get thin, and some run till they die. Our deer for whatever reason lost what looks like an above average amount of weight during the rut. We have feed/water out, oats in the ground several inches tall and good forbe growth, but the last buck we shot still didn't have an ounce of fat on his whole body. They are definitely paying feeders more mind these last few weeks.

Looks like some hard country for deer to make a living. Combine that with the rut, boom, bucks in poor condition.

He says contrast this cull taken during the same time period.

Looks like maybe taking out some of the less desirable animals might also give the others more to eat.

It might make sense to do a deer survey to see how many deer are in the area and do a carrying capacity analysis? It might be you have to many deer for what the land and supplemental feeding can stand. Did a surrounding neighbor/s quit feeding deer on their ranch?

Like the others have said Rut and winter are tough on deer and a lot deopends on range conditions and buck to doe ratio. This last year pic is not a fare comparison this one has his hair standing on end, with the hair down slick he would look about the same as the first pictures

Post of picture of this same buck not posturing with his hair fluffed up to appear larger or more dominant to other bucks. IMO even in this photo he is not in very good shape for the time of the year.

Here is the same buck from Sept 18 and from last week. I had 35" of rain from late June till end of the year and it is still rain some every week. Free choice protein year round for the last 6 yrs and corn feeders along with road corn daily. I had oats planted that is ahead of the deer. Two huge mast crops of persimmons and acorns also. Throw in all the winter weeds and he still lost weight. All bucks loose some weight during the rut, some loose a lot.

Feed them some protein along with that corn.

Thanks for the info. He didn’t realize bucks that inferior would have a chance at does.

FWIW....he says only one doe was seen at this feeder Dec 17 - Jan 27.

+1

Pretty much bucks chase around all during the fall for the chance to breed one or two doe. Most wont breed more than that. The dominant bucks tend to breed the same as the non-dominant bucks, of course this is in areas with good ratios.

In doe heavy areas those
Numbers are way off .

Our mature deer on average drop about 30 lbs. from November 1st to December 15th. 150-160lbs to 120-130lbs.
West Texas south of San Angelo. They can look a lot younger age wise too.

It is not unusual for any buck to drop 20% + or - of his live body weight in late Sept to Oct during the rut. Some bucks just do not eat much at all during the rut and others will eat a little more. The worse the year the less weight they have to start the rut also and then it takes them longer to recoop that lost weight. 30 days post rut is the most critical times for bucks to start that recovery. Also you will have doe fawns that are heavy enough to cycle and breed, so bucks in many areas are still going to be rutting into Feb.

Post rut and those look like mesquites and dead grass behind them

They ain’t ate much and ain’t got much to eat!

There is 5 acres of wheat planted behind the camera.

I've been bummed that I can reload protein feeders over the last 3 weeks cause my place is so wet. Protein now until spring is so critical for bucks coming off rut and does with babies. It is critical to having a healthy herd even on a small place. Headed out Wednesday finally to fill that 1K up.

Winter deer, dawg. They live outside, not in your fridge.

Our oats and wheat are getting hammered right now. Our bucks look a little lean also. Normal after the rut.