No such thing as a cull buck.

Greg

Old Mossy Horns
This ^ ... I have read similar studies.

... but some folks just can't STAND to let a buck grow up ... somebody ELSE might shoot him!
 

badlandbucks

Ten Pointer
This ^ ... I have read similar studies.

... but some folks just can't STAND to let a buck grow up ... somebody ELSE might shoot him!

I heard a wise man say once that if you shoot a buck because you are afraid if you don't your neighbor will...you are the neighbor.
 

Ldsoldier

Old Mossy Horns
This theory was actually disproven by the MSU study. Over a 10 year span, they studied a herd of deer with wild genetics in a controlled environment. they caught wild pregnant does and released them in an enclosure. All deer were given the same amount of food throughout the study. In year two, the buck fawns that had spike antlers were the ones born latest (mothers bred later). When all the bucks were 2 years old, the ones who had been spikes were within a few inches of the other 2 year olds, and by the time they were 3, there was no distinguishable difference. They also conducted a separate study monitoring captured deer from regions with poor food quality vs regions with agriculture. The deer from poor food regions were in fact stunted across the board compared to the deer that had access to better food. But what was interesting is that after capturing, all deer were again given the same quality food, and although the parent stock from the poor nutritional area remained stunted, the second and third generations antler and body size caught up to the deer from the agricultural region. They determined that the two largest factors that contribute to inferior antlers are poor sex ratio, resulting in delayed births of many fawns, and inadequate nutrition. Deer, especially in the south, generally have better genetics than they ever realize due to those two factors. An "old" spike has most likely been undernourished his entire life.

I'll have to look at the study, then.
 
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