yea - we don't lose across the fence - but oddly i feel like we lose an older trophy buck every other year to injury or death from the rut.

slammerag said:

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Aggie_2463 said:

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The hardest part for managing a herd is getting trophies to age - we shoot for 7.5, but lost two 150" 6.5 year olds last year to neighbors we passed.

13k acres and still neighbors can be a pain

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Out of curiosity, how do you age 6.5 vs 7.5? At some point they look the same.

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We had been watching these for a couple years. Nobody ever really really knows. Even when they check teeth or send it to AM, nobody ever truelly knows age h less they tagged them when born. We use our best guesstimate after hunting for 30+ years.

JeremiahJohnson said:

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Was having this discussion with my dad today. He's killed every trophy in North America, including some monster white tail. He's of the boat that a 3.5 year old 8 will always be an 8. I am not so sure either way.

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I've got a 4 year old 9 point this year that was an 8 last year. So I would not pull the trigger based on "not going to get better"

But a mature 8 point is probably my favorite buck anyway.

You can't really manage for genetics on low fence. Let them get some age on them, shoot the ones that make you happy.

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managing and culling deer on a high fence place is doable (assuming lower than 1000 acres), low fence not so much. Would anyone argue otherwise?

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I would, because it has been proven that it isn't doable to any meaningful degree. You can cull to control numbers. You couldn't change herd genetics to favor larger antlers in a lifetime. Low fence, high fence, big place, small place. Doesn't matter. You'll run out of deer before you get it done.
Why?
*Because you can only control for antler size for 1/2 the population.
*Because bucks can breed at 1-1/2 years old.... before you would ever consider them old enough to cull.

You want to grow bucks with larger antlers: manage habitat, feed protein & keep the numbers in line with carrying capacity.