How to Produce and Harvest Your Own Trophy Bucks with Dr. Keith Causey
How to Identify and Protect Younger-Age-Class Bucks and Control Population
 Editor's Note: Dr. Keith Causey, a retired professor of wildlife science at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, has studied the habits and haunts of the whitetail deer for more than 40 years. Causey has used radio telemetry and penned-deer studies to gather much of his research on white-tailed deer. Causey, one of the nation's leading deer researchers and an avid bowhunter, tells  us how to produce more quality deer on the lands you hunt and/or own how to hunt those whitetails more effectively.
Hunters always ask me how they can tell a buck is 3-years old or more. Many hunters assume the number of points a deer has or the spread of his antlers denote the buck's age. Though this sometimes is true, there is no certainty that any deer 8 points or better or with a 16- or an 18-inch spread will be a2- or a 3-year-old buck anywhere you find it. To know what a 3-year-old buck's antlers look like, contact the state wildlife biologist responsible for the deer in the area you hunt, ask the biologist to meet with you and the other hunters and landowners participating in the quality-deer-management program, and ask him to show you antlers from different age  classes of bucks in the region you hunt. Once your group begins to study the size of these antlers, you more easily can determine the size of antlers to look for if you want to harvest bucks only 3-years old and older. Often you'll be surprised at the size of a 3-year-old buck's antlers.
In most sections of the country, hunters primarily harvest 1-1/2- to 2-year-old bucks. These hunters never realize or see the quality and size of deer they can produce if they protect their bucks until they’re 3-years old or older. Sometimes I make antler charts to help hunters recognize the ages of deer on their properties from the animals' antlers.
To produce fine bucks, you also must control the population of the deer on the land you hunt. In many sections of the country, if you plan to build up the buck population, you have to remove a certain number of unantlered deer. Because the land only will yield enough food for a certain number of deer as the population grows, to build up a large buck population, you must have the ability to remove a number of does each year. The state wildlife specialist in the region you hunt can make harvest recommendations to help you expand the buck population while maintaining or reducing the number of unantlered deer on your land.
Tomorrow: Avoid Excessive Hunting Pressure, and Improve Food Quality |
