Buck Manager | Buck Manager

Hunter Tags Two Locked Bucks

The white-tailed deer hunting season may be in the recent past for most of us, but hopefully we all have the memories and some good eating to help us make it through until next season’s opener. Until then, it’s time to focus on habitat management and wishful thinking that this spring and summer will be a wet one. Almost as much as the deer hunting itself, the one thing that I will really miss about deer season is hanging out at camp discussing deer management and trading hunting stories from past trips.

It seems ironic to many non-hunters that hunters really do respect the animals that they pursue and kill. The same can be said of deer hunters across the whitetail’s range. Deer hunters relish the opportunity to tag just a single buck each year, but some lucky hunters manage to tag a couple of bucks each fall. This was the case for Illinois’ Phillip McGowan. While out deer hunting this past hunting season he never expected to stumble into two bucks, especially two bucks locked together. Here is his story: Continue reading “Hunter Tags Two Locked Bucks”

Managing White-tailed Bucks by Age Class

Selective harvest is an important part of white-tailed deer management. This is equally true for both the buck and doe segments of a deer population, but many hunters become obsessed with trying to determine which bucks to shoot or not shoot. Buck harvest is part of the equation, but how should the deer on your property be managed, hunted?

For regular visitors to this site, you know that I have covered shooting deer and harvest management in the past, but this time I really want to stress the importance of not stressing out over the harvest aspect of a deer management program. Selective harvest is not something that can be perfectly implemented on a property, but rather a strategy to remove less desirable animals in an attempt improve the deer herd, whether that simply be nutritionally or possibly even genetically.

Whitetail Buck Management

The most controversial issue on any hunting property typically involves around what is and is not a cull or management buck. There is no stock answer to this debate because the quality of a cull buck will vary from property to another. It could be said that one deer hunter’s “trash” is another hunters treasure.

We have all seen bucks with obviously inferior antlers that have been shot as culls, but I bet you have also seen some really good looking bucks on the web, in magazines, and on television that were harvested by someone and referred to as cull deer. So what’s the deal?

Managing Bucks by Age

I mentioned earlier that the quality of “cull deer” will vary from property to property, but the most important consideration to keep in mind when thinking about cull deer is that the quality of bucks will vary within each age class (cohort) on a particular property.

Grade bucks of the same age on a comparative basis and the manager/hunter will be comparing apples to apples. This is the easiest way to determine what may or may not be a cull buck on a piece of property — bucks of the same age must be judged head-to-head against one another to determine which has desired (or at least more desired) antler characteristics and which one will end up in the sausage. Hey, we all gotta eat!

An Example of Whitetail Buck Management

Believe it or not, there are some properties under intensive deer management that consider a yearling (1 1/2 years old) buck with 5 or less antler points a cull buck. This does not mean every property owner or guy trying to manage his deer hunting lease should hammer every deer with less than 5 points.

It would be grossly oversimplified (and a bad idea) to say everyone should do the same thing on their hunting property. This just would not be the case. There are just too many variables for a one-size-fits-all deer management approach for every property.

Spike Buck Management

Let’s discuss spike bucks for a minute. Now, this is a can of worms that hunters and even researchers have been actively discussing for decades, so I am not going to try to change anyone’s thoughts on the subject in this article. But, using the spike buck as an example, I just want to throw out an example of culling bucks by age class.

Let’s first assume that we need to harvest some number of bucks and that I am trying to improve the overall end-quality of bucks on a property. If two yearling spikes walk out and one has 3 inch antlers and the other has 10 inch antlers, I will shoot the one with shorter tines and leave the better buck of the same age every time. Why?

Because my goal when culling is to remove the most undesirable bucks. The 10 inch spike grew over 3 times as much antler as his same-aged friend.

Selective Harvest for Better, Mature Bucks

Although selective genetic manipulation through buck harvest is an important component of any whitetail deer management program, it is not the only component. Keep in mind that better deer habitat means better bucks at every age class. Overall, providing quality deer habitat is the best type of whitetail buck management.

A key to producing good deer on your hunting property may be to remove the very low-end bucks and then allow the rest to get some age on them. This strategy is best applied in areas where deer are at or have exceeded the carrying capacity of the property. If the deer density is low, below the carrying capacity, then it probably does not make sense to cull bucks since there are not many deer to spare. In this case, you will likely want to let each and every buck walk in hopes that it can grow older and eventually become a target for harvest.

The final key to buck management is to manage harvest. Harvest mature bucks and then cull by age class (if warranted) so that you remove no more than 20% of the total number of bucks in the area each year, and then provide the best deer habitat that you can so that all deer on your property remain healthy and bucks reach their full genetic potential.

New Nebraska State Record Typical Buck?

The state of Nebraska is known for some big-bodied, big-antler bucks, but nobody, not even deer hunter Kevin Petrzilka, was expecting to bag a potential Nebraska state buck just outside of the town of Loma in Butler County, Nebraska. However, that’s exactly what he did on his last hunt.

And if the measurements hold up the big buck looks to rank at least number 6 on the Boone and Crockett Club’s all-time list of whitetails with typical antlers taken by a firearm. To say this 17 point whitetail buck is big would be a serious understatement of an animal of remarkable proportions.

Kevin Petrzilka - Potential Nebraska State Record Typical Whitetail Buck

In fact, the Petrzilka buck is sizing up to be the largest buck taken by firearm in North America since 1993! An official Boone and Crockett Club scorer put the preliminary score at 203 4/8 inches over the weekend, but the antlers must go through the mandatory 60 day drying period before they can be officially scored for the record book. For those keeping score, the current Nebraska record for a typical whitetail buck is 199 1/4 inches on a buck taken in 1983 in Saunders County.

Potential Nebraska Record Typical Whitetail Buck 203 4/8

Potential Nebraska State Record Typical Whitetail Buck 203 4/8

Butler County is West of Omaha, Nebraska

Deer antlers usually shrink when hunters walk up on their kill. However, that didn’t happen to Petrzilka. The inside antler spread on Petrzilka’s deer was 21 inches and the heavy mass followed the tines from the base all the way out to the ends of the beams. The antlers have eight points on one side of the rack and nine on the other. “My boy got there first and all I heard him say was, ‘Big! Big! Big!” Petrzilka said. The local taxidermist had this to say about the antlers of this potential Nebraska state record typical buck:

“If the buck stays as a typical, because there is a concern that his G3’s may count as non-typical, he will rank near the top in the world. No matter what happens with this buck as far as scores go, he is a once in a lifetime trophy and will be in a few magazines, no doubt. I have physically seen a couple bigger non-typical deer in person, but this is the biggest typical by far.

Milo Hanson’s world record typical buck is 213 inches just to put into perspective, and Nebraska’s #1 typical is 199 inches. Time will tell, but I had to share because talk of a Nebraska state record buck is all the buzz in this part of the state.”

Mr. Petrzilka said he knew the buck was big, but did not take time to notice the buck’s rack before he fired at the deer, which at the time was 150 yards away and on a dead run. “It was there, I shot and it was over with,” he said. “I sort of wish I’d missed and Dillon got it, but it worked out.” I’d say so. A Nebraska state record buck is nothing to snort at.

Three Bucks Found Locked, Dead

A big part of deer management is maintaining promising bucks in healthy condition until they are mature and ready for harvest, so there is nothing worse than finding a dead buck that you did not shoot, but how would you feel if you found not one, but three dead bucks on your property? Okay, it gets worse. What if those three bucks totaled 450 inches of antler?

That is exactly what a hunter in the mid-West found on his Ohio farm while walking through the woods. Apparently, two bucks were fighting for the right to breed area deer when a third buck jumped in to kick both of their butts. That didn’t happen.

The three whitetail bucks were found dead, drowned in a creek on the Ohio property. This is not the first time three bucks have locked horns and died, but it’s the first I’ve heard about this phenomenon year. And the quality of the bucks involved is impressive, so you know the guys hunting this property had to have been more than a bit deflated. I know that I would have been sick to my stomach. Here is what a staff member of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources wrote after being called out on the 3 dead bucks:

“Wow, 3 bucks locked together, wow! Wish I could have walked up them alive. This is the result of three bucks all fighting for one lady. They had the bank of this creek all tore up. All together, I estimated the deer to score well over 400 inches of antler. The biggest one was a massive 6×5, approximately 165 inches. The other two were around 130 to 140.”

The bucks were all green scored and the 9 point went 130-ish, the 10 point went 140-ish, and the big 11 point went 169 inches. It looks like the young guns will get to do the breeding on that Ohio property this year. That is why it’s important for anyone serious about deer management to keep quality bucks of all ages on a property at all times. Simply amazing!

Hunt Scrapes After a Rain

White-tailed deer management is about controlling the age, genetics, and nutrition of a deer herd. These components are the nuts and bolts of producing and growing big, healthy deer. Hunters understand that whitetail, like other game animals, are a renewable natural resource that can be used for both recreation and food. This is exactly why we enjoy getting out in the woods and doing a little deer hunting each fall. Although proper doe harvest is essential for maintaining a deer population within the carrying capacity of the habitat, let’s face it, hunters really look forward to hunting for big ole mature bucks.

There are several strategies that can be used to bag a buck, but for the most part hunters are limited to hunting food, water, travel areas, or deer sign. Whitetail bucks often leave visual evidence of where they have been in the form of rubs and scrapes. Of the two, scrapes can predict the location that a buck is likely to return. Despite the fact that many mature bucks check scrapes under the cover of darkness, hunting scrapes after a rain could increase your chances of crossing paths with a big whitetail buck. Continue reading “Hunt Scrapes After a Rain”