How many does can you breed to one and half years buck without hurting his next year horns
Joined Apr 2009
2,617 Posts | 0+
Edgar, WI
Pread10, I will give you my opinion even though it goes against the previous opinion. Yes too many can hurt their antler growth. The advice I was given from Gene Flees who knows a thing or two about raising deer
was a yearling shouldn't get more than about 4 or 5 does, a 2 year old shouldn't exceed about 9 or 10 does, and I can't recall for sure what he said about 3 year olds and older, but I think no more than about 13 to 15 should be fine.
All of this assumes the buck is a healthy animal to start with.
All that said I know of others and have heard of others who bred way more does than the numbers I just gave and they seemed to feel the buck was fine afterwards.
Again I think the health of the buck prior to the breeding season and the feed they are on is a major factor along with pen size and the personality of the buck in question. Some bucks just tend to "work harder" with their does than other bucks do. That extra work will of course mean they wear themselves down sooner.
Good luck!
was a yearling shouldn't get more than about 4 or 5 does, a 2 year old shouldn't exceed about 9 or 10 does, and I can't recall for sure what he said about 3 year olds and older, but I think no more than about 13 to 15 should be fine.All of this assumes the buck is a healthy animal to start with.
All that said I know of others and have heard of others who bred way more does than the numbers I just gave and they seemed to feel the buck was fine afterwards.
Again I think the health of the buck prior to the breeding season and the feed they are on is a major factor along with pen size and the personality of the buck in question. Some bucks just tend to "work harder" with their does than other bucks do. That extra work will of course mean they wear themselves down sooner.
Good luck!
Hi Roger:
What is the theory behind that line of thinking? Is it the fact that the buck will work harder to breed more doe and in turn lose weight resulting in the body having to work harder gaining the weight back post rut as opposed to making gains in weight and beginning antler growth? You also mention pen size as a factor, same theory? Bigger pen equals more running etc? Can you elaborate?
Thanks,
Daniel Zola
www.hollowroadwhitetails.com
What is the theory behind that line of thinking? Is it the fact that the buck will work harder to breed more doe and in turn lose weight resulting in the body having to work harder gaining the weight back post rut as opposed to making gains in weight and beginning antler growth? You also mention pen size as a factor, same theory? Bigger pen equals more running etc? Can you elaborate?
Thanks,
Daniel Zola
www.hollowroadwhitetails.com
Steve:
I bred with a yearling last year and he was matched with seven doe. It wasnt enougn for him. All day long he would pace my fences trying to get at the doe in my other pens. He continued this behavior long after the rutting season. Ultimately and unfortunately he didn't drop his antlers until late May. He was unable to catch up with his antler growth. Vet was of the opinion that we didnt provide him with enough doe, but then again she doesnt know much about whitetails. I guess it just depends on the deer your breeding with, in fact, the deer I'm talking about never even appeared to lose any weight.
I would venture to say that drawing semen from a yearling would have no adverse effects.
Daniel
www.hollowroadwhitetails.com
I bred with a yearling last year and he was matched with seven doe. It wasnt enougn for him. All day long he would pace my fences trying to get at the doe in my other pens. He continued this behavior long after the rutting season. Ultimately and unfortunately he didn't drop his antlers until late May. He was unable to catch up with his antler growth. Vet was of the opinion that we didnt provide him with enough doe, but then again she doesnt know much about whitetails. I guess it just depends on the deer your breeding with, in fact, the deer I'm talking about never even appeared to lose any weight.
I would venture to say that drawing semen from a yearling would have no adverse effects.
Daniel
www.hollowroadwhitetails.com
Joined Apr 2009
2,617 Posts | 0+
Edgar, WI
Daniel,
As Steve says you pretty much answered your own questions. However in your case with the buck not dropping his antlers until really late my guess is one of two things. One thing could be that he comes from genetics that simply drop later than some other bucks. I have one line here that does that very thing. Every son one particular doe has had drops late each and every year. The other thing it could be is that your buck kept his hormone levels up higher late into the winter by running the fences wanting to get to other does he could smell. Until the hormone levels drop the antlers will continue to hang on as well.
As to the idea a buck could have "enough does," I doubt that very much. Name me one male who ever feels they have had enough sex
Just my opinions and I am certainly not an expert.
As Steve says you pretty much answered your own questions. However in your case with the buck not dropping his antlers until really late my guess is one of two things. One thing could be that he comes from genetics that simply drop later than some other bucks. I have one line here that does that very thing. Every son one particular doe has had drops late each and every year. The other thing it could be is that your buck kept his hormone levels up higher late into the winter by running the fences wanting to get to other does he could smell. Until the hormone levels drop the antlers will continue to hang on as well.
As to the idea a buck could have "enough does," I doubt that very much. Name me one male who ever feels they have had enough sex
Just my opinions and I am certainly not an expert.
Joined Apr 2009
702 Posts | 0+
Marquez, TX
Hollowroad Whitetails said:
Daniel,
Ast Curtis said, if there are hot does in the area then your bucks hormone levels could stay high which means he could hold onto his antlers longer. This can also occur if you have too many doe with a buck and it takes him a few cycles to get to all of them. If you put doe fawns in a pen with him that don't come into heat till late you could see this. Bottom line, the more doe to breed, the bigger the pen, the more the buck will have to work, wearing himself out. It sounds like you have a good grasp of it. I think the amount of deer listed above is pretty accurate in my opinion. You can certainly go higher than that, but you "could" see adverse effects on antler development. However, that is not a scientific method and every buck is different, so it may come down to whatever you feel more comfortable with.
Last fall we had one buck and one doe. She was bred around nov 1, and he still rutted WAY beyond normal, chasing her, fighting objects, patroling fence, giving us a hard time, etc. He also acted like this the year before as a fawn. He didin't drop his antlers until almost the first of May. As another deer farmer explained to me, just as in humans some are just more *obsessed with it* than others. We have had other deer on our preserve that were consistent late droppers but seemed to behave like the other bucks. Like Roger said, I think genetics and attitude of the buck can both be a factor.
Steve, Roger and HuntsEnd:
Thank you for the very useful information.
Daniel
www.hollowroadwhitetails.com
Thank you for the very useful information.
Daniel
www.hollowroadwhitetails.com