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How do you decide?

richie0033

richie0033

Joined May 2009
1,166 Posts | 0+
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
With so many big deer this year, how do you decide on which one? It's seems like this year there is a bumper crop of huge deer. I was just wondering how others decide on which one to use.
 
I am new to A.I. ing but I think that you set a standard as to what you are looking for in a buck be it tine length spread mass ect. look for a line that has a history of passing this on and stick with your original plan. I think that some of the best bucks may not always be the largest bucks and to many that I talk to seem to be caught up in nothing but inches. For me I am a small time farm only looking to A.I. 15 does so what I look for may not be the same as the big farms that have a lot of options. But I look for a proven producer that is in my price range not the 300 inch yearlings. I am looking more to build up a good heard of does and not looking to raise the next monster yearling.
 
RLAwhitetails, I Agree in these tough times stay with your PLAN and your budget to get the BEST producer to fit your PLAN!
 
I like to breed with only producing lines. I can't afford to run with the big dogs and definitely don't want to. Too much gamble for me. So I try to take a different route, breeding the weaknesses out of my herd. I want my own line of deer, not just reproductions of what the top 30 guys are doing.
 
Being new to it ourselves we bought our first bred power doe this past winter. Bred to a yearling that showed good promise scored 183. We bought our first straws of semen this spring and plan on doing our first AI this fall. So with all that said i have been tring to watch up and coming bucks. Yearling that i think are going to produce ( a good freind led me onto this concept) they are cheaper then the big boys and i think it going to keep fresh genetics in my herd, but not cost me 10s of thousands of dollars.
 
The only bad thing about buying yearling semen is that it is a gamble as to whether the buck will turn out to be big or not. A lot of nice yearlings never turn out to be much better at 2 or 3 years of age. Sure the pedigree is the same, but what are they wearing on their head, and no one knows if they will really produce.

I used to speculate on yearlings every year, but now the semen prices have gotten to high for the gamble any more. Then you end up with semen that really isn't good enough to use and it just sits there. So I have decided to wait and only buy a buck that has turned out and then just pay the extra cost.

Gene Flees says he doesn't think buying a buck younger than 3 is a good idea. He would rather wait until you see what the buck looks like by age 3.

I don't post all this to start a big debate, just some thoughts.
 
Your right it is a gamble, i have heard the pros and the cons from both angles. this system may not work for some one who is astablished and making money on there deer already, But i think its a great way for some one just starting off to bring better Genetics into there herd by not betting the farm.
 

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