What is your opinion?

A lot of bucks are putting big yearlings. The doe is the most important. I put Gladiator in 9 doe and several came out 160-180 while others came out 100-130". It's always been about the doe for me.

I'm not sure on body size but on score there is really only one buck that leads all others in the yearling "inches" category and that would be Free Agent. As I traveled around the country last Summer I went to Mark's and saw his free agent sons. They were all high scoring deer that could have been 250++ inch shooters at 1. Some were in the 300 inch range. Then I was at Walks and saw a huge Free Agent son. Then I went to Flees and saw their biggest yearling a Free Agent over Timberjack 293 inch yearling. I don't know of any sire who has had a higher scoring first crop of yearlings. Everywhere I stopped, if there was a Free Agent yearling in the group, it was big.



Of course I have been extremely happy with my Timberjack yearlings. They are big bodied and have been my best yearlings year in and year out with several cracking the 200 inch mark. Maxbo 727 is also producing big yearlings for us. Out of 5 this last year 4 were REALLY nice with one over 200 (Conerstone). They are very "pretty" yearlings.



Of course this is just my observations. I know there are a lot of great producers out there. I would also mention Maxbo X.L When his sons get to age 2, they all seem to get big!



And of course like everyone else we are always waiting to see what the next crop looks like and see if our guesses on what to use worked out!

Nothing against Free agent Sam but there again look at the does he was put into. Some deer see nothong but the best and of course they are going to produce. There are alot of other bucks that would produce just as well if given the chance to be put into some of the top doe out their. Seems that alot of bucks are taking the credit that belongs to the doe.

I think a good question would be what bucks are producing the best produciing doe.

I don't have any of the answers but all I can do is tell you what I've seen. I don't get all the way over into PA in most years and know they have some great deer and didn't make it into OK this year. But I do get around to more farms than the average farmer. Probably cause I am looking for shooters and want to see breeders while I'm doing that. And the fact that I usually have my little Amish friend with me. He is a "Master Breeder" when it comes to picking out what to breed to what. We argue a lot but he is usually right!



I'll probably shoot myself for saying this but when I was at Flees they had a bunch of yearlings and they were really impressive. There were probably 75 or more in 2-3 pens. They had a bunch of big framey ones that were really impressive. I know the kind of does they have in their breeding program so I know that they consider all of their does very good. I don't think they would rank that Timberjack doe above all their others (thats where I shoot myself). I bet they have a lot of confidence in all their does. But when it comes to SCORE their Free Agent yearling was far ahead of all the others and is now probably their highest scoring yearling ever. It out-scored Sudden Impact. Maybe it is the Timberjack doe (I'd love to think that) and maybe its Free Agent, but the combination worked.



And that senerio repeated itself several times during our trips. As I said before its just a matter of opinion.



So I guess my vote would still be for Free Agent as the best yearling producer. There are some good ones coming on like Show-Me's Redline and Redbull. I also really liked Rusty Karrs farm and think he will be heard of real soon. I didn't make it to the Extreme boys but you can bet they will have some great deer. We are lucky because there are so many good breeders out there, right on the cutting edge. It will be fun to watch them all grow again. I'm sure, as usual there will be some great surprises. I saw a lot of great young deer during my trips last Summer.



As far as producing big 2 year olds, I would vote for Maxbo XL. He is like a machine.



Another thing I noticed is that the Timberjack does are really getting it done with production. I could list at least a dozen huge bucks out of Timberjack does. And he hasn't always been put in the best does on the farm. His production is pretty amazing considering what he has gone into. I always said you could put him in a goat and he'd throw a good buck. I wish he could have been used of some of the real power does out there just to see what he would have done. The bucks he throws are big (I have about 10 over 300). I always try to hang on to the womb sisters and other Timberjack does. He is just plain amazing. And I have had a lot of people tell me the same thing. He is one of the most under-rated bucks out there!



But that's fine with me. I'll just keep breeding him and taking whatever I can get

Sam, we will find out soon if Timberjack can make a goat produce. Dennis at DJD whitetails used him in a few of his goats.

I would guess that 9 out of 10 time's the doe has the biggest input as far as the size of the offspring but I also think that there is that buck every now and then that no mater what doe he is used in he has the biggest influence on the offspring. Free Agent may be one of those buck's, I also think that New Image is one of those buck's that will produce big on lesser doe's. I doubt that Free Agent has been used on many doe's of poor quality though.