Trophy management not for the faint of heart

A lot of hunters talk about managing their deer to produce trophies, but few are willing to take the steps necessary to actually follow through.

Greg Hackney is one hunter who does.

“In North America, there is no animal smarter than a 5- or 6-year-old whitetail,” he said. “The horms are one thing, but there’s something about killing a 5- or 6-year-old whitetail.”

And that is the key to consistently producing high-quality racked bucks, all the experts agree.

“There are more Boone & Crockett deer killed every year than most people realize — but they’re killed before they get (to trophy status),” Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks’ Chris McDonald said.

Rick Dillard, the U.S. Forest Service biologist responsible for keeping the state Magnolia Buck record books, said there is just no substitute for age.

“When they reach older age classes, they have the potential to express themselves in terms of antlers,” Dillard said.

While many hunters believe that means allowing bucks to reach 3½ years of age, Hackney believes a deer shows its potential at that age but should only be killed if there isn’t much potential.

That’s why he allows his guests to shoot 8-points that are 3½ years old or older on his Washington County hunting club, but then clamps down. A 9-point or better can only be killed if it’s at least 5½ years old.
In other words, by and large, he’s managing for old deer instead of big-racked deer.

That, MDWFP biologist Lann Wilf said, is critical if the goal is truly trophy bucks.

“If you want to grow a B&C buck, you have to be willing to let a 4½-year-old 160-inch buck go, hoping it will grow 10 percent to break 170 inches,” Wilf said. “If you want a 150-inch deer, you have to be willing to let a 140-inch 3-year-old go.”

And that’s something most hunters just can’t quite bring themselves to do.

Making trophy management even more difficult is the fact that letting bucks walk isn’t the only element to be considered; lots of deer also have to be killed.

That might sound counterintuitive, but it’s really a simple matter of carrying capacity, or the number of healthy deer that can be supported in a given habitat. So if a piece of property will support 100 healthy deer, any additional deer will begin putting strain on the groceries, and overall well-being of the herd will suffer.

In terms of the impact of overpopulation on bucks, antler growth will be stymied as most nutrition will be pushed into maintaining body health.

So it’s imperative that every land manager keep deer numbers low, at least hovering around carrying capacity. For the trophy hunter, the herd should actually be taken below carrying capacity.

“Basically, at carrying capacity, every deer has just enough resources to be relatively healthy and survive,” McDonald said. “If you go beyond that, and manage that deer herd to below carrying capacity, there is an abundance of nutrition.

“That means I can add nutrition to those animals at that point. I can put on more body weight, more antler mass.”

What does that mean? Shooting does, a lot of does, is mandatory.

“You have to get to the point where you would rather take a doe every time you went in the woods, when it’s legal, and not shoot a buck,” Wilf said.

MDWFP biologist William McKinley said he’s familiar with one specific club that takes that approach.
“The most-persecuted animal is a doe on that piece of property,” McKinley said.

This kind of talk makes many uncomfortable, however, because they have become accustomed to seeing deer every time they go hunting — which Wilf said is a sign that the property isn’t ready to produce trophies.

“There’s biological carrying capacity, and there’s social carrying capacity,” he said. “Seeing a deer every hunt is social carrying capacity, but you’re not supposed to see a deer every hunt. If you want to manage your deer, you have to get deer (numbers) down to where they reach their full potential.

“Those that do and shoot them down to the level where they’re supposed to be (biologically) grow great deer.”
And increasing the problem is that deer held in check will respond by producing more fawns — which means even more does have to be killed.

“It gets to the point that a lot of clubs get tired of shooting so many deer,” McDonald said.
However, even those clubs that whack on the does can’t allow all bucks, either.

“Being overpopulated with bucks is worse than being overpopulated with does,” Wilf said. “It’s the amount of groceries.”

He said a doe requires about 5 pounds of food per day to remain healthy, while a buck has to have about 7 pounds to remain healthy and have enough nutrition left over to push out large antlers.

So the more bucks you have, the fewer deer overall your property can maintain.

Wilf did say that about 10 percent of bucks every year die of natural mortality, which helps. But that fact also makes it even more difficult to pass up that 130-class 3½-year-old.

“If you don’t want to shoot it, keep in mind he may not be there next year,” he said.

But the fact is that it really wouldn’t take much for a collective solution to the state’s overpopulation of deer.

“If each hunter went in the woods and killed three does and a buck or two, the overpopulation problem would be solved,” Wilf said.

Wilf also said there is more to trophy management than just shooting deer.

“It’s a 12-month, dang-near 200-day job,” he said. “You have to be out there farming. You have to be out there managing timber. You have to almost actually hunt four afternoons a week to get your does under control; you can’t just hunt on the weekend.”

Then there are food plots to be planted, sometimes supplemental feed to be placed and myriad other things to do.

And when it comes time to sit stands, there won’t be a lot of buck killing.

“They’re going to shoot a lot of does and let a lot of 120-, 130-, 140-class bucks walk,” Wilf said.
That all adds up to more than most hunters are willing to invest.

“It gets to be a job,” Hackney admitted. “It’s easy to do quality deer management, but to do trophy deer management is very hard, and most people aren’t willing to do that.”

Editor’s Note: This story appears as part of a feature in Mississippi Sportsman’s August issue now on newsstands. To ensure you don’t miss any information-packed issues of the magazine, click here to have each issue delivered right to your mail box.