Craig Co., Virginia Deer Management Program
Frequently Asked Questions
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Why do you want people to know you are trying to raise big deer?
First, our farm is not a deer farm. Deer farms are illegal in Virginia.
All we are trying to do is get rid of the old fashioned hunter’s
way of thinking -"if it has horns, shoot it".
We are also trying to improve the health of all deer around the country,
which will improve the quality of all hunted deer.
There is not a person alive in their 20's or 30's who was born
with an adult body. We have all progressed through the adolescent age,
teenager, twenty, thirty and so on.
It’s the same process for deer. They grow from a fawn to 1-1/2 years old
at hunting season and are mostly spikes or four point bucks at that time.
With better nutrition, you will see bigger spikes, four, six & eight pointers
with small basket racks that will quite possibly grow up to be monster bucks
in their fourth, fifth and sixth years.
We are educating the everyday hunter to realize that if they let the
youngsters walk, someday he could quite possibly grow into a wall hanger.
A lot of hunters think if you hunt public lands, this will not benefit them.
There could be nothing farther from the truth.
Here in Craig County, there is more public land than private land.
If public land hunters were to adopt the philosophy of
"Let him go, so he can grow" you would soon see the difference.
If you really want to educate yourself in this effort, I urge you to join
the Quality Deer Management Association and subscribe to the magazine.
This effort is working and I encourage you, as a fellow deer hunter,
to join in and lets see the difference together.
First, our farm is not a deer farm. Deer farms are illegal in Virginia.
All we are trying to do is get rid of the old fashioned hunter’s
way of thinking -"if it has horns, shoot it".
We are also trying to improve the health of all deer around the country,
which will improve the quality of all hunted deer.
There is not a person alive in their 20's or 30's who was born
with an adult body. We have all progressed through the adolescent age,
teenager, twenty, thirty and so on.
It’s the same process for deer. They grow from a fawn to 1-1/2 years old
at hunting season and are mostly spikes or four point bucks at that time.
With better nutrition, you will see bigger spikes, four, six & eight pointers
with small basket racks that will quite possibly grow up to be monster bucks
in their fourth, fifth and sixth years.
We are educating the everyday hunter to realize that if they let the
youngsters walk, someday he could quite possibly grow into a wall hanger.
A lot of hunters think if you hunt public lands, this will not benefit them.
There could be nothing farther from the truth.
Here in Craig County, there is more public land than private land.
If public land hunters were to adopt the philosophy of
"Let him go, so he can grow" you would soon see the difference.
If you really want to educate yourself in this effort, I urge you to join
the Quality Deer Management Association and subscribe to the magazine.
This effort is working and I encourage you, as a fellow deer hunter,
to join in and lets see the difference together.
Why is the harvest of Does so important to herd health?
In order to genetically enhance a herds health for any area, it is important
Right now, as far as the numbers I have compiled from my observation
of the free roaming herd on our land, the ratio is about 10 Does to 1 Buck.
This is not the best, but we are getting there.
When we first started this program, we requested decap tags from the Virginia
Department of Game & Inland Fisheries, and for the first three years
we harvested nothing but Does.
In the beginning I would estimate our ratio at probably 20 to 1.
When you are able to gain your ideal Buck to Doe ratio, you probably won't
see as many deer when you are out hunting, but you are more likely
to see the bigger dominant Bucks chasing Does during the rut, rather than
smaller two to three year olds doing the chasing and breeding.
But when the ratio is out of proportion, what you end up with is older Bucks
that get worn down during the peak of the rut and your smaller Bucks
breeding Does thus far spreading unwanted genes in the herd.
Another problem is that most of this occurs during the post rut period,
resulting in later born Fawns which are more vulnerable to starvation
and predation during the winter due to the lack of food.
Another problem here is if we have a harsh, cold, snowy Winter
and the Does have trouble finding the right nutrition, lots of times they will
abandon the Fawns. This is why sometimes during deer season you will hear
hunters saying they saw a little deer no bigger than a small dog.
This is probably due to this chain effect of an unhealthy Buck to Doe ratio.
There are two ways to bring the ratio closer to what we want:
(1) Every hunter is to harvest at least one Doe in the season.
If needed, more Doe tags are purchased.
(2) Get hunters used to identifying the sex of Fawns and the approximate
age and health of their mother.
A Doe Fawn will have a rounded forehead in the front and also between her
ears. A Buck Fawn will have more of a squared head in the front and between
his ears. When we see a Doe that has two healthy Fawns, we first try
to identify the sex of the Fawns. If she has two Buck Fawns we let them all
walk. If she has a Buck and a Doe Fawn, we will harvest the Doe Fawn.
If she is an old Doe, (you can tell by her skin being baggy and by the wear of
hair from behind her front legs and has no Fawns), its time for her to go.
I know most hunters wouldn’t care, but this is working. I have seen the size of
some of the middle aged what I call brood Does ranging upwards of probably
150 to 170lbs.
Incidently, most of the time your middle to older aged Does, when having
twin fawns, will have a Buck and Doe Fawn. But 7 out of 10 times
she will have two Buck Fawns.
I have heard of them having three at a time if they are in good shape
and food is abundant.
In order to genetically enhance a herds health for any area, it is important
Right now, as far as the numbers I have compiled from my observation
of the free roaming herd on our land, the ratio is about 10 Does to 1 Buck.
This is not the best, but we are getting there.
When we first started this program, we requested decap tags from the Virginia
Department of Game & Inland Fisheries, and for the first three years
we harvested nothing but Does.
In the beginning I would estimate our ratio at probably 20 to 1.
When you are able to gain your ideal Buck to Doe ratio, you probably won't
see as many deer when you are out hunting, but you are more likely
to see the bigger dominant Bucks chasing Does during the rut, rather than
smaller two to three year olds doing the chasing and breeding.
But when the ratio is out of proportion, what you end up with is older Bucks
that get worn down during the peak of the rut and your smaller Bucks
breeding Does thus far spreading unwanted genes in the herd.
Another problem is that most of this occurs during the post rut period,
resulting in later born Fawns which are more vulnerable to starvation
and predation during the winter due to the lack of food.
Another problem here is if we have a harsh, cold, snowy Winter
and the Does have trouble finding the right nutrition, lots of times they will
abandon the Fawns. This is why sometimes during deer season you will hear
hunters saying they saw a little deer no bigger than a small dog.
This is probably due to this chain effect of an unhealthy Buck to Doe ratio.
There are two ways to bring the ratio closer to what we want:
(1) Every hunter is to harvest at least one Doe in the season.
If needed, more Doe tags are purchased.
(2) Get hunters used to identifying the sex of Fawns and the approximate
age and health of their mother.
A Doe Fawn will have a rounded forehead in the front and also between her
ears. A Buck Fawn will have more of a squared head in the front and between
his ears. When we see a Doe that has two healthy Fawns, we first try
to identify the sex of the Fawns. If she has two Buck Fawns we let them all
walk. If she has a Buck and a Doe Fawn, we will harvest the Doe Fawn.
If she is an old Doe, (you can tell by her skin being baggy and by the wear of
hair from behind her front legs and has no Fawns), its time for her to go.
I know most hunters wouldn’t care, but this is working. I have seen the size of
some of the middle aged what I call brood Does ranging upwards of probably
150 to 170lbs.
Incidently, most of the time your middle to older aged Does, when having
twin fawns, will have a Buck and Doe Fawn. But 7 out of 10 times
she will have two Buck Fawns.
I have heard of them having three at a time if they are in good shape
and food is abundant.
| 1693 Little Cuba Lane New Castle, VA 24127 phone: 540.330.7967 email: More Information |
