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Where are all the bucks? In the last couple decades hunting in eastern Ontario, I'd say I see 1 buck for every 10 antlerless deer - maybe even less. Really sucks when you don't draw an antlerless tag or didn't apply for a particular area. Yet other people hunt the same areas and seem to shoot bucks with some regularity. Wondering how many bucks to does others are seeing?
I'm around 4-1 in 73 and 8-1 in 78b
we do and will shoot does and regularly get antlerless tags
1for 1 in my area this year.
How can we find this out Dan for other areas?Quote:
Originally Posted by DanE
it would be trickyQuote:
Originally Posted by gbk
it's tricky just on the properties I hunt. it's pretty easy to tell what buck is what buck from the differences in the racks but the does are a lot more difficult to tell especially on trail cam. I run 6 cameras on the property in 73 (400acres) and 5 cameras in 78 (500acres) lots of times in 78 you see groups of 5-6 does/fawns crossing the fields. so you can get a rough estimate on the number of does around then match it up to the trail cam pictures of the bucks. funny thing is most of the bucks we shoot are roomers that we've never seen before so that alone throws the ratio off
In 92B this season I seen pretty much equal buck to doe.
Mature bucks are elusive as they are solitary animals, does tend to travel in groups and move more during daylight hours. Scouting your property for buck sign may tell you more information, in my experience where the does are you will find bucks not far away.
I'd guess it's about 2:1 does to bucks in my home wmu. It's now been 10 years since we had additional(doe) tags in wmu89 and the result is folks holding out for a buck. In my main block of woods, 9 bucks were taken last year. 0 does. The wmu as a whole is seeing 2:1 buck to doe harvest every year. Predation and traffic accidents will balance things out a bit, but overall, it's trending towards a very poor buck to doe ratio.
You can download the harvest data excel file from the data.ontario.ca and view the past 15 years.
Attachment 44730
I saw 21 deer over the week on my morning and evening stands hunting 3 separate farms, 4 of them were different bucks. 4 or 5 of the does and fawns were likely repeat customers. One property in 84 where you rarely get buck sightings until October and a property in 85 that has numerous mature bucks all summer until they start moving out in October but if they make it through deer season they are always back the next season. Our group took 7 deer during the November hunt, all bucks, which is generally not the norm.
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I've got 2 trail cams at bait sites on 150 acres. Based on the pics I'm seeing I'm 100% sure of the deer count:
I started the season with:
- doe with two fawns (still there)
- doe with one fawn (still there)
- solo yearling doe (still there)
- four spike/fork yearling bucks (I arrowed one, my niece shot one, one MIA just before rifle, one still there)
- one small 10 point - he only showed about once a week (MIA second week of rifle)
Discounting the fawns, I started with a 5:3 buck to doe ratio but am sitting at 1:3 now.
The one thing very strange this fall - no transient bucks moving through. Not one - the entire fall.