I have perms from 20 acres to 2500 acres and they are all managed according to what the landowner wants first and foremost . On the largest i am sure i could manage the deer well, the ground holds red,roe and fallow(these are resident all year) but the landowner wishes for a "zero tolerance" poilcy not my choice but i respect his wishes and consequently all deer in season and safe to shoot are shot on sight
We get some good males on this ground
Some landowners gave permission only on proviso that i take out foxes and taking only old/ill animals and the odd youngster. After 8 years of shooting on this ground i still have only crap bucks to watch
Most of the perms are just farmers tired of seeing too many out on their
crops etc and they leave it up to me to manage the amount of deer on the ground that they see :!: not manage the deer themselves although i do try to do both. They are not concerned or impressed that i have left a good breeding doe.
There is alot of talk about managing deer populations to the extent that I have even read posts from people trying to manage 40 acres. However my experience is that I could not possibly manage the deer on my land. It is just too small. My approach therefore is to take the animals that are in season and dont overthink issues of numbers. The reality is that whatever I take off my acreage will be replaced by displaced deer from the woodland around me.
Spot on and well said howa i personally believe that managing deer is a skilled profession which takes years to gain the correct knowledge and experiance. Manging deer numbers is easy , each time you shoot one you accomplish your goal
I do not pretend to know all about deer but would say that after trying to erradicate all deer on one of my perms with stalkers near by taking a fair amount of beasts also, we did succed in bringing the numbers right down but only for the following years for them to go right back up again
even with regular trips out
My advise would be to take heed of what the landowner wants first then take what opportunities are presented to you. Then if by chance you shoot too many(i doubt it)you will find out that by stalk after stalk of not seeing deer but you can learn from that also :!: That in itself is ok as it leaves you time to look elsewhere for new permission
Enjoy your time out and dont overthink things.
One thing , unless you are very sure of retaining your shooting for a long period ie long term lease. Be wary about putting in time and money into making the area more deer habitable as once more deer are in more people WILL notice and you might lose your perm to someone with more money
Once bitten twice shy just my experiance.