roe bucks, which ones to cull

comber

Active Member
hey new on here and need some advice. i have just taken on some roe satlking and want to no what roe bucks i should shoot and which deer to leave. any tips or anuthing will be a great help.
 
Hi Comber,

Its pretty much the done thing to introduce ones self in the Intro section first ;) I tend to shoot the young 1-3 year old bucks (pricketts) mostly unless I see a particuar deer that is injured or whatever. My "cull plan" if you like on my main lease is to shoot 60% Bucks to 40% Does. I leave good bucks as breeding stock normally.

atb

Sam
 
Give it until the end of the month when most bucks should be clean then you can get a better assessment of what the bucks are like quality wise.

Velvet gives false impression of the quality of bucks.

Have you worked out what numbers you have on the ground and how many you want to cull.

You need to cull about 40% of your roe population just to maintan the status quo

From your cull numbers you want to cull about 60% young 30% mature 10% old, you wont find many old animals anyway and shoot them when you see them.

Dont look to much at the antlers to try and gauge age look more at the body.
 
There are some good books to have a look at there is a German Book Titled Young or Old rare but if you can find a copy well worth a read.

Other good books are Following the Roe, The Roe Deer and Wild Deer
 
60% young 30% mature 10% old, is how i go about my management tasks on a few areas i manage. you will get the hang of looking at the condition of the animal, look at the gate, look at the spine, look at the ribs, look at its behavoiur.

many years ago i ignored these basic ruels and left a reasonable buck running about on 3 legs, with the idea that he was good breeding stock! and yes the leg missing was a back one so copulation would have been awkward to say the least! i didnt realise it had 3 legs until observing its behaviour on a long term basis and looking at its condition / gate. needles to say it was culled and within a matter of days 2 newbies entered his range and made it there own!

good luck

Skipp.
 
Hi Comber,

No offensive mean here bud. I may have the wrond end of the wrong stick - but you dont sound that experianced? If you are new to the game (and Im not seasoned pro) I would try and get someone to mentor you, even if its just booking a stalk when you can. The info you learn from being in the field with someone that knows his eggs is well worth the cost IMO.


atb

Sam
 
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