Brian from Georgia asks,
Bill, we have a good many bucks which looks like they have bad genetics on our property. We have talked about culling some of the bucks out to see if it would improve our quality of bucks that seem to have better genetics. Can you give me your expert opinion on culling? Thanks
Bill responds,
Topic: Culling Whitetail Bucks:
I shot this buck back in 2007. He was an older deer that owned the ridge where he was living. Every time I saw him he was running other bucks off. Finally, I decided that, small antlers or not, he had to go. That ridge produced some really good bucks in the years that followed. Sometimes you have to remove the ugly bullies to make more room for better bucks to move in.
Brian,
I did a good bit of research on this at one time. I interviewed many of the top experts in the country on the subject and even though I am not the top expert, I feel that I have enough information to draw a few conclusions. The overwhelming consensus among the experts is that culling within a free ranging (not high fenced) herd results in very little change since a good bit of the antler growing genetics comes from the doe and it is impossible in that setting to know which ones throw the best bucks.
Second, genetics can skip generations. Dr. Harry Jacobson managed the deer breeding program at Mississippi State University for many years. Dr. Jacobson told me that the best buck they had in their breeding program, with regards to throwing big antlered bucks, was an average looking eight pointer that would have been culled in most intensive management settings.
Third, my own experience on the farms I have managed since 1995 leads me to further believe that trying to change the genetics by killing a few small antlered bucks is a waste of time.
However, there is a more important and relevant reason to remove those bucks. It comes down to dominance and territory. Generally, dominance is more related to age and attitude than to antler size. So, some of these genetically inferior bucks that no one wants to use a tag on grow old and come to “own” certain areas. They bully other bucks away that would likely settle there. Many of these bucks that the ugly bully runs off have better genetics.
Removing these ugly bullies produces a hole in the dominance hierarchy of the property that could (and likely will) fill with a buck with better genetics. That isn’t a direct effort to change the genetics, but just a practical way to create room for a better buck to move in.
Also, if you determined that you need to do something to change the genetics, you probably need to shoot some does since they carry at least half of the antler gene.
So, in conclusion, I am not a fan of “culling” to improve genetics, but I am a fan of removing the old smaller antlered bucks to make room in the herd for a better buck. Good luck. (11/27/21)
