Should We Lower the “Antler Bar”?

BY TODD AMENRUD

It seems that many hunters have developed unrealistic expectations for the whitetail woods. I blame myself, the rest of the hunting industry, the internet and outdoor programming for making it this way. People watch hunting shows on TV or online and think they should have the same success as the outdoor stars they see in videos. Are these improbable outlooks? Is it even possible for “Joe-hunter” to experience the same success on any property?

Isn’t it really about what makes you, your family and friends happy? It just so happens that I am one of those nuts who likes to hunt big-antlered whitetails, but it doesn’t define my success. It seems things have gotten so serious … too serious. If you can’t duplicate what you see online or on your favorite hunting shows, some believe they’ve failed. Sometimes it causes youth to lose interest, or longtime hunters to give up. This is disastrous for the outdoor industry. We may all need to “hit the reset button” on all of this “antler-mania.”

Is it even possible to grow, let alone see and harvest, record-class whitetails every year? First, what do you consider “record-class”? Since I’m a bowhunter, I originally thought of things using the Pope & Young minimum of 125 inches as my mark. I think if you do things right, your odds of hitting this benchmark are very good! Many three-year old bucks will easily make this score – and to some, a 125-inch buck is big … but to others it is not. When some refer to “record-class bucks,” they’re referring to the Boone & Crockett minimum of 170 inches. When trying to grow, or even see bucks of this size in the wild, your odds decline precipitously! Keep in mind, from three to five years old, a buck should increase in antler size 30 to 40%! However, it should be all about what makes you happy.

How many acres does it take to consistently harvest mature bucks? Every situation is different, so there is no exact answer. However, do you really think that with a small property you should have five-year-old bucks with world-class genetics running everywhere? It depends upon your neighbors, the topography of the surrounding area, the quality of your soil and numerous other details that you may or may not have control over. With a small property, can you influence whitetail management or make hunting better? Absolutely! However, you must have a realistic outlook.

With a much larger parcel, it is easier to control many aspects of your management efforts and better influence others, especially the “harvest” portion of the management equation. “Selective harvest” will have a huge influence. Killing the right deer and removing the correct amount of animals are both essential for numerous reasons.

To many, the premise of modern whitetail management is to let small bucks live to maturity (five years old) and harvest an acceptable number of female deer to keep the density at healthy, stress-free levels. However, if your neighbors are killing the young bucks and they aren’t helping with the doe harvest, it can become very frustrating.

Densities vary widely throughout the country – anywhere from a few on up to over 50 animals per square mile. As an example, let’s use the generous estimate of 30 deer per square mile. That means with 640 acres in a square mile and 30 deer in that square mile, if you own an 80 acre property it’s likely to hold four whitetails. If you do things right, you most certainly can hold more, but you can see my point. How many are likely to be bucks, and, of those, how many “wall-hangers”?

According to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the average lifespan of a wild whitetail is 4.5 years. If we break it down by sex, the average life expectancy of a buck is 2.9 years and the average life span of a doe is 6.5 years. So if you think about all of the mortality causes like predation, car/deer collisions and poaching, combined with causes that specifically impact males like expiring from rut-related stress or fighting injuries, the odds of a buck making it to five years old seem long. Producing mature bucks requires knowledge, skill and time, and harvesting one is even more difficult.

When it comes to hunting whitetails and outdoor TV programming, I don’t think anyone does it better than the Drurys. We should all remember, they don’t just show up one day and video a hunt. They work very hard all year long to bring you the exciting hunts you see during a viewing season, which is anywhere from 13 to 20 or more episodes. If you work as hard as they do, you obviously CAN have hunting like that, but there are other considerations, too. They understand what they’re doing better than most, have more opportunities presented to them because of their success and custody of more ground than the average gamekeeper.

Back during the ‘90s, I had a brief television career with a 30-minute syndicated network show called “In the Outdoors.” The pressure to produce success for every show was immense! After three years, hunting became more of a chore than fun. Much of that was because the 22 minutes of actual content you saw during a typical show might take a week, two weeks or more to put together. So understand that things don’t always fall into place as they may seem to during an episode of your favorite show. Typically, you don’t get to see all the “fails.”

Therefore, if you’re a weekend warrior who has a few acres in food plots and are able to hunt a few days a month, you can’t compare yourself with experts with vast properties who do it every day.

I have been managing wild whitetail properties for over 35 years. I planted my first food plot specifically for whitetails in 1984. Even back then, I understood that bucks required age to produce the big antlers I was after. I worked very hard at passing young bucks and getting them the best nutrition possible. It worked! Beautiful 140- to 160-inch racks started showing up in my “grip-n-grin” photos. It was time to step up another rung on the ladder.

I tried letting those 140-inchers go (which was very difficult for my itchy release finger) in hopes that somehow they would grow bigger, or by not “dropping the string” on the first 140-incher to pass by I would eventually have a chance at a 200-incher.

It didn’t work! In fact, it still hasn’t. While I’ve killed a few over 170 inches, they’ve not come off of properties that I’ve managed. Either I traveled to some exceptional whitetail destination, or they’ve come off friends’ properties. While I have numerous trail camera photos confirming that bucks over 170 inches were living on my old Ontario property, I never harvested one before I sold it. On my home property that I’ve been managing since 1984, while I have killed 140s and 150s, I’ve only taken one buck over 165 inches. Believe me, it is not for the lack of trying. Because of certain limiting factors, you simply may not be able to get bucks to grow antlers over a certain mark.

After researching record book entries and a number of state harvest archives, considering ALL hunters in one group, your odds of harvesting a buck that scores over 170 inches is less than 0.05%. And that’s after researching only the very best states for producing huge bucks like Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kentucky, Missouri and Ohio. If you looked at the entire country, I would estimate your odds are less than 0.01%. You can see that maybe you should temper your expectations and perhaps use “age” as the biggest determining factor rather than “antler size.”

I didn’t start out killing five-year-old bucks. My first buck was a spike, and it was followed up by numerous yearling basket-racks. As a young boy, I was very proud of every one of them. Young hunters watch the same shows that we do and they understand that there are “rules to the game.” We must make sure that we don’t discourage youth or first-time hunters. If the bar is so high, why even try?

I can tell you that even this grizzled veteran still gets excited when I draw back on a doe. That rush is one big reason why I hunt. That anticipation and exhilaration is something we should try to bring with us on every hunt and something we need to convey to those we teach and mentor. If it makes you happy, that’s what counts!

A few years ago, I had a very nice three-year-old buck that had already reached the 140-inch range. My plan was to hopefully get the buck through two more years. That’s the kind of buck that could possibly make it to the Boone & Crockett threshold. Opening weekend of firearms season came and I got an excited phone call from one of my neighbors telling me he’d just shot a big one and asking if I’d like to come and see it. I’m sure you can see where this is going … I drove to his place and as I pulled into his driveway I could see the buck hanging on a gambrel in one of his trees. My heart sank.

I felt like laying into him with my “benefits of QDM” speech, but he had an ear-to-ear grin and was so excited he immediately began telling me the story. This was the biggest buck he had ever taken and he was ecstatic. I couldn’t “rain on his parade.” I was in a bit of a funk for a few days, but I couldn’t begrudge his decision. He took the deer legally and he was pleased as punch. It taught me a lesson that maybe I should look at things a little differently.

I love to hunt. Being depressed because someone ruined my “gamekeeper dream” wasn’t right. I want to enjoy all the hunting time I have left, so I needed to find a different standard by which to rate my experiences and to keep it challenging at the same time. I believe that antler size may be causing too much heartache.

I don’t want to discourage anyone from trying to produce bucks with the antlers of their dreams – there’s always the chance. But if antlers are all you’re hunting for, you may be doing it for the wrong reason. Much of how you view all of this probably has to do with “why you hunt.” The need for food, camaraderie, to manage the herd, to experience Mother Nature or the challenge are all legitimate reasons. Regardless, it all boils down to your satisfaction. As long as you abide by the law, it really doesn’t matter the size of the animal or the antlers, the profundity of the experience is what matters. Maybe we should put more emphasis on that and less on antler size.