Opening morning of rifle season here in Texas (at least a good portion of the counties) today. I took my wife out this morning. We were looking for a big trophy deer, but the 10 and 8 pt deer we saw needed another year or so. Instead, we took this 5.5 year old management buck - 6 points. She lunged him perfectly.

Great little story.
However, to educate those of us unfamiliar with whitetails, what makes this one a management buck? Looks okay to me.

Nice buck for just 'management'! Congrats!

That is a very nice 6 point. Congrats to her on a great start to the season.

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by Karoo:
Great little story.
However, to educate those of us unfamiliar with whitetails, what makes this one a management buck? Looks okay to me.

A "management" buck is one you manage to shoot . The term is popularly applied when a hunter takes a buck that is less than he might otherwise desire. Not that this is the case in this instance:

On larger ranches, particularly high-fenced ones where there is some ability to actually manage the herd genetics, a "management" buck is one that is mature but has marginal antlers which do not appear will improve with age, thus it should be removed from the herd.

The term "cull" means essentially the same thing, but it does not seem to be as fashionable.

American television hunting shows are rife with hunters taking "management" bucks which are, quite simply, less than trophy deer and of which there is no apparent evidence of age or genetic inferiority.

A large, apparently older deer like the one pictured here with only six points certainly qualifies as a cull, or "management", candidate.

Congrats on your wife's deer. My wife can't way for gun season to open up here in Pennsylvanina. I asked her three years ago is she wanted to get into the sport of hunting. 5 deer and 4 African animals later, the monster is growing larger than I can control.

Good looking deer! Where was it killed? With the drought, I'm wondering about how well they faired this summer. I find out next weekend, I hope and pray!