Velvet Bucks in South Alabama...

[Jwiggins762]

So my wife took me, about 15 mins from where we live, to a place I've been past 100's of times for over 20 years. She met the owner through her work and had some business to attend to, he told her that she could also come and feed the fawns that are 2 weeks old. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the fawns but that's because I couldn't take my eyes off of the velvet bucks....I had them licking my hand and nudging my hand up so I would pet them on top of the head. It almost made me not want to hunt anymore but I knew this is not the deer that I hunt and I love deer meat to much...it was an awesome experience touching the velvet antlers and looking down at the tracks that they just made. He sells these bucks at a certain age to larger farms who breed bucks and then sells them to outfitters.

 

[will4554]

Selling shooters is big business. I have a good friend who outfits on a few HF ranches. He has sent me quite a few videos of dinks pushing around bucks with giant headgear. It's really amazing the difference in them being socialized and raised in such different ways. They (obviously) act totally different.

 

[Jwiggins762]

Yea he said if he were to sell that 3.5 year old right now he could get about $35,000 for it.

 

[Chickenhawk]

Just curious, I often wonder what outfitters do with tame deer??

 

[Jwiggins762]

Just curious, I often wonder what outfitters do with tame deer??

People pay thousands of dollars to kill them....

 

[Weldabeast]

The neighbor to a friend bought a big stud grande northern buck and let him loose on 600 acres. He has a high fence around his property. Trying to introduce better genes is what he said

 

[Wasp]

Wow really cool post Jwiggins. I knew breeder bucks went for Big money but $35k is way more than I thought.

I have always wondered what these buck farms do with the does they breed. I wonder if they sell them as well (the genetics exist in them to produce a monster as well)?

 

[Jwiggins762]

Wow really cool post Jwiggins. I knew breeder bucks went for Big money but $35k is way more than I thought.

I have always wondered what these buck farms do with the does they breed. I wonder if they sell them as well (the genetics exist in them to produce a monster as well)?

Yea that's a great question, I've never thought of that. Next time I talk to the guy I will ask...

 

[Chickenhawk]

It's been a while since I saw this, but Dr Grant Woods on Growingdeertv.com covered something about genetics on one of his shows. Please do not quote me on this, it's been a long time since I watched or heard this, and it may have even been another person or show. But the topic of the story was that you could take a buck with awesome genetics and put it in the wild , or it's offspring, and antler size would depend greatly on diet, and the amount and quality of food in the area.
Pretty sure they also proved that all deer were pretty genetically close.
I'm know scientist, but I buy in on if you got sorry vegetation the deer will hardly grow monster antlers. Just my two cents worth.

 

[Jwiggins762]

It's been a while since I saw this, but Dr Grant Woods on Growingdeertv.com covered something about genetics on one of his shows. Please do not quote me on this, it's been a long time since I watched or heard this, and it may have even been another person or show. But the topic of the story was that you could take a buck with awesome genetics and put it in the wild , or it's offspring, and antler size would depend greatly on diet, and the amount and quality of food in the area.
Pretty sure they also proved that all deer were pretty genetically close.
I'm know scientist, but I buy in on if you got sorry vegetation the deer will hardly grow monster antlers. Just my two cents worth.

I believe the quality of food has a lot do with it as well but genetics play a huge role in there size imo. Its just like height, eye color, etc. for us, its the same i believe for all species.

 

[Wasp]

It's been a while since I saw this, but Dr Grant Woods on Growingdeertv.com covered something about genetics on one of his shows. Please do not quote me on this, it's been a long time since I watched or heard this, and it may have even been another person or show. But the topic of the story was that you could take a buck with awesome genetics and put it in the wild , or it's offspring, and antler size would depend greatly on diet, and the amount and quality of food in the area.
Pretty sure they also proved that all deer were pretty genetically close.
I'm know scientist, but I buy in on if you got sorry vegetation the deer will hardly grow monster antlers. Just my two cents worth.

I agree. I have always subscribed to the theory that every population of deer has the potential for a wall hanger, say it is one in every 100 bucks. Therefore the better the soil the more food the greater the carrying capacity for deer. More deer equals more likelihood that that 1 in 100 buck is born. I have no scientific evidence to prove it just observation.