Healthy deer herd numbers???

[Bushape]

What's the suggested buck to doe ratio and recommended deer per acre?? Tennessee hills and hollows. Very little grass but looking to change that.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Latest i heard was 1 to 1 being ideal, but some suggest 2 does for every adult buck. Probably somewhere around 30 per sq mile, but that depends a lot on carrying capacity of the land they are on.

 

[BSK]

What's the suggested buck to doe ratio and recommended deer per acre?? Tennessee hills and hollows. Very little grass but looking to change that.

Impossible to give recommended deer density numbers. The "appropriate" deer density is determined by how the current density is interacting with the habitat. How much of the preferred food sources are being eaten away? What preferred winter food resources does the area have besides acorns? In most of TN, winter food sources are the limiting factor in herd health. And you should always look at it as close to a "worst case scenario" as possible, such as a total acorn crop failure. In late February and early March, what quality food sources are left for deer to eat?

As for sex ratio, a natural adult sex ratio is around 1.2 adult does per adult buck (an adult deer being 11/2 at their first deer season). However, getting a deer herd to that 1.2:1 ratio, and holding it there, is very difficult. In fact, I often find doe harvests must be so high to hold a local population at 1.2:1 that it drives all deer nocturnal. I prefer a ratio of 1.5 does per buck. That doesn't require as much doe killing yet still maintains good social dynamics.