Thoughts on my Buck to Doe Ratio Hypothesis?

[Rusty]

It’s been 9 months since I last got a picture of a doe or fawn,  but I’ve gotten over 1,400 pictures of bucks.   And I wish I was exaggerating.

We have always had a high ratio of antlered deer here in the Watershed but over the past 10 years the number of female deer has been steadily declining.   I have not seen a doe or fawn here since last August.   I’ve got a camera in a natural funnel where I get hundreds of pictures every week.   A very large portion of those pictures are bears, coyotes, and bobcats.

What are your thoughts on this hypothesis?

Predators are killing the fawns so the females are not being replaced as the older does die out.   Yearling bucks disperse so every year we get a few new bucks moving in to the area.   The result is a herd that is virtually all male.       

[SPEARFISH]

Move your camera around or get a few more.

Has to be does somewhere.

[jumpthestring]

The Predators out number the Deer. as most of zone 3 and lack of hunters don't help.

[3Blade]

Can’t have bucks without does to produce them. They have to be there but what do I know, I’m just a mason . 

[BHC]

Predators are in fact killing fawns and I'm sure coyotes are the main ones. 

But the watershed is huge, if the bucks are on camera during the hunting season then the does are around. 

This time of the year as you know does & bucks don't really associate with each other, and does with fawns stay in secluded areas.

Friend of mine has a few cameras out in the watershed over the years, he either gets no deer or very few deer of both sexes but no fawns on camera , few coyotes but plenty of bears

[JHbowhunter]

Infinitely more doe than buck in my zone 2 and zone 5 areas. The ratio is as bad as it’s ever been.  I am basing that on a very long bow season last year with a lot of observation and what I’m seeing on trail cameras so far this spring.  So my observations are the exact opposite of yours.  But my areas are agricultural in nature with a very good blend of food and nutrition, whether it be alfalfa beans, corn, acorns, apples, pears, and peaches, mixed with all the natural forage and browse. that is quite the opposite of the type of deer cover you are in. 
 

Far too many hunters play into the hands of the New Jersey fish and Game deer regulations with all the emphasis being on killing bucks  with no real incentive to target doe other than EAB for early bow  and now having a seventh buck tag it will only get worse

Edited June 3 by JHbowhunter

[Russ 11]

45 minutes ago, Rusty said:

I’ve got a camera in a natural funnel where I get hundreds of pictures every week.   A very large portion of those pictures are bears, coyotes, and bobcats.

Well any doe trying to keep her fawns alive would not want to be anywhere near that funnel .  

[ratherbhunting]

 Bring me there to take some bucks out

[electricstart]

Where I live and cannot hunt see way more Doe, Where I hunt it is opposite. Been declining for several years , See a lot of Doe with one fawn,

[JHbowhunter]

one thing is for certain, whatever the problem with NJ deer herd is in any DMZ - TWO FLEX BUCK TAGS WILL SOLVE IT!!!!

[Greybeard]

You have a bachelor group hanging around.  They will split up just before the season and can be miles away where you'll never see them again.  Experience told me so.  Does are with their fawns in thick cover, high grasses, if they weren't already eaten.

[Greybeard]

2 hours ago, JHbowhunter said:

one thing is for certain, whatever the problem with NJ deer herd is in any DMZ - TWO FLEX BUCK TAGS WILL SOLVE IT!!!!

Can't make money on 5 more if there's only 2

[bushden]

Add some cameras they are there

[Silkcitymedic]

The area your cameras are in may be favored by bucks??? How big of an area are we talking that these cameras cover?

 

[electric10162]

My farm is just the opposite. Lots of does but not much buck movement until late August. This year has been, by far, the most fawns I've ever seen.