S
SHOOTER13
Guest
Here's 10 common yarns, generalities or outright deer-hunting myths. Let's see how they stand up to scientific scrutiny.
{ http://www.grandviewoutdoors.com/articles/5563-mythbusting-top-10-whitetail-myths-and-why-theyre-not-true#sthash.dRQnZC5y.dpbs }
Myth No. 1:
The biggest buck gets first choice of the does. That’s true — if he’s there at the right time, the doe is willing, he intimidates all other suitors, and no smaller buck distracts him so long that an average buck sneaks in and breeds his girl while he’s not looking. In a perfect world, the monarch never wastes time dogging a doe that’s not quite ready, and he never loses a coy partner while driving off subordinates. Such distractions could also cause him to miss his chance with a prime doe over the next ridge, which instead settles for Average Joe. Nature also can’t guarantee all buck-doe unions will produce offspring. When researchers at Mississippi State University genetically traced bucks and their progeny, they found an experienced, yet average-antlered buck often produced more offspring than his trophy-antlered classmates. Why? Average always rules natural selection.
Myth No. 2:
Scent is the primary attractant in active scrapes. This won’t even earn an “it depends” answer. Scent is just one of three known factors that draw bucks to scrapes. More vital is the scrape’s location and the presence of an overhanging branch. If a scrape appears where deer don’t routinely travel, it seldom draws a second visit from a different deer. And if a scrape doesn’t include an overhanging branch about 5 feet above the ground, deer can’t leave scent all those months when they don’t paw and/or urinate into scrapes. “Think about it,” said Professor Karl Miller at the University of Georgia. “If you have five bucks in a square mile of woods and each urinates 10 times a day, you’d get 50 new scrapes every day during the rut.” Professor James Kroll at Stephen F. Austin University in Texas agreed. “Adding scent to a well-placed scrape increases its interest to bucks, but the scrape must also provide visual cues,” Kroll said. “In our research, bucks were just as likely to investigate a scrape whether we treated it with human urine, commercial buck scent, commercial doe scent, or ‘new-car-smell’ spray.”
{ http://www.grandviewoutdoors.com/articles/5563-mythbusting-top-10-whitetail-myths-and-why-theyre-not-true#sthash.dRQnZC5y.dpbs }
Myth No. 1:
The biggest buck gets first choice of the does. That’s true — if he’s there at the right time, the doe is willing, he intimidates all other suitors, and no smaller buck distracts him so long that an average buck sneaks in and breeds his girl while he’s not looking. In a perfect world, the monarch never wastes time dogging a doe that’s not quite ready, and he never loses a coy partner while driving off subordinates. Such distractions could also cause him to miss his chance with a prime doe over the next ridge, which instead settles for Average Joe. Nature also can’t guarantee all buck-doe unions will produce offspring. When researchers at Mississippi State University genetically traced bucks and their progeny, they found an experienced, yet average-antlered buck often produced more offspring than his trophy-antlered classmates. Why? Average always rules natural selection.
Myth No. 2:
Scent is the primary attractant in active scrapes. This won’t even earn an “it depends” answer. Scent is just one of three known factors that draw bucks to scrapes. More vital is the scrape’s location and the presence of an overhanging branch. If a scrape appears where deer don’t routinely travel, it seldom draws a second visit from a different deer. And if a scrape doesn’t include an overhanging branch about 5 feet above the ground, deer can’t leave scent all those months when they don’t paw and/or urinate into scrapes. “Think about it,” said Professor Karl Miller at the University of Georgia. “If you have five bucks in a square mile of woods and each urinates 10 times a day, you’d get 50 new scrapes every day during the rut.” Professor James Kroll at Stephen F. Austin University in Texas agreed. “Adding scent to a well-placed scrape increases its interest to bucks, but the scrape must also provide visual cues,” Kroll said. “In our research, bucks were just as likely to investigate a scrape whether we treated it with human urine, commercial buck scent, commercial doe scent, or ‘new-car-smell’ spray.”