buck in velvet

[waidmann 105]

now without treading on peoples toes.

 

 

i have spent alot of time outlands (as some will know) and find it strange to shoot bucks in velvet, where i learned "the shooting thing" the season started on the 15th of may,later the first of may and the trophy was an important thing ( a doe that needed it was worth more than a 1a buck,not that the wrong impresssion....)

 

are these pureley cull bucks?

could they not be shot later in the year? (i'm aware of vegitation growth etc).

thanks for the moderate and informed/sensible replies,the rest can get |@@@@@

 

waidmann

[2434me 13]

In a perfect world it would be ideal to be able to have a nice bit of ground and do a management plan that had some chance of success. Leaving the promising beasts and culling the the poorer ones (once clean of course ).

However ,between today's small stalking area's and odd bits of ground to the damage control side of things. A lot of people have to show results or loose their stalking .This results in a situation where If its seen then its shot .

That's not good or bad ! That's just the way it is .Big estates can do differently ,but small areas you cant.

 

If I cant take out as much of the cull before the end of May as I can .Then between cover and a few thousand pheasants I just don't have time to do it .

 

It must be frustrating for some people with a small patch. to watch deer overwintering on their ground and moving to the neighbour's for summer(and never coming back ! )

 

The size and type of ground vary to the same degree as the shooting plans .Which relates to the shoot it in velvet or not ?.Which part of the country you are in makes a difference too !The further north /the longer in velvet .

 

The bottom line I suppose is that in some area.s clean bucks would work and in others its just not practical ??

Hope this makes sense ????

[jon15 14]

2434me, it makes perfect sense to me, my sentiments exactly.

Edited April 10, 2010 by jon15

[foxdropper 17,092]

Velvet or hard antler ,its a poor stalker who cant tell the age of a buck and its potential when clean by looking at in velvet .By age i mean whether its old or young .All mature sixes are left to clean to then be accessed from there .There will be those who will be shaking their heads at this but you only really judge a buck by whats on his head this year and not what you believe will be on it next year .Also ,the same as does on any one day ,you only compare what is in front of you and not what you saw yesterday or hope to see tommorrow. Even on large tracts of land bucks wander in and out until just before the rut further confusing any cull plans .I hate shooting in velvet but it has to be done just to please landowners and to harvest them whilst they are still around in groups .