I hate the words Cull Buck. This single term has led to the killing of more young bucks than anything. "I shot him because he was a cull and WE needed to get him out of the herd". Every deer that is shot, is culled from the herd regardless of antler size or configuration. A certain number of deer need to be removed from the herd each year depending on a number of factors. It is up to you to determine how many of each sex. If you concentrate on killing the older bucks and does you will always have a replenishing resource. Boy this is a touchy subject with me and gets me going.

Having been raised in and around ranching most of my life my definition of a Cull (anything) is something you don't want in your herd or breeding in your herd. That can mean a sick, injured, old, genetically lacking animal. It can mean an 8 point
or an odd point animal..Now whether or not you charge for same depends on the ranch and the animal..Some cull bucks are worthwile to mount...Some are not even fit to eat..I've killed so
many in the past 40 or so yrs. that I'd not know what a good deer
would be like to wish to kill and mount on the wall...Also it may
be females, spikes, ect..and I do not subscribe to 3 yr olds..I think at most you let them get past a yearling..If the Spike is 18mos old..he should be hamburger meat..DD

This is a crazy statement. Don't blame it on the term. If somebody shoots a young buck, then the blame needs to lie in the lack of education by the hunter. Do you blame your pencil for misspelled words too?

Killing young deer has nothing to do with the term cull buck.

It has everything to do with impatient trigger happy people trying to find a reason to shoot somethign and people thinking they know everythign there is to know about deer and they dont.

So now it is wrong in your eyes for a hunter to fill his tag with a deer of his choice?

So now it is wrong in your eyes for a hunter to fill his tag with a deer of his choice?

Nobody said that. He is responding the the fact that somebody is blaming the term "cull buck" for the shooting of young bucks. And yes, shooting young bucks is bad management for the herd. There is a reason that TPWD implemented antler restrictions.

But yet gave them an extra tag to kill unbranched antler bucks and spikes.

Ranchman, what do you call a 3pt 1.5-2.5 year old buck on places you have worked on in the past?

Genetically challenged and chicken fried venison after that.

the word "cull" hits a bad chord with alot of guys.

we used it to classify the worst of the worst bucks. like mature 5,6 and 7 points with really nasty racks.

those were culls. the "managment" stuff are 8 and 9 point bucks around 120". Now, some ranches, there managment deer are in the 140's. to me, this is trophy class.


as with everything else, it depends on where your at.

a 6 lb largemouth caught at choke canyon or fork isnt going to raise any eyebrows, its a nice fish, but not a trophy. however, go up to illinois and it might be the biggest largemouth caught in several generations of fisherman, up there, it is a trophy, because bass just don't grow that large up there.


hunting, just like everything else, isn't going to be the same for everyone. Some guys will shoot just one buck that would qualify as a trophy to most folks, some will shoot one every year, some will never, and hunt all their lives.


what matters is that you enjoy your experiance

Absolutely. But there are still tons of hunters that kill very young spikes that shouldn't be shot. I'd be willing to bet $1000 that many of those spikes haven't even had the time to grow anything more than spikes. They just see a spike and stick the rifle out the window without even realizing the deer is 1.5 years old.

You need to read some of your bretheran work then down at CKWRI and read some of their research on "culling". 10 yr study on over 4,000 bucks on 5 ranches in South Texas

You need to read some of your bretheran work then down at CKWRI and read some of their research on "culling". 10 yr study on over 4,000 bucks on 5 ranches in South Texas

You need to read some of your bretheran work then down at CKWRI and read some of their research on "culling". 10 yr study on over 4,000 bucks on 5 ranches in South Texas

STX, is this what you were referring to?

http://www.ckwri.tamuk.edu/fileadmin/use...tions/FOLEY.pdf

I like the STX studies, but I want some done in ETX.

That's a good question.. Temple has given SFA free run of some places for a while so figured they would have come up with something by now.

When do we start and where?

Bet gumby is quacking in his boots!

How about that Gumby Pasture to start with