THE SUPER GENE

What Is A Trophy Buck?

EDITOR'S NOTE: What role does genes play in your local deer herd? Can the introduction of a monster buck into a herd assure quality deer for years to come? The answer to these and other questions will definitely surprise you. I talked with Dr. Harry Jacobson, one of the nation's leading deer researchers from Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi, who currently studies genetic effects on deer populations.

According to Dr. Harry Jacobson, hunters need to redefine the definition of a trophy buck. The Boone and Crockett and the Pope and Young scoring systems identify a trophy buck as a male animal with superior antlers in comparison to all other bucks of that same species, regardless of geographic location.

This system has a major inequity in the way it determines a trophy. A Key deer in Florida never will have the body weight or size and mass of antlers of a buck in Alberta, Canada. A trophy south Florida deer only may have 8 points on his rack with a less than 18-inch inside spread of his main beams. But he may be a true trophy buck for that area. An average-size buck in Alberta may weigh 250 pounds and have 10-point antlers with a 20-inch spread of the main beams. But if a hunter bags that Alberta buck in south Florida, the buck will be an extremely good trophy -- one of the best ever taken in that region.

Therefore, Jacobson believes that to determine a true trophy, you must consider the geographic region from which it comes. He says hunters should consider the habitat and the availability and quality of food in the section of the country when awarding trophy status to any buck.

A 150-pound 8-point buck 6 years old or older may very well be the biggest buck that region can produce because of habitat, food availability and the genetics in the herd. Who's to say that if you bag that buck, you haven't taken the best trophy in the area? "To produce the biggest and the best trophy bucks your region can support, you must allow the bucks to survive to 6 years," Jacobson explains.

Question: Do you believe hunters should rate the quality of bucks only by antler development and body weight?
Answer: I believe something is wrong with a hunter's mentality when he judges a buck only by body weight and the size of his antlers. Quality doe management means trying to manage the deer in a particular environment where they reside. For instance, if a deer lives in a heavily forested area, having antlers 3-feet wide gives him no advantage, because they'll get caught on all the growth through which he has to move. If a deer lives in south Texas, a large body size also will not benefit the buck. A small bodies deer can thermally adapt easier to the Texas environment than a large body size. In the North, a large body size becomes an overriding factor because large bodies are more thermally efficient in cold climates. In other words, a buck with a big body in the North can stay warmer and survive better than a buck with a small body. In the South, a small-bodied buck remains cooler and survives better that a big-bodied buck.

TOMORROW: DON'T SHOOT SPIKES