Building A Doe House

Even though most deer have a short life expectancy, the mating season must be a very exhilarating and memorable experience for whitetails roaming this great country of ours. The urge to mate and increase the herd size runs very hard and strong for a 2 to 3 month period every year. There is no doubt that it drives the bucks crazy with lust. Bucks quickly become very vulnerable to the point of almost acting plumb stupid at times, as they search both day and night for receptive does. Bucks will continually seek out groups of does to increase their chances of locating a doe or several does in estrus. If you have a limited amount of property available to you to hunt, you should really focus on attracting as many does as possible to your small tract of property during this time period of the season. Every doe will come into estrus each month until she successfully breeds. Any property with a high concentration of does will be a hot buck hangout during the peak of the rut. Does have simple needs and will hang out where there is access to rich, continuous food sources in protected, less pressured areas. Increased amounts of food in these protected areas will sustain more deer, and the more does, the more bucks. Small properties will not carry a lot of deer for a long period of time under natural conditions.The carrying capacity is limited by its available resources. A healthy population of animals will sustain itself at roughly half the carrying capacity. In reality the size of your deer herd is in proportion to the amount of carrying capacity you have. This is where your role as a manager comes into play. Enhancing the natural food sources, maintaining rich food plots, and providing ample cover and protection will allow your property to carry a larger herd of deer and allow them to thrive on your property.Continuous maintenance of these food sources on your small property will bring the deer in early and will have them staying on your property more often during the year before, during and after the rut, creating a natural haven for local bucks and the cruising bucks a reason to hang around.