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ORMuley,

Earlier in the thread I was ambiguous because intentions were not to dive so deep. But whitetails are an enjoyable topic for me so the more the thread progressed the deeper I dove. Lets go a little deeper still.

You pose a very interesting question regarding if the antlers of the younger two year old crop are similar to the oldest AI'd crop. In short, the answer is no, the live bread deer are not as big and freaky as the AI'd.

More details on the beginnings.

2018 Fall. All native deer were removed. Twenty bred does and three breeder bucks were brought in. All of these does were first AI'd before delivered, with the breeder bucks serving as backup (this year). Two of the breeder bucks were not "freaks" but good bucks in the 180-200" range. One was a freak. As for the AI genetics, I honestly have no idea. We knew and trusted the breeder.

These fawns hit the ground in the summer of 2019. From the 20 does, 9 bucks made it to 2.5 years old in the fall of 2021. Two were culled out in 2021 leaving 7. Two more were culled this year, the fall of 2022, leaving 5 remaining (pictured in this thread) which we intend to let live and breed indefinitely.

2019 Fall. All breeding done by the three breeder bucks. As of fall of 2022 there are 7 bucks 2.5 years old from this class. One was culled due to tumors/warts all over him. The remaining deer are clean slick typicals. No freaks. Remember two breeder bucks were normal and one was a freak. But none of the offsprings were freaks.

2020 Fall. Same as 2019. As of fall of 2022 these bucks are 1.5 and appear to be on the same course as the previous class. I estimate 5 to 8 bucks in this class but they are hard to distinguish on the hoof and believe it or not, we do not set up game cams. Cams got to be too much like work and this is for fun.

The two non freak breeder bucks were harvested in the fall of 2020 (after the rut) leaving the freak as the one remaining breeder.

2021 Fall. Breeding was handled by the one freak breeder buck and the 2.5 year old 2019 class (the class pictured in this thread). These drops were 0.5 year old button bucks this year (fall 2022) so no way of determining potential.

2022 Summer. The freak breeder buck died of natural causes.

2022 Fall. All breeding done by the bucks pictured in this thread and opportunistic younger bucks.

I do not predict many freak bucks like pictured in this thread, the AI'd 2019 class. I believe most will be typicalish 200" class when mature.

One side of the below the pictured buck has dropped this year, been found, and scored. I have used this to estimate the other side. Any guesses? Hint, it blew my mind.

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One side of the below the pictured buck has dropped this year, been found, and scored. I have used this to estimate the other side. Any guesses? Hint, it blew my mind.

Poor abused bucks. LOL

270"+

I've greatly enjoyed reading this thread.
Keep it going if you could. Would love to see updates each year .

Cheater.

Thanks! Will keep it up, God willing.

Maybe I've missed it, but have you stated what part of the state your property is located in or do you prefer to keep that under wraps?

Most of us are understandably envious of your 'project' and can only imagine the pleasure you derive from it. It would be nice to watch bucks like that whenever you want. I would never turn down a shot at a nice buck, but my main goal is to fill the freezer. I would think that the meat from these well fed, unstressed animals would be noticeably tastier than the average wild deer....correct?

I second the motion to keep this thread going. Congratultions!

Was I close?

Admittedly, you were pretty dang close before you saw the calculations.

Hook, PM sent.

Thank you for the detailed reply - much obliged! Of the bucks you have in the pictures I agree with the one that is the crowd favorite just an awesome buck. On the sheds, I have no idea I'm hardly a whitetail expert but I can see he is a brute. Thanks again and hope you keep this thread going with updates on how your deer are doing.

Be interesting to see what kind of rack he produces this year[if he survives winter].

Good timing. I picked up one side of his shed during lunch today. I believe he is 100% recovered. A doe came back in heat last week and he was the man, running all the others bucks off. She was his. He's going to make it. Also remember this is lower Alabama. Winter is over. 76 today. LOL.

Cool & Thanks

We're in a CWD zone in my county here in SWVA, only a couple have tested positive in 2 years.
But with the numbers explosion and mild winters we're experiencing I could see Ma nature doing her thing.

With the limited genetic contribution of the initial 3 breeder bucks, were you comfortable with the paternal diversity of the 20 AI does? Also being of Alabama blood I’m aware of the range of rut dates in different parts of the state due to differing lineage of stocking lines. I have found hot scrapes and seen rutting activity from October through January. Are your blood lines showing common breeding cycles or various? I read your mention of a second estrous doe which makes me think you may still have some native Alabama blood line going. Thanks

shootem, yes we are comfortable with genetic diversity. Not only do I trust the breeder, who is a long time valued friend, who assured us there were no potential problems, we consulted with Auburn University on the matter. You know the saying, trust but verify.

Regarding the rut, you are exactly right on Oct - Jan rutting activity in parts of Alabama. The deer in the fence were rutting when I started this thread on Oct 20 and rutted continuously through early February. This is the first week that I've not seen a hot doe. Yes, the later it got, the more it began to trickle, and a lot of the trickle was the second cycle, but there was a hard rut from late October through early January.

Interestingly, when the rut started to a trickle, at times with only one hot doe (how do I know only one hot doe? Because all five of the dominant bucks were within 100 yards.) there was no one buck consistently on the hot doe. It seemed to be a different buck each time. Whoever found her first did a good job of keeping the others at bay. It appears to me that there is no one dominant buck and they are all about equal.

I never heard the results of all the testing from 2 seasons ago. Like the game dept was keeping it quiet

One of our employees owns a farm within the 'zone'.
Doe season there ran from last Sept thru this March.
During the regular 4 week rifle season you could tag bucks with the damage tags they mailed every residence within the 'zone'.
My wife killed this one in the zone on a friends farm, it's the biggest bodied buck either of us have ever killed.

Were there no deer on the property as the fence was constructed?
How would you know this as I assume you are talking about 600+ acres?

If I had the means[$$] i would love doing what you have on my meager property, and not for hunting but just to watch and learn.
We are lucky enough to get to sit on the porch and watch deer mornings and evenings, some have marks or mannerisms to where you get to know if 'that' deer is in the group at any given time.

Thanks again for the thread!