creed_az_88 Report post Posted October 15, 2004 I've noticed that a lot of bucks that come out of one area all have the same form of antlers or that the horns of some bucks look a lot like other deer in the area. Do genes play a big role in how many big bucks are in one area or how big the deer will get. one area i hunt the bucks tend to get longer g3's than g2's and in another area (in the same unit) the bucks seem to have better mass than in most places. i've also noticed that in some area i'll find sheds that will only get three points but in other areas the sheds get more but their a little smaller. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WHT_MTNMAN Report post Posted October 18, 2004 I think genetics are the main cause of antler growth. Even though nutrition and water plays a big role, without both you can still find big bucks. I know of lots of areas that the bucks resemble each other. There is a canyon where i grew up that the right side of a mule deer buck, never branched into the 4th point, but the left side branched normally, we always saw numerous 3x4's of all differnt width's and lengths but with a similar non branching right side. Who's knows I'm not a genetisist. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
.270 Report post Posted October 18, 2004 genetics play a big part in everything. coues deer are subject to the "sky island" syndrome, like a lot of other SE AZ. animals. their ranges don't cross with other coues and each mt. range sort of develops it's own little subspecies of coues. as well as amphibians, rodents, mollusks, etc. just about everything that can't cross ranges with other animals similar to them. that's why there are so many different little patches of "endangered" species in the southwest and northern mexico. they find these populations of an animal that is minutely different from other real similar animals and then find that it only lives in one creek or on one hillside and all the sudden it's "endangered". even tho it's been getting along fine for eons, right where it's at all by itself. it's real common for the coues deer in a certain area to have similar antler traits and so on, because they don't get much fresh blood in the gene pool. sort of like the ol' movie "deliverance". i've never seen any banjo pickin' whitetail, but i've sure been able to see where they look a lot alike. besides, take a look at bullwidgeon. he swears it's been several generations, but you can still see the squirrell monkey in him. Lark. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bullwidgeon Report post Posted October 19, 2004 (edited) Nothing wrong with squirrel monkey genes, it allows me to scamper over boulder piles at pace that would make coatimundis give up in a foot race . And besides I can not help it if my mom is from New Mexico . I think genetics play a giant part in deer growth. I think that is why there are alot of big giant bucks taken from certain areas that get hunted alot. Unit 33 always offers up a toad or two in some area that has a road or 5 running right through it. I know they get hunted, I am one of the goofballs that hunts them. Some of these deer are not the 7 and 8 year olds that it generally takes to make a 110 inch deer. More like 3 or 4 year olds with good genes. I am sure alot of other units (36B for sure) offer the same thing in certain areas. Bret M. Edited January 1, 1970 by bullwidgeon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
.270 Report post Posted October 19, 2004 mom is from new mexico, now dat's funny. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
