August 2008: Thanks to those of you who were able to make it to the informal meeting. It was nice being able to talk to everyone and hear the good and bad stories over the last year. The good stories are few and far between and the bad stories weigh heavily on our progress. The Rainbow group had thousands of dollars in equipment stolen throughout the course of last season therefore please be careful in what you leave in the woods and report wrong doings to the Game Wardon (Andy Barlow: 800-262-6704). Congrats to Harold as he had the only shooter buck last year and grats to all as this is the first year without any illegals. Therefore Harold is the winner of the Big Buck contest as well as the Greg Ledbetter award!!

A handful of us attended the QDMA conference in Chattanooga last weekend. The information gathered was eye opening. We are on the right track but as in most cases we have significant room for improvement. We heard several lectures from renowned biologist and deer managers on topics ranging from camera surveys to buck rub patterns. Most of the new research and think tank lectures have been and will be in the Quality Whitetails magazine. The basic concepts our club has adopted still remain the same. Let the bucks grow up to maturity while maintaining a natural sex ratio. Some newer concepts are even more interesting. Yearling dispersal rates, high grading bucks and natural forage production are some topics we can discuss now to better plan for our future herd. Some important points throughout the lectures are listed below:

• Higher forage quality yields higher antler production
• High Grading antlers yields lower average antler production
• Spikes show significant antler difference until maturity (5.5 y/o) then no statistical difference is seen thru maturity
• Culling immature deer produce less mature bucks on your property
• Providing a shoot and no-shoot booklet will improve harvesting of more mature deer
• Plant forage to feed not to attract as most important nutrition time is during summer (milk and antler production) and late winter (survivability)
• Cover (thermal and predatory) is just as important as food
• Buck to Doe Ratio should be a function of reproductive rate
• Managing old fields for native plant species increases food and cover at minimal cost
• Bucks prefer to rub and scrape along habitat edges, topographic valleys and secondary ridgelines

These are only the highlights of the 12 talks that were given. Feel free to discuss any of these points with any of us and amongst yourselves. Hopefully they will help us all understand and guide us to better manage our deer herd. As soon as we collect and review our camera survey we will decide how many does we should take. I will be trying to do the shoot/no-shoot booklet this year as it seemed like a really good idea to implement as we continue to try not to high grade our buck population as we want every buck to reach maturity at 5.5 y/o. There will be no penalty if someone shoots a buck in the no-shoot buck booklet as long as that buck conforms to our legal buck requirement. Be warned that might not be the case in years to come as we will start to try to age live deer better and the antler restriction might change to an age restriction.

Good luck this year and I hope everyone gets what they want out of this year's hunting season.

June 2008: I know I have been neglecting this site for too long but there isnt a whole lot of news to report on. Our earlier indications of death rate were grossly underestimated. After reviewing and reviewing the camera survey results we have come to the conclusion that our death rate was closer to 60%. Therefore the club has a lot of work to do this year to provide more than sufficient food and to ward off unwanted species (hog and coyotes). This is a critical year for the hunt club as we can push the deer to rebound back or we can cause them to stagger via personal inactivity. I would be concerned for my membership if I havent done anything to my area so far this year.

The barn group has taken a big step in helping the deer rebound and keeping the hogs at bay. They have 4 hog traps working year round and being checked weekly. They have put over 20 acres in round-up ready corn and soybean with fertilizer. It is coming up good and they are due to spray in a few weeks to keep the weeds at bay.

Since this is such an important year, we are not going to have an official long meeting. Instead we are having a chat session on Wednesday, July 23 anytime after 5 pm and we are strongly recommending that our members attend the QDMA convention the following weekend in Chattanooga. Also at that time dues will be due. If there is the slightest chance that you can not make it then send me the dues via here. There will be no acceptance of late dues this year.

Some of you have been calling and emailing me about letters. They are going out this week and I apologize for them being later in the year as you all are used to but we are going to start having the meetings closer to the begining of the season for a couple of reasons. First is timing of our work week and the camera survey. The second is we dont want to tell the members what to do we want them to report what they have done. We are going to start to weed out the members who just pay and hunt and begin to fertilize the ones who upgrade their area with higher quality habitat and trails. The officers feel we have had a good understanding of what is expected and what is required thru the landowners and we must keep them happy in order for our kids to have the opportunity to hunt what we have created.

I hope to see all of you at the chat session and at the convention in late July. Have a good summer and see you soon.

September 2007: I have some bad news. The drought has brought a blue tongue death rate of around 30% in Overton county. The numbers were passd to us thru the TWRA. When I get up there for opening of archery on Sept. 21st, I will be going thru our camera survey to estimate how drastically it hit our lease. Until further notice please be wary of shooting does this year as we just are not sure what the death rate was from the blue tongue. This is mother nature at work and there was very little we could have done to prevent this disease. We will be talking with wildlife officials to see if there are any economical ways to prevent this in the future.

With all the bad news still there is some good news. We haven't had any hog sign in a couple months and hunting season is here!! Thanks to everyone who has turned in their camera survey results and please print out observation forms if you need them. Good luck this year and hope to see your deer at the meeting next year.

August 2007: Our camera survey is underway!! We have some good pics on the cameras and so far we are estimating ~10 different bucks. The only disappointing stat is I have only seen one shooter thus far. This isn't a tell all because bucks do move around and we only had 4 cameras working so it is very possible we have more. Please get me your pics before archery season starts and also let me know when you setup and took down your baited cameras.

Archery season is one month away and I have the fever!! I hope everyone is looking forward to this year's season as much as I am. We should have a decent crowd at the barn the opening of archery Sept. 22nd. We wish everyone the best of luck and most of all please hunt safely.

Now some disappointing news. The drought and excessive heat has limited the food plots this year and they are looking dreadful. If yours are the same please consider planting a booster crop of winter food sometime in September. Hopefully we can salvage up enough food for the entire herd to eat thru the winter.

If you have not received your membership cards please contact me ASAP. The season is around the corner and I want to make sure all the i's and lower case j's are dotted. Hunt hard, Kill swiftly, Waste nothing and No apologies.

July 2007: We had a small turnout at the meeting but those who showed up had a great open discussion about hogs, food plots and our deer herd. In order to sum up the meeting I will try to remember the general ideas.

The hogs are a problem and are being seen all over the property. Members can hunt hogs on the property as long as there are no dogs to appease the landowners and you hunt under Tennessee hunting regulations. In addition, I will be posting a calendar in which members can sign up to check Rob's hog trap and can harvest every hog in the trap. I will explain where it is located when you email me the date you would like to check the trap. We encourage everyone to participate in this or to setup their own hog traps. If you setup your own trap, please try to set it up away from your food plots as deer try to keep a good distance away from hogs.

The camera survey will take place in mid-August. Please have your cameras spaced out appropriately and baited at least 4 weeks prior. Please send me a CD of all your pics as close to September 1st as possible. You can have a CD made at any store that prints pictures and I think it costs around $5 regardless of your camera style. The more cameras we have throughout the property the more accurately we can set our doe harvest numbers.

This should be a low mass crop year therefore please put out as much winter food as possible. We still don't have enough winter food on the property to support our herd. The more food you put out the more it will attract deer this season. Good luck this year and you can always contact me with any question.

May 2007: It is official, the 2007 meeting will be held at Rob's Barn on Friday, June 15th at 7PM. Please remember that we need your deer observation forms and/or camera pictures. The dues for this year will remain at $150 for 16 year olds and older. Remember that only one membership is required per family with kids 15 y/o and younger.

Hogs are everywhere so please be ready to discuss how you would like to get and keep them under control. Nothing much else is on the table to discuss as most of you are well aware and agree with the club's QDM approach. So we will probably have an open discussion most of the time.

We did really well last year on illegals and doe harvest with only one Greg Ledbetter award finalist. We had several nice bucks taken this year but the average age on them was still under 3 y/o. This means we have the genetics and more importantly the nutrition. The only thing left is to start creeping up the harvested buck average age, meaning we start letting the legal 2.5 y/o walk. We know it will be tough not to harvest these young monsters, but there were three 2.5 y/o harvested last year and the all scored above 110 and the biggest being 135". Just imagine what these were going to be in 2 or 3 years time.

With a bunch of 1.5 y/o on the property and the right nutrition there is no doubt that we can have some monsters in the next couple years. Please be safe this year and we look forward to seeing all of you on June 15th. Please contact Toby if you are not able to attend in order to make arrangements for your new cards and dues.

March 2007: This year's Meeting will be held either on June 15th or June 16th. I will post more details when they become available. Hogs will be discussed as it seems to be our most pressing issue. Other topics will include our harvest numbers and possible changes to the antler restrictions. I will be sending out letters in April for those who do not have internet access. If there are any questions or concerns as always please contect me via this link.

Dues will not change and stay at $150 per member 16y/o and higher. Remember this is a family club, therefore spouses and kids 15y/o and younger do not pay dues.

January 2007: The season was a great success. An almost perfect season as we only have one Greg Ledbetter finalist. We harvested 5 shooter bucks this season with an average score around 135" and age just below 3 years. The biggest being 155" gross. Congrats to all who harvested a shooter buck and especially to those who harvested does.

Now for some disturbing news. We have hogs on the property and they have destroyed the big corn field food plots. The officers are looking into hog traps and other hog management techniques. If you have any information that can help the club in this manner please send it to me via this link. Please feel free to hunt the hogs off of AHC property thru the legal methods. I am not 100% sure what the regulations are in Tennessee concerning harvesting hogs but please refrain from hunting hogs with dogs and any other method that can cause problems with the AHC landowners and adjacent landowners.

Although we had a great hunting season, the club still has room for improvement. With 5 shooters taken, the average age on the bucks was low. This tells us that we have great genetics and we could have some monsters if we let them grow just 1 or 2 years more. If we let these five grow 2 or 3 years more the potential for the average would be above 160" with the monster potential being high 170's or 180's.

We have not nailed down a specific date for the work week yet but it will be one of the first Saturdays in June. We will discuss the hog problem, the harvest data and other club issues. If someone harvests a hog shortly before the meeting please let us know as we might do a cookout this year.

On a personal note, I might not be able to answer your questions or concerns as quickly as I have in the past over the next few months as my wife and I are expecting our first child the first of February. I apologize if your emails don't get responded to within one day but they will get answered ASAP.

November 2006: The camera survey was a success and it shows that we have at least 15 different bucks on the property. The survey also estimated a 3:1 doe to buck ratio. This gives us approximately 60 deer on 1200 acres or 32 deer per square mile. The survey also yielded 3 definate shooter bucks and a couple that hang the edge and are most likely illegal. Again ths survey only consists of 1/3 of our huntable land so there should be similar numbers throughout the property. If we can ramp up these efforts throughout the entire club we will have a big doe harvest almost every year which means more meat in the freezer for everyone and more importantly a healthier herd.

I want to personally wish everyone good luck this season as I know the big one is still out there and might even beat Kelvin's big buck from last year. Most of all please hunt safe and enjoy the experience. Hunt hard; Kill swiftly; Waste Nothing; No Apologies.

September 2006: The camera census is finished so please send me all your pics via this link. The number of does we want to take as a club will be posted as soon as the officers and the DMAP officials agree on the data findings. Which brings me to some questions for the members: How liberal do we want to be with our doe harvest? Do we want to get our buck to doe ratio to 1:1 or do we want more bucks per does?  Please e-mail me your thoughts and comments. As of right now we are going to aim for a natural balance of 1:1.

It has been brought to my attention that some members past and present feel that the officers of this club are trying to push the locals out of this club. The officers are really taking this to heart as having the majority of members locals is one of our main goals and not to mention stipulations with the landowners. If you feel this way please let me know ASAP so I can let the officers know and we can take appropriate actions. Please understand this is an open invitation to talk about anything that might be troubling you or your group.

With archery season right around the corner please do not forget to abide by Tennessee hunting laws and get any corn or bait out of the woods as it may ruin someone's hunt if they hunt nearby. This is a discretionary law and it is strictly in the hands of the game wardon. Believe it or not it, this was an issue last year and it caused two members not to be able to hunt their bow stands last year. Even if you are not a bow hunter your corn in the woods can cause another to suffer the consequences because of how this regulation is worded.

Hopefully this will be a great year as we have some great pictures of at least 3 shooter bucks. The biggest is estimated in the low 150's (4.5 yrs), the next in the high 130's(4.5 yrs)and the third low 120's (3.5 yrs). There have been herds seen as big as 35 doe and young bucks. These have been observed on just 1000 acres so there should be more bucks on the property. I hope everyone has a successful and more importantly safe hunting season.

July 2006: This year's meeting went well and we welcome three new members that will be hunting the Rainbow area. To sum up the meeting, every group will elect a leader and that leader will report non-compliance of duties to Rob and will be responsible for determining who in his/her group will not be allowed back due to non-compliance of improving the land. Improving the land consists of making food plots and/or maintaining them as well as maintaining your trails and roads. We are not putting a dollar amount on this work but all we and the landowners ask for is a decent effort. If there is anything you would like to see on this web site please let me know.

Dues have been increased to $150 per year in order to make the club self-sufficient financially.

Kelvin Garrett won this year's big buck winnings!! Pictures are on the previous page if you have not seen them.

If you have any observation and/or trail camera pictures please send me copies before the meeting via this link.

Our harvest info from this year includes Kelvin's Buck, 4 illegals and 9 does. The average age harvested was 1.8 yrs. This is a low average and as a club we need to work on raising this figure. The average weight of harvested does was 73 lbs dressed. This is a decent number given the amount of young deer taken.

We have been doing well with our doe harvest the last couple years and we are just beginning to see our results. We have 5 cameras out year round around the barn and we are seeing around 2 does per buck. We will be doing a camera survey in August that we plan to talk about at the meeting and we strongly encourage all groups to participate. If you do not participate in the camera survey you probably will not be able to harvest any does this year (not set in stone as it will be discussed at the meeting).

Now we are faced with a crucial decision. Should we continue the liberal doe harvest to get our ratio even better or do we scale back the doe harvest to get our overall population higher or what combination? Hopefully the club will come to a decision at the meeting. For more info please scroll down below Rules and Reg's.

The kids stand has been renamed to the first timers stand to better reflect the purpose of this stand.

We have many things to discuss come June 16th. Please RSVP to me before June 2nd via this link.

Allred Hunt Club Rules and Regulations

• Hunting permitted only with valid member card and Tennessee Hunting License
• Children 15 y/o and younger allowed to hunt w/ parent holding valid member card
• Children are allowed 1 doe every year without exception but must follow rules for bucks
• Adults are not allowed to take any does until the camera survey results are assessed
• Harvest tags never leave processing room (except part that stays on carcass)
• All harvest and observation data to be properly and completely filled out
• Under no circumstances is anyone outside of the club is to use our deer tags
• Observe Tennessee hunting laws, regulations and limits
• Observe Allred Hunt Club Safety Guidelines
• Legal bucks are 4 points on one side and a minimum 14.5” inside spread
• No more than 2 bucks taken per year per member
• Allred Hunt Club can dissolve at any point in time via Robert Daniels
• Rules and privileges subject to change via Robert Daniels
• Penalty for not turning in Observation Forms by February 1st is paying dues again
• Penalties for Illegal Bucks
• 1 st Offense – Monetary penalty equal to current years dues
• 2 nd Offense – Unable to hunt the following year but must keep duties
• 3 rd Offense – Out of club
• Forgiveness Period is One Season

Expectations of Members

• Whatever you carry in you carry out
• Improve land and deer herd
• Police property for trespassers
• Use Quality Deer Management procedures

Deer Data Collection

•  Sex

•  # of points

•  Inside spread

•  Where

•  When

•  How

•  Weight

•  Age (via jawbone extraction)

•  Score

•  Picture  

Contacts

•  Contact Toby Daniels with deer data or concerns via this link.

Pictures

The purpose of this letter is to explain 3 different deer management strategies and their advantages and disadvantages. We hope to come to a consensus to properly balance deer density and trophy deer.

The 3 scenarios are all based on similar assumptions and they are as follows:

1. Deer capacity is 100 head and is always full
2. Retaining rate is 70% (includes mortality, predation, etc.)

First let’s start with a natural baseline, meaning we will create an estimated deer age structure with retaining rate affecting does and bucks equally based on the above assumptions. With 100 head capacity that gives us 50 does and 50 bucks based on stipulation that retaining rate is not sex dependent. Using the 70% retaining rate, the age structure looks as follows:

Every following year is the same as the first as all assumptions are met. Therefore in nature this is an estimated age structure from which we can compare our other scenarios against. Please note that there are 11 legal bucks (bucks 3.5 yrs of age and older) and the doe to buck ratio is 1.

The first scenario is traditional management stating no doe kills, no antler/age restrictions and 30% of bucks are harvested each year. Starting with the natural age structure and introducing hunters using traditional methods after the first year of hunting the age and sex structure becomes:

Please note that the doe to buck ratio has significantly increased and the number of legal bucks has dropped to 7 after the first year. Let’s see what happens after year number 2.

Now the doe to buck ratio is over 3 and the number of legal bucks is down to 3. As we continue though the years the doe to buck ratio grows and the number of legal bucks diminishes.

Some problems with these calculations arise with the given assumptions. When you increase the number of does within a set capacity the yearling survival rate severely drops off and may not accurately depict reality although for these purposes it is a reasonable assumption because it assumes that does can not feed their young adequately enough for survival. It is also noteworthy to mention that older deer will chase off younger deer when feed becomes limited.

Let’s talk about the second scenario with the assumptions that 50% of the legal bucks are harvested along with one doe for every buck. Again starting with the natural age structure and after the first year of hunting this way the age and sex structure changes to:

Please note that the doe to buck ratio is unchanged and the number of legal bucks has dropped to 8. The age structure has shifted to favor younger deer meaning that the average has been reduced slightly. As we continue through the years hunting this strategy we see very little change from year to year because we are taking the same number of bucks and does and the young deer replenish the older ranks year after year.

One flaw in these calculations arises because the yearling survival rate slightly increases because of the void in the capacity when taking out so many deer which affects the base assumption of 70% retaining rate. This cause the retaining rate to become slightly skewed from year to year but never exceeds 10% error. This is acceptable for our purposes and assumptions based on reality.

The last scenario is based on true trophy management assuming that 50% legal bucks are harvested and 2 does for every buck. Again starting with natural conditions and after the first year the age and sex structure looks as follows:

Please note that the buck to doe ratio is the inverse to the doe to buck ratio. The buck to doe ratio has increased and the number of legal bucks has increased to 13. This may seem odd to most people as we have harvested the same number of bucks as the previous scenarios so why did the number of legal bucks go up? The answer is simple. As you harvest more does, you tend to kill off your older doe generations leaving your adult age structure to contain a higher percentage of bucks.

After the second year the age and sex structures looks this way:

We are starting to bend the limits of our assumptions at this point because we have 35 yearlings dropping from 24 does which is a huge increase in yearling survival rate. This has been observed in high fence operations so it is a reasonable effect but the following year proves this can not continue under the given assumptions. For our purposes please note that the buck to doe ratio is 3 and the number of legal bucks is 17.

To briefly sum up all 3 scenarios we will look at the buck to doe ratio and the number of legal bucks produced based on the given assumptions. The traditional method heavily skews the sex structure towards does causing yearling survival rates to drop based on the capacity restraint. The decrease in mature bucks is also seen because they are basically hunted out before they reach maturity. The one doe harvested for every buck harvested will initially drop the average age and number of legal bucks but retains these numbers throughout satisfying the given assumptions. When we increase the number of does taken with every buck we skew the yearling survival rate opposite of traditional methods causing an increase in average age and number of legal bucks produced every year. Unfortunately this comes with its severe disadvantage as if this trend is continued it will essentially kill off a deer herd. Therefore we must come up with a management plan that will balance deer density, age and sex structure to produce an adequate number of legal bucks every year. Obviously either extreme (traditional or multiple does per buck) is not the answer but some mix in between.

When talking about reality there are several problems with the given assumptions. I will try to discuss a few as intellectually as I can. Capacity was set to a given amount of 100 head. This assumes that there is a given amount of land with a constant amount of food year round. This is unlikely for our club because our food plots are a dismal 1-2% of our total lease. Therefore our deer capacity varies with the environment as the food sources are not constant because there is insufficient nutrition from our plots year round. This will affect the size of our herd every year as well as herd movement. We have seen this over the last couple years as we have seen high mass crops and very low mass crops in succession. Until we have adequate year round nutrition for our herd we will have to change our management quota/guidelines accordingly.

This brings us to a very important topic of surveying and observing, as we historically see a poor effort as a whole. I can not stress how important it is for everyone to participate in the camera survey and hunter observations. We will only hurt ourselves when we make decisions based upon incomplete data. In fact I retract my last statement and replace it with this one: The people who do not participate in the camera survey and hunter observations are hurting this club the most, both financially and recreationally. We spend over $1000 every year on the DMAP program based on our surveys and observations. Those who do not participate this year will most likely not be allowed back next year.

Another important topic is following through with the management plan. If we do not harvest the number of does and/or harvest illegal bucks then all of our efforts are in vain and become useless. Not following the management plan will be taken on the same level as people not participating in the survey and observations.

The 70% retaining rate was a guess based on my part and it includes natural mortality, predation and other various in-flows and out-flows of deer. This 70% worked well with my calculations and seemed to fit our current camera survey and observations. Even though this is a general rate it was useful and fairly accurate for our basic calculations.

We will be doing a camera survey in August with one camera per 100 acres. All of the cameras will be baited for 3 weeks prior and throughout the survey. We understand if you can not afford a trail camera but we ask that you contact Toby or Rob in order to make arrangements to participate in the survey. The survey will last 10 days and the pictures will be turned in to Toby immediately following in order to prepare for the DMAP biologists to make their recommendations.