jrs1986,
I think your different perspective is good.
You don't say how big your hunting property is with the vast surroundings.
We all have our frame of reference. My frame of reference is being 10 miles away from Boofer, having a high deer population, I do actually have a doe sink and it does prevent bucks from moving significant distances. They simply don't have to travel distances to find a receptive doe. The bucks use more marginal undisturbed areas to bed and roam. I can count on nearly 24 does bedding on or around my 35.5 acres in back (I have three acres frontage). I have good food cover, bedding, water and lack of hunting pressure (I hunt rarely and am not that experienced with a bow. 95% of my time and efforts are habitat--I love it--and 5% hunting). Tremendous hunting pressure and neighborhood disturbances. Human presence and domestic dogs, as well as over-hunting neighbors. 3 1/2 year old bucks and older are not stupid or lack instincts to be anything but nocturnal when they need to be. And they don't have to move to find does in the 60 DPSM area.
But I do have exceptional habitat. And do have a doe sink. It is not a scare tactic by habitat managers. I see it on stand all the time. I do see a fair number of bucks, just not shooters on stand during legal shooting times. And I don't spend enough time on stand because I got other things going on.
It is not unusual for me to see the first 24 deer in a blind during EAS firearms seasons be all antler-less. Three years ago I saw 40 deer during opening day firearms. One was a 2 1/2 year old impressive looking buck that I took a pass on at 45 yards (waiting for a 3 1/2 year old, which never came. I just have no desire to harvest a 2 1/2 year old).
I agree that if Boofer has no bedding at all he should create it and it won't be a detriment.
You make good points. Only Boofer can do what's best and write his own script based on what he sees and adapts to. But too many does, excessive hunting pressure and over harvest of immature bucks will present a problem. You are right, having do bedding is probably a good thing for him to shoot for.
Thank you for your very civil response. I hope you can see that I wasn't trying to start an argument or say that you're wrong, but rather have an discussion with someone with different viewpoints. Perspective is a funny thing, and although we've had somewhat similar experiences our opinions vary greatly.
My property is 42 acres with 1 acre of frontage. It is a mixture of tillable, hardwood ridges, dogwood thickets, and scattered Reed Canary Grass pockets. Along with that there is ample water provided by a pond, a creek, and several man-made drainage ditches. While some does do bed on my property, I feel the majority of the bedding and especially buck bedding takes place on neighboring grounds. Despite this (and high concentrations of does) we've been quasi successful at harvesting 3.5 y/o and older bucks over the years. And as we improve our habitat and minimize our impact during hunting season, I'm confident that we can increase our odds in the coming seasons (just my brother and I hunting it currently).
With that said I fully agree that habitat manipulation is more enjoyable than actually hunting. But for me deer season is a year round event, I just can't get enough of it. I'm presently on year 4 of about a 10 year plan. Also, being young with no kids yet, a very understanding and awesome wife, and a seasonal self-employed business that affords me the ability to spend literally as much time as I want in the fall to chase whitetails, I'd say that I'm rather blessed.
I would be surprised if our density during hunting season is anything less than the 60 DPSM that you mention and 75 DPSM wouldn't really surprise me. Included in that estimate, I say we have a good percentage of antlered bucks, which usually includes a few in the 3.5 range, and usually at least 1 or a small handful in the 4.5 range (5.5 and older bucks are very rare, I'd say we have 1 around every 2-3 years at best).
Despite the high population, I still feel they must move in order to find a receptive doe during the rut. Now certainly the distance will generally be less in a population of 60 animals per square mile as opposed to 15, but distance must be traveled nonetheless if they desire to breed. And by the limited rutting activity I've seen after late November, I believe that the overwhelming majority of it takes place during the primary breeding phase. This combined with other thoughts, brings me to the conclusion that the does bedding on my ground are being courted when they go into estrous in early November, despite the likely fact that some of the bucks may be bedding 1/4 to 1/2 mile away.
Perhaps the difference in our situations is the surrounding pressure. It's sounds as though yours is very high, while mine is generally pretty low. Our greatest pressure always comes from within, and the only way to change that would be to stop hunting. We have 90 acres of immediate and adjacent dogwood and tamarack thickets that act as sanctuaries, with virtually zero hunting pressure.
Maybe there are things that neither of us understand or have even thought about, and to me that's half the fun of this.
So again I just can't wrap my head around the doe sink theory, it's just too easy to poke holes into in my opinion. But who knows? Maybe I'm entirely wrong, I like to consider myself a constant student of all this stuff. And I truly hope that never changes.
Another point from a previous post of yours I agree with, is that does bedding on the OP may screw up his hunting. That is very possible if they are bedding randomly, it will likely make accessing stands without bumping deer very difficult. If this is the case nearly everyone would agree that his hunting would deteriorate fast. But if he can design known bedding areas which will allow him access to great stands without giving away his position, that would tip the ball in his favor. And if possible, it is my opinion that this is what he should strive for, along with the transition plots
But again only Boofer can make that determination and set goals as to what he'd like to try to achieve. I would just offer the advice to set realistic goals, if there haven't been any 4.5 year old bucks around regularly for years, there is likely nothing you can do about that. Unless you want to buy out the 600 acres around you, and even that may not do it.