What is the biggest determining factor in staking out dominance in the buck hierarchy?

[Ben Sobieck]

Here's a question from Steve Bartylla's "Top 10 Deer Quiz" article, as seen in the March 2009 issue. Click a response above. To see the correct answer, click the link to the attachment. Subscribing to the magazine will reveal the answer, too!

[Woods Walker]

This one's a no-brainer Ben!  It's the same with livestock. On this ranch I worked on they had Black Angus bulls and Santa Gertrudus bulls on open range. The Gertrudus bulls out weighed the Angus by almost 1000 pounds, but yet every spring come calving time, the majority of the calves were black!
 
This is also why I have some serious questions about TBM, where they cull and propagate bucks based on rack size/shape alone. I can't help but think that this type of genetic culling is not good for the herd overall, because the more aggressive bucks who aren't "booners" are culled before they can contribute their genes, thereby creating bucks that are merely life support systems for calcium growths because they are kept "hands off" until they are deemed ready for "harvest".

[Goose]

Culling has been proven to be as effective as taking a cup of water out of the ocean and saying you made a difference.

[buckhunter21]

Couldn't have said it better myself Goose!

[Patriot]

How did you all score on the quiz?  Thanks to all I've learned from D&DH over the years, I think I scored 8 out of 10.  Many of the questions were difficult.  I'd say I "knew" half for sure, and made educated guesses on the rest.

[Woods Walker]

8/10 was my score too. I did get the answer to the heirachy question correct though.

[Xplorer]

8 out 10 myself. I guess all those years of reading the mag has paid off [:)]

[Demoderby4]

8 out of 10 for me too i got the question about the percentage of does being bred their first fall wrong and another one i cant recall, i read it in a Barnes and Noble the other night lol. But i did get the temparment one right i do recall, i enjoyed the quiz, i love those kind of things! Cant say i would of faired too well if i hadn't become part of this forum i have learned so much in the 4 months i have been here.