to shoot does or not to shoot?

[buckstar25]

Sounds like you got a good thing going, keep it up and use what you know when you make a decision. Good luck

 

[brancher147]

If you have a 500 acre clearcut near you then I would expect deer numbers to rise until the clearcut reaches a level of forest succession that is no longer browse-able, especially if you have food plots also. I had a similar situation a few years ago hunting a 560 acre farm with bigger farms and some logging activity around it. The first year we killed close to thirty does between everyone. The following year we saw just as many does. Shooting a couple does will not hurt anything. For every doe you see there is probably one you don't see, the population is probably higher than you think. That's my experience anyway.

I hunt smaller pieces of property also and have never seen doe numbers go down from year to year due to doe harvest, and I usually fill all of my doe tags every year. A decline in doe population is usually due to loss of habitat or other environmental factors.

 

[Jackalope]

To shoot does or not to shoot does that is the question. My theory has always been the following.

"Every buck fell out of a does vagina"

By this I mean whose to say that booner you'll kill in 4 years wasn't born to that doe you shot today.

I never shoot does where I buck hunt. Kind of like shitting where you eat.

 

[at1010]

wow this thread has some great insights.

I really enjoy hearing so many different opinions on the matter. This weekend I am heading out sunday to a spot I think of as a honey hole. It is public but I have had good luck there in the past. I am going to try to get it done on a doe there. If I can get that done, I won't have to worry about shooting one on my own farm.

Something about going out and just telling your self, if its a doe I am shooting it is a great feeling!

 

[Gordo]

So many damn variables. I havent wacked a doe in years. Shit, i havent killed anything in years. Ha. Been some great hunting though.

Most of the properties i hunt, The hunters on neighboring properties keep the herd in check.

With that being said, there's a couple places that always need some thinning. Too heavy of a doe population, well when ratio is way off, can make for some shitty/ uneventful rut hunts and in the big picture, can really encourage the survival of shitty genetics in the gene pool. We are all looking for genetically superior bucks. We dont want the weak genetics to survive and be passed on.


Man, can ramble forever. Ha

 

[teej89]

I never shoot does where I buck hunt. Kind of like shitting where you eat.

lmao lmao

personally I won't shoot any does until after the rut or like Jesse said I go elsewhere. I don't have permission to gun hunt my property, guys from Erie have that locked in. So during gun season I'll pick a new piece of public land and scout it via maps and gun hunt it. Then I'll shoot a doe w/ no hesitation.

 

[Jackalope]

So many damn variables. I havent wacked a doe in years. Shit, i havent killed anything in years. Ha. Been some great hunting though.

Most of the properties i hunt, The hunters on neighboring properties keep the herd in check.

With that being said, there's a couple places that always need some thinning. Too heavy of a doe population, well when ratio is way off, can make for some shitty/ uneventful rut hunts and in the big picture, can really encourage the survival of shitty genetics in the gene pool. We are all looking for genetically superior bucks. We dont want the weak genetics to survive and be passed on.


Man, can ramble forever. Ha

I don't buy in to all that ratio jazz. From my experience the more does I have the more bucks show up. On cams where I've had 10+ does a night show up to the bait I've always had a good number of bucks show up too. On cams where I have the same doe or two every night a buck rarely shows and it's usually a dink. Hunting is a numbers game, the more you have the better the odds. As for inferior genetics a buck can only lock down and breed one at a time. If mr big is locked down with a doe he's not out and about no matter if I have 2 does or 20.

For the boring rut part I would rather have 10 bucks chasing a ton of does than two bucks chasing 1.

Some of the best rut hunting I've ever experienced was on properties polluted with does. Bucks far and wide know where all those does are and they'll be there come rut.

For the past four seasons I've had the privilege of running cameras on about 2 square miles of agriculture and sparse timber. I have noticed that larger bucks summer in areas with low deer populations. It's like they prefer to hang out with a small group of bucks in an area that doesn't hold does. Around the time they peel they will disappear for a week or two. Often they show up on a Camera sometimes miles away where all of the does are. They will not stay but just make an appearance. Sometimes they come back to their original summer spot, but often they move their core area somewhere that offers more security. However right before the rut around the last week of October they will show back up where all of those those does were. It's my belief that they spend that week to two weeks around the time they peel scouting for does and making a note of where they're hanging out.

I don't run bait to bait bucks. I run it to bait the ultimate bait. Does.

 

[Boarhead]

Good post Joe,exactly why i keep a feeder on the farm, for the does and fawns,the bucks will show eventually.

 

[Gordo]

Ive witnessed all the same things in past years that you have mentioned. For a couple years i was blanketing athens county with cams. It was fuckin craziness. Fun. I noticed that two properties jacked up with way to many does made for shit rut hunting. There was no competition. No need to search/seek/etc.. These two props ive experienced that where to the extreme with abundance of does. Im talking about multiple family groups of 12+ does each. Extreme. This was years back. Those places needed a total reset.