Q: If we take the mature producing does what is left?

A: Does that will still produce fawns. Doe fawns can conceive in their first year and some studies link early pregnancy to higher production of spikes. Though the spike question is another topic entirely, shooting mature does is the most desirable situation when harvesting does. By harvesting the mature does, you allow sociological niches to open to be filled by sub-dominant does that will remain in the general area and occupy their range. There is no hard scientific evidence that I've seen to suggest that there are any "barren does" that don't produce young. By being able to properly identify older does (bigger body size, long jaw line, rounded head, etc.) you'll also avoid shooting button bucks. Shooting button bucks isn't something most people prefer to do in trying to produce quality deer.

Q: Is there such a thing as over killing the does?
A: Absolutely! It really depends on what the goals of the landowner, deer manager, or wildlife agency wants though. If crop depredation is severe, one farmer may wish to kill every single deer on their property as well as within 5 miles of it! To them, there is no such thing as overkilling the does or any other deer. For hunters who like to see a lot of deer, killing does may seem counterproductive and in some cases can be if their goal is to see as many deer as possible. Notice I say "deer" and not "bucks". Generally, there's a happy middle ground where most professional managers like to keep the total number of deer at or below the carrying capacity of the land they manage. This is healthy for the habitat as deer food and cover isn't crowded and destroyed. Also, it improves the quality of the deer because there is more to go around.

Bottom line - there are rarely any one size fits all answers. Rather, it depends on the habitat and the deer herd that lives on it.

Hope this helps answer your question.

For many of us, especially Shadow, there’s been the concern of overharvesting of does, sighting few deer, and question of what is a normal age structure for deer. Here’s a few tidbits that will help light the way. I’ve been reading a most excellent book entitled “Quality Whitetails – The Why and How of Quality Deer Management” which has become the updated bible of quality deer management in the science community. I’d like to share tidbits I’ve gleaned that may help answer these often brought up topics.

In every situation, regardless of the location of your hunting grounds, be it north or south, there are several concepts that will chart deer management decisions. First there is the concept of “carrying capacity” which most of us know is the number of deer within a given range that the habitat can support. Note that I said “support” which is very different from “produce quality deer”, including big bucks. Then there is the concept of “mortality” which includes hunter harvest. Though there are many other concepts, I’d venture to say that these two are of greatest influence.

How many does should you take? This is a subjective question really and the answer lies with the property owner, manager, leasee or hunt club. Most private properties today are managed under a QDM system, while a select few are managed under a trophy management system. Most public lands are managed under traditional systems. Both call for doe harvests. Interestingly, there was a study done by R.L. Downing and D.C. Guynn in 1985. When things are “good” for the herd, production will be at such a level that a given number of animals can be harvested year after year. This is known as a “sustained yield.” Downing and Guynn’s theoretical model showed that the highest sustained yield of deer occurred at when deer populations were maintained at 50-60% of the carrying capacity. Realistically, with wild deer populations, 40-80% is acceptable. Above 60% nutrition quality will be diminished though hunters will “see more deer and deer sign.” Below 40% the opposite can be expected. This calls for 20-35% of the female population to be harvested annually, assuming that poaching and competition with grazing livestock aren’t significant factors. Doe harvest rates in excess of 35% are difficult to achieve.

What about bucks? Well the Downing-Guynn model assumes that 30% of the bucks are harvested annually. Using this model, few bucks will live to old age (4 ½ years +). When the overall herd is managed at 90% carrying capacity (versus 40-80%), only 19% of the buck population can be harvested before the buck population starts to decrease. Harvesting more bucks, greater than 30% of the total buck population, results in a decreasing population over time. Harvesting fewer bucks results in more mature deer but of lesser quality as nutrition will be of lower quality with more deer. How do you increase mature buck numbers through harvesting? Obviously harvesting 1 ½ year old deer, including spikes, dramatically causes a shortage of that age class. The same applies to any age class which receives disproportionate harvesting. Protecting the 1 ½ year old age class causes increased harvest pressure on older age classes. In 10 years of protected 1 ½ year old bucks, there have still been no 5 ½ year old deer harvested on one study property. On another area, with the exact same protection policy for 1 ½ year old bucks, there were several 5 ½ + year old bucks harvested. The difference between the two was hunting pressure. The second area had significantly less hunting pressure than the first. So, the inferred answer as to how to bring about more mature bucks is to decrease hunting pressure and harvest of bucks while keeping the total deer population below carrying capacity. This begs the question, what is a natural age structure for deer if they’re left to the forces of nature. Answers are hard to find since modern hunters have impacted deer herds for over 200 years! But archaeological digs show three things. Dr. Elder in 1965 showed that 8% or less of the deer skulls found in Native American digs were fawns. Two, 20-26% of the deer taken was 6 ½ years or older. Three, deer lived longer, each sampling had some deer 10 ½ years or older. These are similar to the age structures found in herds where QDM is practiced, unlike modern trends where Dr. Elder reported that in 1965 midwestern deer harvest was nearly 1/3 fawns and only about 2% were 6 ½ years of age or older.