RE: Passing On Bucks- Food For Thought
It seems to me that if you are going to shoot 1 deer per year and your goal is to increase the total number of buck in the woods then given the choice between a young buck or a doe you would be better severved to shoot the buck. When you let the buck pass, you've saved 1 buck. When you let the doe pass, you've saved many. When you take out the doe, you take out all the bucks she would have produced plus all the bucks her female offspring would have produced. It seems to me that shooting doe is a tactic to be used to control overall numbers. When the population is at or near capacity then we should kill doe to reduce or keep numbers in check. When the population is low, passing on doe will increase the numbers of both buck and doe. Once the population is at or near capacity and you still plan to to take only 1 deer then take the doe.