You know shed....I wouldnt dream to tell you how to hunt your woods.....or tell you your practices weren't sound for YOUR woods.

what the hell is that suppose to mean?

Its to late to start what I feel would be a far more successfully harvest of does in your area. I say its late because of the intrusiveness of last weeks hunts.
But by hunting only on days when things are right,as in temperature ,wind and availability of time.I would hunt less but hunt smarter.

You saw over 300 deer last year it sure should not be hard to take ten very close very accurate shoots at single deer in the am so recovery is fast and clean,some days more than one doe should be a possibility.Shoot them grabthem and get out.

Stay out of prime areas until cooler weather forces deer to feed on acorns ,by then the crops will be harvested and bucks will be forced to feed more often making them easier to target.After you have your buck resume the doe hunting.

Sorry I misunderstood your question.

I your case I would without a doubt try to pattern a buck and kill him before the rut. I say this because by continuing to kill the does you are (as you know) going to alert them to your presence and most likely disrupt their routines. This will not only make it harder to get on the does but will cause the bucks tobe even more on alert because the does now are andeven harder to pinpoint because the only constant you had (doe movement) has also been disrupted.

GMMAT, I think that if I were you I would just hunt near food sources for the does and once the rut begins to kick in I would move more towards the edges of the bedding areas where you might catch a horny old goat on his way in or out. That is just me though. I have no experience with where you are or what your hunting area is like.

Some very good stuff in this post, thanks for bringing this up Scott. I agree that educating the does is the last thing you want to do. In NJ in order to take a buck in the zones I hunt you have to take a doe first (or wait 3 weeks this season). So, what we've done in the past and continue to do is to try to get does on public land or land that we won't look to take good bucks on. This way, if we pressure the does it won't affect our buck hunting. The only down side is that it is much more difficult to get your doe this way, but it is a trade off.

This year in PA we have 2 weeks of does only before antlered deer can be taken in the zones I hunt. I've stayed out of my tried and true spots and used this time to do some on stand scouting in some new spots. It has been very useful and I've gotten a pretty good idea of some patterns thanks to this.

What I personally like to do when the chase phase begins is to focus on the doe feeding, bedding, and travel areas knowing the mature bucks will be cruising these areas. Other than that, your only other bet is to try to catch the big buckson a pattern which in the areas that I hunt is difficult at best due to all of the pressure.

Shed....

It means.....that your scenario is COMPLETELY different than mine....(where I am the ONLY predator these deer know besides an automobile). It means that your tactics are, naturally, going to be different than mine. It means your scenario sounds far-fetched to me for my woods (as foreign as my practices sound to you ....and many).

I wouldn't ever dream of telling ANYONE the best way to hunt their woods. I didn't claim you did this. Didn't imply such (intentionally). I made a statement that was a blanket.....but used you as an example. No harm intended.

Sounds great to me, Huntingson. Let's look at this another way.....

How many deer would I have to "educate"....to "ruin" my season or my chance at a shooter buck? As much as I try....I am going to 'educate" some (if "educate" means introducing human scent and being seen, occasionally). I have numbers, though. Rob and I have talked about this before. There's no way I'm going to educate them all.....and I don't "think" I'm educating them to the extent they're going to leave my area.

My chance, I'm taking.....I could be totally wrong.

Exactly why when I reply to anything on here (HNI)that I state... "my" neck of the woods.. so as to not imply that I am making a blanket statement..

I figured everyone recognized that.. The last thing I am ever going to do is tell you or anyoneelsehow to hunt your woods or how your deer behave..

I was simply answering Buckeyes ? regarding why I personally dont hunt does except for a few weeks out of the season..

Poor choice of words. Sorry.

Mine WAS a blanket statement....and shouldn;t have been addressed, singularly.