Bailsuk

Seems like things are getting a little personal , lighten up fella

Cougar Mag

At least where I generally hunt its not at all hard to figure out the mature does........I said mature, not the matriarch. I generally try to take out the biggest doe in a group because again, where I hunt its pretty easy to discern a mature doe from a younger doe and button buck because of body size and mannerisms. I haven't killed a button buck in about 23 years and besides, the bigger the body the more meat.

Matt / PA

Boy the Wyoming antelope trip is gonna be SWEET.




If you guys ruin it I'm gonna kick both your asses.

GMMAT

IS Dan gonna be there?

AWESOME.

Ought to be fun

badger109

back to the first page (btw i didn't read the rest)

"bingo wings" lol

OHbowhntr

From what I've observed, there are a LOT of times a "co-dominance" in herds, especially small 6-8 deer group/herds, larger herds also often times seem to have a "co-dominant" pair, though I have witnessed a definite dominant matriarch many times as well. The herd that frequents my back yard "semi-regularly," has one matriarchal doe, looks to be about 4-5 yrs old, and about 7 others depending on who all shows up, and she seems to be the one that does the most watching out, as the rest of them eat, she eats and then looks all around, eats a little more, and looks around some more. She also will circle back around, and prod the stragglers when it's time to move on. That's generally what I've observed as a matriarchal doe. The DOE I posted in the "biggest doe you ever killed" thread was a matriarch over 16 deer, including a pair of YOUNG 6pts. in her herd, she had a semi-co-dominant doe that seemed to be like a "matriarch" in training, but she was quite obviously the DOMINANT deer. I need to start filming, some of the fun stuff I see, because on the morning I killed her, I watched her "BED DOWN" her whole herd, all 15 of them, and then she assumed a "point" position, and looked them over like a sheepdog does his flock. Arrowing her, after watching her for nearly 90 minutes was truly a joy and a hunt that may always be my most memorable and most exciting hunt, even though it was a doe that I arrowed.

Sorry for the long-windedness.

hardcorehunter

LMAO at GregH and MeanV. You guys crack me up.

JoeRE

I will admit it...I am clueless to what happened.

As to the question, If I want a doe, I shoot the biggest doe, whether or not it is the dominate one. For me, does are for meat. It is not hard to tell 'dominate' however, if you just listen to what the deer have to say[:-]