is it a good idea?
 

remember i am only 17 and i hunt with a good friend from school that lives only about 3 miles from my house it is 167 acres of land. 80 of hard woods and 87 of swamp and every year we go out there only hunt bucks. his dad will not let us shoot does. this is a nice feature when it is rut time when he bucks are cruisin but is it a good idea to not shoot does? i can go out to a stand any given night in any given stand and see 20 different does. i know it is nice to see deer but would one doe really hurt at all... i will show the responses to him so please reply and tell him when you think. so please reply to this so i can let him know. and remember i go hunting there when wisconsin is earn-a-buck and i have to shoot a doe before i shoot a buck. thanks for the insite.
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RE: is it a good idea?
 

It's never a good idea to shoot only bucks. Pretty soon your buck to doe ratio will be out of whack and it will hurt your herd.

RE: is it a good idea?
 

no

RE: is it a good idea?
 

You should shoot the does to keep the buck to doe ratio in balance, sounds like if your seeing that many does its already a problem.

RE: is it a good idea?
 

If there are a ton of does running around, the bucks suffer.One of thereasons that people talk about balanced buck to doe ratios is that with all of the does comes the job of breeding them. If you don't take out some of those does, the bucks have to work harder and longer to breed them. This may seem like woopee the rut will last longer, but the real fact is that the bucks head into the winter with less weight on them, strung out and starving. If they make the spring, they have to first meet their bodies nutritional needs before they start to work on growing antlers. Its a cycle.

RE: is it a good idea?
 

I wouldn't get TOO caught up in how many does you're seeing - compared to bucks. But....I'd surely want to know what the herd ratio was, as scientifically accurateas possible.

What I've had to learn is.......having a lot of does is NOT condusive to good buck hunting. In fact....if the numbers get way out of whack....it's a detriment. I don't care if you do have a lot of does around for the rut.....too many will hurt your chances at a buck. I live "THERE".

Now about the doe numbers....

Not knowing your ratio (bucks:does)..we'd all just be hazarding a guess as to whether or not taking does is a good idea. But if you're ratio is greater than 2:1.....I'd say taking does wouldn't hurt a thing. In fact....it would make your buck hunting more enjoyable and more fruitful....for MANY reasons.

The taking of does from the herd is a sound management strategy, IF your herd dynamics are suffering AND if your carrying capacity is reaching its limit. If I had to guess.....your friend's dad doesn't understand this. Or...he may just be "old school" in his thinking.

I wish you luck in swaying him IF its needed where you hunt (taking does).

RE: is it a good idea?
 

Very Good point! Also, remember that fewer does means the bucks have to compete more to breed those does. This does two things, 1: The best bucks genes gets passed on, 2: the bucks have to move even more to find a new doe after they've already bred one doe.

RE: is it a good idea?
 

Yep you need to talk to him about that! Too many good hunting areas fall victim to over-population of does. A bad buck to doe ratio will only hurt your hunting into the future for mature bucks as well.

RE: is it a good idea?
 

Agreed Austin. The old school way of thinking is you want all the does you can get to "bait the bucks" during the rut. What you are saying is right on. A balanced ratio makes the bucks get up on their feet move for the does.

RE: is it a good idea?
 

And if that ain't reason enough to shoot some does, how about the fact they taste good too;):D