Herd management is great. However, for other reason it's great as well. Gewt the doe early and put em in the freezer early. Get that first deer out of the way and then look for the king!

J

I have a place with a high doe to buck ratio. Here is my game plan each year. Shoot every doe you see. Just when you think you have shot enough doe shoot a bunch more. You should be good then for the year.

I agree Muzzy Chucker, take the does as they present themselves, and you should be in a great position to really enjoy some serious buck hunting later on.

Not real sure when the season opens in PA? It opens here in a week. I always have my best buck hunting in September, far better than the rut here, if you have them patterned well. We see few does at this time though, but come October, we have a hard time finding the bucks untill halloween. So thats when I whack does. However this year I am being forced to earn a buck, so I will have to shoot a doe 1st. It feels funny patterning does right now.

I agree. QDM is a must do. Putting the mature doe in the freezer early allows me to concentrate on Mr. Big while doing my part. It was said early in the replys, taking the doe gets me back in the game from the previous year as well. Good hunting.

Unfortunately doe season up here is not until the 2nd week in November and it last for 7 days only. By that time most of the does have been mounted and may or may not be carrying next years fawns. Tough decision. Although, culling the population to keep the ratio in line is necessay.

i never pass a doe that is big enough to have butchered. unless there is a real big buck around. i love to hunt deer , not just big trophy bucks. its always nice to get a nice buck, but my wife and son loves deer meat and i usualy try for three a year . we can only take one buck a year in ohio so i either take a buck and two does or three does. things are usualy more interesting with less does around i think your doing well taking does.

That's why it's called "DEER" hunting not "BUCK" hunting. Last we we shot 6 doe and 1 buck on our 80 acres. This year I am planning on more. We have seen as many as 14 doe and fawns in one group this summer. We actually saw 7 fawns with 4 does in May on about 20 acres of the property. Looks like everything we killed last year was replaced.

"If it's brown, it's down."

That's our motto. [8D]

here in north texas you can only shoot does during archery and the first 2 weeks of gun season so waiting till late in the season isnt an option for us