ORIGINAL: Robert L E

We hunt in Southern Iowa. Deer are cosidered to be overpopulated and each of these counties has an antlerless tag quota. These tags are sold until they run out on a first come first serve basis. As far as I know, the county that I hunt in has never sold out.

I hunt on my cousin's farms and deer damage to his crops is a concern to him. My boy and I always buy doe tags and hold the any sex tag in reserve for a shooter buck. Half of the deer in the field in the fall are fawns and about half the deer we shoot are fawns. Keep in mind that deer here usually are pregnant before they are a year old. If you shoot a doe fawn there are two fewer deer the next year. If you shoot an older doe there are three fewer deer the next year because they nearly always have twins. The only deer I would pass on would be a young buck. Two reasons for this, males do not get pregnant, and it is nice to shoot that little buck when it is older. Of the nine deer we processed this year, two were nice bucks, one was a small buck one was a spike, one was a button (fawn), one was an adult doe, one a yearling doe, and two were fawn does. The spike and button were thought to be does when shot.

I'm thinking of requiring the guys that I hunt with to buy doe tags. They cannot hunt on my cousin's farm unless my son or I am with them so I can if I wish. This will encourage more doe and fawn shooting which will please my cousin and will cause them to be more selective in the bucks they shoot. Since the state started actively encouraging doe shooting by selling doe tags, we see more and bigger bucks than we used to even though deer numbers are down slightly.

I personally think that a hunter who shoots the first deer that walks by in an anysex hunt does more good than a hunter who shoots bucks only. The non selective hunter shoots more fawns and does so the average buck ends up being larger. You are part of the problem if you only shoot bucks in an area that is overpopulated. I'm beginning to like the idea that you must shoot a doe or antlerless buck before you can even get a buck tag.

I don't care if a novice or kid shoots a small buck because success if what hooks them but now that all but one in my group have shot a nice buck I am going to expect them to pass on small bucks and take antlerless deer or bigger bucks.

My brother in law who just started hunting with us is exempted because he has never shot a deer.

Again, the area we hunt is considered to be over populated with deer. When you wish to expand a deer population, a bucks only attitude is more appropriate.

Bambi must die.

Bob