RidgeFACTOR

.....was it just me or were a major majority of hunters taking down alot of does on opening day of Pennsylvania. I myself watched 3 sets of 2 or 3 more does pass my stand only to be slaughtered by other hunters. I myself on opening day am waiting on a nice buck, my area I hunt, the antler restriction is 4 points to a side, therefore a nice buck is worth waiting for.

zlr101

In my area you can not hunt doe the first week so i saw no one kill a doe, but i would not shoot a doe first thing in the morning opening day.

Flying Mullet

Yeah, doe were being taken where we go as well. I am hoping they make the whole state go to 2nd week of rifle for doe and not the 1st week.

PAThwacker

Doe were wiped out on my side of the state WMU3D.

Bocajnala

No doe allowed in the first week where I hunt. I saw a ton of doe running around tho. Very few bucks were taken or seen by any of the ppl I know.
-Jake

unklechuckles19

It's like that in both NY and PA where I hunt. I saw doe get shot opening day(s) in both states. I personally like to look for antlers the first few days but thats my own choice. I did happen to swing down to my local processor to check out what he had in around lunchtime on opening day in PA, and to my surprise of the 15 deer he had in, only 5 were doe.

Paoutdoorsman

i remember a few years ago they decided to have buck and doe start on the same day, might of just been for kids, but i remember hearing a warfare of shots being fired, seemed kinda silly to me, i wish they would go back to the 3 day doe season, make you actually hunt for them. and does are worth it, the meat is so much better, especially the little ones.

PAThwacker

I want to revert to the one or two day after rifle doe only days of the 90's.
I would also like to end the Archery Doe tag. It is so easy to thwack a 40lb doe in early October. You can hunt them with a spear!

unklechuckles19

I by no means know the science of the deer herd, but I wouldn't mind seeing the deer season revert back to a 3 day doe season, and a 2 week buck season like it used to be. An I agree with giving archery hunters a doe tag.

In NY, you get an archery/ML either sex tag AND a doe tag, a regular season buck tag and you have to draw for a doe license in your WMU. I like that system, and it I think it works pretty well from what I've seen.

Stonewall308

Seems like you would want a large doe harvest. What I've read is that where there is a lower buck to doe ratio, the rut is more intense, i.e. bucks cruising and searching more.