kswild

Here in Kansas our deer seasons open in Sept. you have blackpowder, archery, then rifle. You must have 1 antlered permit which is usually a any sex whitetail permit. Then you can purchase additional antlerless permits.

Here is where I think we are going wrong. The first week of Jan we have a antlerless season and no bucks. I think we should have the anterless (doe) season early before the rut and then a buck only season AFTER rut. Because I think the way we are doing it now we could possibly be killing does carrying big buck babies. Then after rut you would have a chance to harvest that big buck that has been breeding there by passing on his genes.
Does this make any sense?
Live it up! Deerwoods Doug

browtine7

Yes it does. Here in Mississippi our season opens Oct. 1st and goes through Janurary 1st
and you can shoot doe's at any time with a limit of 5 per season but 2 of which have to be taken with archery equipment. We have no tag system thus its a honor system and
we all know how that goes. I have seen less and less deer the past couple years although I have seen some good bucks. I personally think we need to stop shooting so many doe's. Personally I only shoot 1 or 2 doe's a year with my bow and the rest of the season I buck hunt

GTOHunter

That makes perfectly good sense KSWild...I think the DNR/Conservation wants Everyone to kill more Deer even if its means Killing 2 or even 3 when You shoot a Pregnant Doe after the Rut is over?

browtine7

Yes I agree with that. I believe big insurance money has alot to do with the liberal laws. They dont like paying out claims on vehicle damage due to deer being run over on the roads

kswild

Well I'm glad to know it's not just me that thinks we are doing it backwards. I saw loads of deer during this season ... nice bucks, does with twins and sometimes triplets. The deer herd numbers were really good. BUT since early Dec. Until today I have seen 0 deer. today I saw a nice 10 point and a couple of small deer, couldn't tell what they were. I get out everyday and cruise the back roads and I'm out in the fields and even sit in my treestand without seeing any deer for weeks.

Believe me I've live here almost 24yrs and the amount of hunters that hunted around here this season was almost double from past years. The amount of deer I've seen after season is less than I have ever experienced. BTW we can only harvest 1 antlered deer and then get 5 antlerless tags.
Live it up! Deerwoods Doug

GTOHunter

We're allowed 2 Deer during Rifle Season...a Anterless Deer (Doe or even Button Buck) a Any-Deer which would be a Buck or a Doe....so In other word we can shoot a Doe and a Buck or 2 Doe's.During Bow Season (4 months...Sept 15 to Jan 15) we are allowed to shoot 1 Buck before the Nov Rifle Season and 1 Buck after the Nov Rifle Season and we can buy as many Doe tags as we want.

We haven't shot any Doe's off our Farm for the last 5 years until this year...1 Doe was harvested!We've been trying to let them build up a little so we have more Deer around us!

kswild

How is that management plan working so far?

mbmrang

There is always the potential to kill the momma of the next big buck when you kill a doe, so really the timing of the doe season does not make a difference. You cannot play the "what if" game in deer management. The big buck you kill in late December could be the one that "would have" bred that doe which "could have" produced a monster buck. With that mentality, you wouldn't kill anything and the overall health of the herd would decline.

I think of the doe only season is not necessarily just a way to kill more doe, but more of a second chance to keep your to management plan if you have been waiting out a good buck and letting doe and yearlings walk. I would rather kill a doe after the rut than before. That way the doe are around during the rut and my bucks are chasing them. If you hunt where the doe are, your chances of seeing bucks increase.

scribe

If you kill a doe before she is bred, she will never have a big buck fawn. If you kill a doe after she is bred, she will never have a big buck fawn.

Where I live, the doe limit is three per day for about 100 days. We are killing the biggest bucks ever.

If your goal is to kill or have more big bucks, management is simple, close buck season for five years and allow one or two does per hunter. In short, manage your bucks, not your does. You will have more bucks, older, therefore larger racked bucks and your sex ratio will improve.

Of course, you will also have a riot and your G&F dept. will go broke but you just can't have everything.