Does any one not shoot does ?
 

i dont shoot does but i should have cause the deer i shot http://www.whitetails.com/art354.html wasnt enogh meat we have barley no meat left :(

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

imo - if there are doe permits given out in the area you hunt and you have a permit(s), you are foolish (no offense intended) not to take doe. Obviously, in places like the Adirondacks, we don't take doe (unless they are in season (muzzleloader).

One of the primary reason for hunting is controling the deer population. If permits are issued, it means you should take advantage and use them. Meaning: the population is too high. Plus, like you said, you get extra meat in the frezer.

With that said, I know of many that do not shoot does (one group brags that they take 20-30 bucks and no doe!). That doesn't = a balanced population. My thinking is that they are only going to hurt there hunting in the long run. The population will be out of wack and ever increasing, more deer = more cometition = less food and eventually smaller deer, smaller racks, etc.

To each his own, but I hope this makes a little sense. Shooting bucks is fine, but the doe are what control the population and hunters should try and do their part to help manage the herd and in the long run help future hunting.

By the way - nice buck, where do you hunt??

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

I shoot 'em. Nice looking Buck by the way. Nothing wrong with shooting does as long as it's legal in your area and you take ethical shots. Don't feel bad about running out of meat. If you are like me, you have a bunch of scavengers (friends and coworkers) who don't hunt but are always looking for some meat. And my family enjoys eating the deer that I kill so it goes quikly. Much better than having it sit in the fridge for months and months and no one willing to eat it.

David

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

everyone should harvest a doe; let the smaller bucks grow another year

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

If I have a doe tag since ours our gender specific you bet I have no problems shooting a doe.

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

If you don't take does when the population is high and the tags are issued then you are not a hunter. As stated above part of the reason for deer hunting is herd reduction. I would twenty times rather shoot a doe for meat anyway. I got a hugh buck many years ago and won't shoot another unless I find a bigger one. Have not seen one even close to my big one in 20 years.

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

I agree, in most areas we need to take more does! The county I hunt in, we are allowed 2 bucks and 2 does. Our lease rules only allows us one doe though. I would rather take 2 does and 1 buck. When you are taking the same number of bucks to does, or more bucks than does, it will start to reflect in the size and quality of the bucks.
You go into a small town near our lease and you here people saying "we aren't seeing many deer, we need to outlaw shooting does altogether!"
In reality, we do need to take more does!
Nature usually produces more does than bucks to begin with, so if you are taking bucks out on a 1:1 or worse, 2:1 ratio the herd will suffer.

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

I'm with T Roy. Let the little ones go and harvest the does. Trying to even out the herd is only going to give you better hunting in the long run. Bigger buck and a stronger rut. I personally will only shoot a buck with if its going on the wall. The has turned out to be 8 does a one 10pt. in my first 5 years of hunting.

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RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

We eat everything we kill, and you can't beat doe meat for fine eating. I get just as big a thrill out of killing a big doe as I do a younger buck. In fact I see many more small bucks that I could kill as does. Those old does are pretty smart.

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

Our group used to take four or five doe and two buck a year until about four years ago we have taken only one doe since. There is one doe for probably every two buck now. This fall I seen 13 buck and one doe when out with the camera during season we seen a total of five antlerless ten. My trail cameras show the same thing. We will start to take doe again when the herd increases again.

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

during early bow season i pass up doe and small buck waiting for a nice on then gun season anything that is big enuff ill bust same with late bow season

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

I buy doe tags when available. I will hold out for a mature buck on my either sex tag each year but if I need the meat I have no problem using my either sex tag on a doe vs a immature buck.

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

well in georia,you are allowed to shoot 2 bucks and 8 does,that shows how many does there are.i believe you have to shoot does so when the rut comes around, the big bucks have to get up and move around to find does,if there are so many does around he doenst have to move at all to mate and therefor you wont see him as much,but if there are less does that means he has to roam alot to find them,given you a chance to kill him and you will have bigger bucks spreading their genes then smaller ones gettting alot of does pregnant.

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

here is a link with pics of what i took this year. we aloud 2 deer. we could take 1 buck and 1 doe or 2 doe. i took 2 doe for the meat and let small bucks grow another year. their were several big bucks that i saw during bow season and just couldnt get them in range. closest was about 45 yrds. but thick cover and couldnt shoot. doe are over populated and need to be controled. franklin county( columbus ohio ) is an urban zone and if you have land to hunt there you can take up to 6 deer. 5 doe and 1 buck ) so yes i kill doe and will continue to do so as long as it is legal and the bucks are too young to shoot. i want a wall hanger and if it takes a few years i can wait. here is the link for my kill this year shot 1 friday afternoon and one saturday afternoon . neck shot and a head on cheat shot. didi hurt any meat so i got a plenty. notice the small bucks on the shop wall. those are babies compaired to the ones on my buddies wall. he has 2 brothers and they all 3 have at least 4 big bucks on the wall. no more room for the small ones in the house.
http://www.hpphoto.com/servlet/LinkP...03b4da&size=lg

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

We shoot them,it's really helped our herd.We're seeing bigger bucks now.

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

i am the minority , i dont shoot does ! , i was brought up not to shoot them . my father doesnt believe in it ,his reasoning is if you shoot a doe you are actually killing 3 deer , the doe and possibly 2 fawns . personally i have no problems with other people shooting them . sure i get doe permits this year i recieved 2 i signed them over to friends . they were both filled . i relize it is a deer management tool . but if i took one i couldnt look my father in the eye and admit that i shot a doe . what to do?

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

i just started deer hunting...and i would be happy with a doe..........

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

In most of the southern counties of Alabama you can take two does a day or a buck and a doe a day for the entire 75 day season. There is a huge effort underway to balance the population and get the ratio even. Many hunting clubs require that you take 2 to 3 does in the season. Such management practices are paying off in larger and more bucks in areas that have had a program underway for 2 to 3 years.

This year I have taken two does and one buck.

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

That is an "old school" philosophy that you see a lot. Best way to deal with it is try and "educate" people that think that way on the benefits of shooting doe.
I know several people in the same situation, where they were taught by their fathers and are set in their fathers ways. Not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes change is needed. Tough to go against the "old man" though. Trust me, I know.
Hunting in NY, the one thing I can't stand is people that apply for doe permits and do not(on purpose)/will not use them. That just takes away from those that will take doe.

ps - you said you signed over your permits - you hunt in NY? The sign over of permits is new to NY and I really like the rule

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

yes i hunt in n.y. , i didnt apply for the doe permits, it goes along with the sportsmans license package . in fact i only recieved 1 on the spot , about 2 weeks later they mailed me another .

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

That comment wasn't directed at you, just a generallity. However, the doe permits are free with a sportsmans license, but that doen's mean people need to apply for them. That's why the transfer rule is so nice - it gets more permits in the hands of people that will use them.

where 'bouts in NY

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

A friend on who's land I hunt told in jest me a couple of years ago that he was brought up is a time where it was OK to beat your wife---but you better never never shoot a doe. Old ways do die hard!!

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

There comes a time when you either take does or loose the whole herd. This year I saw severl herds of Mule deer where there were say 80 does and four bucks. Of all the deer I saw this season and it was a hell of a lot, there were 8-9 does for every buck. Times change. We can either change our thinking or loose our deer herds to over population and deases that spread fast when herds overpopulate their habitat. And does taste better how can you loose. I had a lot of respect for my dad but was he always right? Is anyone always right? I think NOT.

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

i never shot a doe cause my grandpa taught me how to hunt an he said not to shoot does cause hurts the population so much so i never did

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

doughboy , i hunt in sullivan co. the catskills about half way between binghamton and n.y.c. im not really to worried about the deer herd balance their are plenty of doe taken around here . this year in fact i saw as many does as bucks .

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

Wrong. Wrong wrong.

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

i have access to a nice 150 acre peice of land . the first year 5 of us got permission to hunt it, the landowner was very adamant about NOT shooting does. he said if you shot a doe you were kicked off. the first few years were great there, we saw many many bucks and took a few... flash forward 12 years...now, you will see 15-20-30 does in a morning, and MAYBE a scrubber buck. sure, there are always a few bruisers there, but overall the hunting has declined drastically.
i THINK (i'm no biologist) that it's because of the ridiculous doe population. All the freakyhorned inferior bucks get to breed, and there is defentetly not enough food to go around, so the deer now go elsewhere.
All i know is, on another patch i hunt, the landowner there said he would boot me if I DID'NT shoot does. and guess what? I whack as many as i legally can, he's happy, and there has been a P&Y taken there every year for the past 5 years. the overall deer hunting is much better there, and only a few miles separate the two spots.
am i making sense? i think it all has to do with responsible herd management..
-my .02
moose

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

buckmastr229,

The reason the "old timers" never shot a doe, was because that the overall #'s of deer back in the day were low and in some areas very low or non-existant. My dad is one of these "old timers", so I know where your coming from. LOL Only shooting bucks and never taking out doe is just a game management tool to create a better deer herd in overall #'s, but not the quality of the herd. Not to mention, most of the "older" guys were meat hunters. Most likely because they had to be, to put food on the table for the family. I can only attest to the MN herd, because that's really all I know. But in this day and age, the overall #'s of deer are fine in some areas and over abundant in most. Deer management tools seem to be out of date in most states because of the changes in the deer herd. MN "FINALLY" changed their ways this season.....for the better. They now make it easier to get more doe tags throughout the state to try and deplete the overall population a bit. Some will say, that the guys that are only trophy hunting finally got their way with this, but in fact they are ignorant to the fact that the herd is out of whack and needs to have a better balance. They can still shoot their spike, fork or basket 6 and feel more proud of that than shooting a nice doe. But at least most of the guys are shooting a doe, which in turn helps the overall deer herd.

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

A lot of the old timers here in PA had that "no she deer shooting" mentality, and passed it down to their young 'uns. But after seeing the damage that the deer were doing to the ecology because of overpopulation, a lot of the younger, more educated hunters are killing the doe to keep the herd in balance and to protect the forests.

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

will kill one in a second, love to shoot them

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

I don't shoot those cute little things:D

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

The only way i would shoot one is if i didnt shoot a buck all season so ill have some meat in the freezer but i will never shoot one cause say you had a 100 cows shoot 99 of them wats there nothin to make more so no doe shootin for me

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

Tough to comprehend that one buckmastr. If you don't like to see a healthy deer herd...where most times the better genetics are doing the breeding and the strong will survive, you don't like to see good buck to doe ratio's....then shooting every little buck is your ticket. That 3 1/2 year old doe is too tough to hunt anyway. :D :D ;)

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

You need to read up on QDM.


This isn't your grand dad's deer herd. That's not a shot at your grandfather either. Shooting does is not bad for the population. Many area's are way over the carrying capicity. The woods are over browsed and the deer don't get to their full potential. Back in your grandfathers era there were no permits or they were party permits. I remember when I started hunting there would be 4-5 guys on a permit, it allowed you to kill one doe. There were years you didn't see a deer.

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

as long as their is more does than bucks, and my tag is for any thing i will shoot a doe each time

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

i dont know if its true , but in n.j. you have to shoot a doe before you get a buck tag.thats what ive heard.

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

I have never harvested a doe. I used to apply every year and usually drew a tag, but only used one on a button buck (my first deer). After that, when I started hunting on my own I wanted a big buck very badly. I could have easily taken a doe, but I was after more of a challenge and a trophy. Since you can only take one deer per year, I let many does walk holding out for a buck. These days they don't even offer antlerless permits, so unless you're a bow hunter it's bucks only.

If I hunted an area where you could take a doe and still be able to hunt bucks, I'd drop a doe in a heartbeat. They do make excellent eating, and some areas do need to have the does thinned out.

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

I used to shoot bucks only. My father was the same as many of the other's dad's on here. When he was much younger, they rarely even saw a deer while hunting and wanted to increase the population.

However, MD regs now require you to shoot 2 does before you can take a 2nd antlered deer. It took some getting used to, but now I'll shoot a big doe anytime before settling for a small buck. Last year, I never saw a buck in range that met my personal standards and ended the season with 3 does. (This season's going much better :D)

RE: Does any one not shoot does ?
 

Buckmastr, please look at current data instead of listening to your grandfathers old school mentality. It is good to shoot does in most areas of this country, and if you want to continue shooting some bucks you better start shooting them does when you get a chance.