RE: Old does or young does, what do you shoot?
 

I tend to shoot at the bigger does because I fear that smaller does are button bucks. Usually what I have come to find out is that the bigger the doe the older.

RE: Old does or young does, what do you shoot?
 

We also shoot the older does, because at 150 yds or so, at dusk, you might find out that "young doe" is a button buck...as you load him up...I have also read that the younger does that get bred late in the season usually drop a buck in spring....In NC our winters aren't that bad, if they are in the field eating corn...I wean them...by killing the largest....

RE: Old does or young does, what do you shoot?
 

It's easy to tell a young doe from an older one. The young ones always have a small juvenile looking face while the older ones have a longer nose. Plus if a doe is going to bust you, it's always going to be the older one. A young doe that's never seen a hunting season just hasn't figured it out yet. I've had them catch me up in a tree, stare for a few seconds, and then go about their buisness as if I wasn't there. Man that's just asking for an arrow in the chest.
So far I haven't taken out a button buck yet. I'm not sure I'd have a problem with it either. The nutrition in northwest Illinois is so good no buck has an excuse for being a button except poor genetics. Considering all the corn they eat even late birthed bucks should grow spikes.
I'm still going to shoot the young does; I like the way they taste and we have loads of them around here. The local farmers like me shooting them too, you'd be suprised how much they eat.

RE: Old does or young does, what do you shoot?
 

Corn doesn't help grow horn it grows fat.

RE: Old does or young does, what do you shoot?
 

Down here we only shoot mature does, we let all of the younger does pass. When you kill the older does you help to "stir" the genetic pot of the deer herd. Plus a doe contributes 50% to her fawns rack. And unlike bucks in which you can tell which ones have inferior antlers, you can not tell which does have good genes and which ones do not. So if your only allowing each doe to breed for a few years then you have a better chance of "culling" out the inferior does instead of allowing them to get old and pass on bad genetics to countless generations. In a perfect world we try to only take mature bucks (5 1/2+) and old does (4 1/2+). But unlike the bucks, the does can be pretty hard to age in the field, but you can usually tell a middle aged doe from a young one.

RE: Old does or young does, what do you shoot?
 

I'll take an older doe over a young one, if given the choice. but if it is a doe, and she presents a shot...well, she is going to get shot

RE: Old does or young does, what do you shoot?
 

Brown ones....

RE: Old does or young does, what do you shoot?
 

I agree with this 100 % . Older does lead the rest of the herd to safety and have learned from experience what is and isn't safe. The peril can come from Hunters ,Coyotes or Bears. I would think one would like this trait to be bred into younger deer. Only problem I see with shooting younger deer is inadvertently shooting button bucks or small spikes. That said I think an Old Dry Doe would be ok to shoot but how in the world do you tell one from a large fertile doe?

RE: Old does or young does, what do you shoot?
 

I can see your point but at the same time the reason you have loads of them is because you allow those old ones to keep producing more and more fawns every year.

RE: Old does or young does, what do you shoot?
 

to edit my own post...I do not shoot small deer. too many times I have mistaken a button buck for a doe. I will shoot full sized antlerless animals only in this respect.