Would you have shot it?

There's much more that goes into this than just the doe/fawn relationship. Population control, number of tags available, season, etc all play a big part. In many ways if your area is doe heavy vs. bucks you should take a doe. Area over run by deer? Same thing.

LK
 
There's much more that goes into this than just the doe/fawn relationship. Population control, number of tags available, season, etc all play a big part. In many ways if your area is doe heavy vs. bucks you should take a doe. Area over run by deer? Same thing.
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Yep, this is certainly true.

Most of my hunting is in areas that are part of a Cornell deer research program and the areas are mostly heavily over-populated. (Estimates as high as 52deer/mile)

This is the 4th hunting season of the program. The program requires 2 doe to be harvested before a hunter is "buck eligible". During the first two years, I saw ZERO antlered bucks during the season. Last year, I saw ONE antlered buck. This year, and we are 8 days into a 2 month season, I have already seen 2 five points, an 8 point, numerous spike horns and several other racked bucks of unknown point count.

You've got to kill does if you want to balance the population.
 
If it was legal I would've taken the shot if she was close enough. The yearling will do fine on it's own.The area we hunt is over populated. Some residents of the area have had insurance companies threaten to revoke their auto insurance due to deer collisions. I have almost hit several myself.
 
Population control
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This is why our whitetail seasons have been so liberalized: they want to reduce the whitetail numbers, as they are outcompeting the Mule Deer in Nebraska ...... they breed sooner, have twins (or even triplets) more often, and the bucks are more aggressive......

If you take out a whitetail buck where I hunt, the does will still get bred...... if you take out a doe, that is 2 or 3 fawns that will not be there in spring.....

There are places along the rivers where the deer eat everything edible within 5 feet of the ground in the dead of winter...... few new trees and there's a pronounced browse line .......

I shot the biggest buck of my life a couple of years after I started taking does off the property.
 
Need to clarify, I do take does, in fact its my second favorite after taking bucks. i just don't like shooting little deer or does with little ones hanging on. I got one old girl that's so smart I might put that noggin on a mount when I finally shoot her.
 
There's much more that goes into this than just the doe/fawn relationship. Population control, number of tags available, season, etc all play a big part. In many ways if your area is doe heavy vs. bucks you should take a doe. Area over run by deer? Same thing.
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Population control: Where I hunt, I think the deer probably need thinning out. I got as many as 12, maybe 13 (its hard to tell because they are all bunched so close together), does in one picture on one of my game cameras. And that was before fawns were born. And I have since gotten several pictures of fawns. The week before the season opened on Oct. 15, I was watching 13 deer (10 bucks and 3 does) feeding in the soy bean field adjacent to the land I hunt.

Number of tags available: In Alabama we don't have to worry about tags. Between bow and gun, the season runs through January. The limit is 2 a day, one of which may be a buck. There is a three buck season limit. It seems obvious they are trying to get people to kill more does.

Season: Three and a half months. Plenty of time.

After reading all of these posts and thinking about it, I have convinced myself that given the opportunity I would kill the doe. Unless of course I was trying for a shot at one of the bucks I hope to kill. I have seen a couple of 8 pointers and a 7 point. Also there are a couple that need to be removed from the gene pool. For instance one has a nice wide 4 point rack on his left side but a single spike on his right. Another has a 3 point rack on his right but a little 2 inch nub on his left.

Last season I killed 2 does, a big one and an average sized one. The owner of the land I hunt killed a 7 point buck.
 
The only questions for me to ask myself on that are:

1. How late in the season?

2. How empty is the freezer?

And I would base my Shoot/No Shoot of those answers.
 
I don't shoot does with young'ns.

Early season is time to be rack hunting not meat hunting. Save meat hunting for end of season.
 
maybe, maybe not

Bucks early and does late is a typical combination when trying to control deer herd numbers. In most areas, the does will be bred, and by taking the bred doe, you are effectively removing 2-3 animals from next years herd.

Around here, the rut is late, and you will see more bucks active and moving late in the season. That doe you clobber for the freezer may well have led the buck of a lifetime past you if you'd let her walk. You want freezer meat around here, shoot your doe early.

It all depends on the locale and the mgmt intention.

What works or is practiced elsewhere (like what was it, OH? ) may not be ideal for somewhere else.
 
Here in Jersey

Fill the freezer, doe first and shoot em both if you can.
funny how some oldtimers still don't wanna shoot does "you know if you shoot a doe you take 3 deer out of the population" yeah and if you don't...

so Bama how do you tell a bred doe late in the season from unbred:confused: but I get what you mean
 
I have often seen a button buck running with a good sized buck during the rifle season. On the other hand, I have seen two button bucks running with a big doe during rifle season. No set rules in nature. A doe that has gone dry. On occasion I will encounter a very large doe that stays to itself and will not associate with other deer. It is usually in a very hard to access place and always alone when you see it. I dunno, always thought it could not drop fawns anymore. Maybe some kind of deeropause and the other deer can't stand to be around her.
 
The QDM guys encourage shooting the nanny does because the young bucks will then stay in the area after mommy gets shot, no migration action.

I used to decline does with young ones but have few opportunities these days and want to make sure does get shot and not nubbin bucks - the land owners like bucks and shooting nubbins will get a hunter scolded.
 
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