Whitetail Doe Hunting

[CelticCross]

In my home state of Kentucky we are blessed with a well managed, healthy herd of deer statewide. (numbering just shy of a million this year) The state Fish and Wildlife biologists have been urging Kentucky hunters to assist in herd management by taking lots of does to maintain proper buck to doe ratios. I have been doing my part since I found out as a boy that you can boil those antlers for a week and still can't even make soup!! I need help in locating other web sites and /or books that contain tactics specifically for hunting big does. I mean those old bottlenose, swaybacked, grey ladies past their breeding prime and needing culled. I don't give a hang about bucks, since I hunt for the freezer, and any doe that has not been swelled up on testosterone and running ragged for weeks during rut is far superior to a buck. Any of you hunters ever come across any info on specializing for doe hunting??

[LeadPoison]

I just hunt the fields and for does, but they will get a little shy as the season goes on at which point hunt the trails in the woods near a food source or between beddind and feeding areas.

[308Win]

Doe hunting for me is not vary sporting the Doe just stands there and is blasted,it's Bucks for me and our Club.

[dukkillr]

I shoot them for population control.  Last year I killed 5 does (4 with a bow) and 2 bucks.  For every mature 4.5 year old or older buck I kill I could kill 25 does.  Of course to each their own.  When I want to kill does I hunt food sources exclusively.

[WylieKy]

I'm with dukkillr, hunt the food sources.  If they go noctournal on you, move back between their bedding areas and food sources.

Doe hunting for me is not vary sporting the Doe just stands there and is blasted,it's Bucks for me and our Club.

My club follows the "If it's brown, it's down" philosophy.  Each hunter hunts what he or she wants, when they want.  For example, I actively hunt yearling animals, and have killed many a deer that still had it's spots.  I call it "vealison."  They taste better, and per QDMA's website, 60% plus will be winter kills anyway.  Anytime I have a goup of bucks or does , I will usually take the smallest animal.  I have a deer on the wall that is probably the biggest I will see in my lifetime, unless I go to a "ranch", and keeping a 5 year old 10 point is like keeping a 8lb bass.  Great for the ego, hard on the tummy, and I would prefer someone that has not had a chance to harvest their own "big boy" to get a chance.

WylieKy   

[308Win]

WylieKy,Every man has his own ethics I guess thats a good thing.

[jhm]

Every hunter needs to justify the sex of the animal themselves, but being a cattleman I know if I have 25 cows and 1 bull I will have 25 calves in the spring, If I have 25 bulls and one cow I will only have 1 calve in the spring, so do the math. a steady killing of the producers will eventually reduce the whole heard.   JIM

[308Win]

dukkillr,5 Does that's 10 future Deer to me.
 

[WylieKy]

At 45+ deer per square mile, my area of SC definately needs a reduction in the size of the herd.  That, however, is secondary.  I just think young deer (doe or button buck) are more yummy.   I used to live in Southwestern Ohio, and my family is from Pulaski and Cumberland counties in Ky, and much of Ky and Oh has an overpopulation problem as well.  Where I live now, a 125lb deer is a big deer, because of poor forage (scrub oak and pine plantations) and overpopulation. 

I will say that if I lived in an area where the population was low, I would limit my harvest to bucks, but would still prefer a young buck to a bruiser.  Many hunters disagree with this and many clubs have "point" limits on their deer. Unless you have a club with 9000+ continuous acres, or a high fence, you are just saving the smaller bucks for your neighbors.

WylieKy

[dukkillr]

dukkillr,5 Does that's 10 future Deer to me.

But the population where I shot those is out of control.  So it might mean 10 deer, but the bucks only reach 120lbs or so.  Population management is key to producing big bucks, which is the only reason i deer hunt.

[308Win]

A Deer population out of control an insurance companies propaganda but a Buck hunters dream.

[Tn Jim]

The problem with a wide spread buck to doe ratio is genetics. If you have only a few bucks and lots of does it doesn't take long to get alot of inbreed deer because of the low number of bucks. The gene pool will do better with 30 bucks and 70 does than 15 bucks and 85 does. That's where alot of your small weights and small racks are coming from. Any area of land can only support a certain number of deer, regardless of sex. The herd needs to be balanced. That being said, I'll bust a doe in a heartbeat. Plus they taste better too.

[flintlock]

We have the same problem here in NC...Huge doe population and last year there were 65,000 bucks killed and 55,000 does...Some hunters just don't like to kill does, or don't eat deer,so they buck hunt...

I used to be the same way, but, I love deer meat...About 20 years ago, I was on one of our farms hunting and had 25 does or so come out into the bean field...I thought to myself, this is crazy, only killing bucks with all this venison here in front of me...So I killed 2 does and have been doing so ever since....Now, I decide before the hunt what I am after, If I am bow hunting or hunting with my flintlock I usually deer hunt....If I am hunting with my .243 and the rut is on I do whatever pleases me...If I have 3-4 does in the freezer I am more apt to wait for a buck....Every year we kill 40-50 deer on our farms, probably 80-85% killed are does....What we have noticed is increased activity of bucks running does and larger bucks killed....With less deer compeating for food, the deer are healthier and as already mentioned, there is less inbreeding....Now, instead of seeing 25-30 deer in the same field and most being does, we see 10-12 and 1/3 are bucks....We still need to take out more does, and fortunately I have younger nephews and neices that are tickled to help out....I get more of a kick helping them kill deer than doing so myself....Its gotten to the point that if I hear them shoot I don't kill anything, so they can get all the attention  when we get together and clean our kill for the evening....That's the beauty of hunting, you can do whatever you want and shouldn't listen to anyone else telling you what is "right"....

To answer your original question....I love hunting over soybean fields in the early fall....My next favorite is a good white oak, or beech tree dropping acorns, near a cutover....

[308Win]

Winter kills balance the herd in NYS and in most other Northern States.

[nels]

On insurance co. propaganda: they just raise their rates to cut their losses.  Winter kill has done very little here in MN over the last several years despite growing wolf numbers.  We get five tags - one of which can be a buck.  This "intensive harvest" mgmt philosophy has also done little do decrease numbers. 

Ethics?  Has nothing to do with taking bucks vs. does - just do it quickly and don't waste any meat.  We're all hunters that kill deer for varying reasons: food, fun and sport.  Perhaps it doesn't seem as sporting, since not enough does are harvested and the numbers are higher.  I see plenty of really dumb yearling bucks that are not any harder to kill than most does.

It's brown = it's down

[CelticCross]

I do appreciate all the interest and response drummed up by my original post. I think my original question has still  gone unanswered.  Has anyone out there seen any books or videos on hunting BIG does?  I have absolutely no problem finding and taking does here in Kentucky.  What I am looking for is good advice on techniques to take the really large, heavy, older does.  Last year my sons and I took five but only one was over 150 lbs.  The remaining four averaged arround 110 lbs. each.  We see the big old girls at other times during the year, but they do a good job of disappearing during gun seasons.  I can't find any info on how to locate the older (and therefore wiser) does that have survived 3 or 4 hunting seasons.

[bigbore442001]

I hunt whatever is legal. Here in Massachusetts we get two buck tags with our license. To shoot antlerless deer, you need to apply for a permit. The state is divided into fourteen zones. Some of the western zones are very difficult to get drawn, but there is plenty of land to hunt while in the eastern and more densely populated , more antlerless permits are given out but it is hard to find a place to hunt.

My dad and I get an antlerless permit for the zone we hunt and live in and then an extra to our east. So we are able to take four deer apeice. Easier said than done.

We also hunt Connecticut with the rifle on private land. We are allowed two deer. One buck and an antlerless or two antlerless deer. It is up to you to choose.

We are meat hunters. We don't measure our deer by G-2's etc. We measure the hunt by the tiime Dad and I spend afield. The experience being in the outdoors away from the trappings of civilization. The time spent watching nature undisturbed or fenced in. In addition, enjoying the fruits of our labor with some of the finest meat in the world. That is the true experience of hunting for us.

[Cheesehead]

In my experience, you need to put yourself on a game trail between bedding and feeding areas at dawn and at dusk. Then to bag the larger does, you must let several smaller ones pass. The older smarter does linger in the back round until it seems safe, similar to bucks.
  I like what Bigbore said. I do not measure my success by inches of scored antlers. It is the quality time with family friends and nature that is the true measure. I shoot from 3 to 5 deer a year, mostly does and sometimes a large buck is in the mix. I do have a very large buck mount in my home that I bagged a few years ago. I refuse to let anybody "score" it. The score is not a measure of success or enjoyment for me. I define myself as a deer hunter, not a trophy buck hunter.

Cheese

[Charlie Tango]

I can't help you much with BIG does, I have only seen one big ole horse of a doe in about thirty years of hunting in both northern and southern Illinois.  Most of the does I see are in the low one hundred pound range, and I see plenty of them.  I would like to see a wall hanger every once in a while but mostly just see small does and yearlings.

[Gregory]

I mean those old bottlenose, swaybacked, grey ladies past their breeding prime and needing culled. I don't give a hang about bucks, since I hunt for the freezer, and any doe that has not been swelled up on testosterone and running ragged for weeks during rut is far superior to a buck. Any of you hunters ever come across any info on specializing for doe hunting??

If you are hunting for the freezer, those big old does are as tough as a big old buck.  The young ones are more tender!!   

[S.S.]

Tough...
That is why you grind them suckers
into Hamburger like meat!
Sporting? Maybe not, But I do not really look at Killing something as a sport
anyway. I hunt for meat ! not a trophy or bragging rights. Taking somethings life
as a SPORT is completely unethical to me. It is just killing something for the sake of killing it.
But of course that is just my opinion.
There is nothing SPORTING about shooting any animal ? Where is the Fair chance?.
If you want some sport, tie a set of antlers onto your head and hunt with those!
That would really be "Fair Chase" . You would then be on equal terms with the deer.
And I would wager on the deer every time as the winner!

[willysjeep134]

What works in one place may be bad in another, it all depends on the situation.

In my county the deer densities are up to 80-90 individuals /square mile. I feel that this is ruining the hunting.  They eat so much cedar every year that the cedar can't regenerate. Pretty soon there won't be any cedar swamps, only balsam and tamarack.  We see 3 times as many winter killls as hunter kills. What animals survive the winter are half starved by spring and don't waste much energy on antlet production. We see a lot of 2 or 3 year old spike horns in my neck of the woods, and I have to think that if they had more food to eat they would have grown bigger racks. I shoot does and bucks, because I feel that the herd in my area should be a lot smaller, and would be healthier for the environment in general if it were.

But, to the north of me there are counties where the deer density is low. I don't support excessive doe shooting up there. What works in one area clearly doesn't in another, which is why my state issues doe permits pretty by small management units. Unfortunately people buy permits in a high density unit and don't understand why they can't use them in a low density management unit.

To add to that, there are so many hunters that don't even remember the semester of biology they took in highschool. if you have a certain ammount of food, it can sustain a certain amount of deer forever, or many more deer for only a short time. Pretty soon there is going to be a catastrophic crash up here, and everyone will just blame the DNR for the trouble they created on their own.

Only about 1/3 of the permits available up here even get purchased, and some of them aren't filled. About 20 bucks are killed for every doe in my county.

[Savage .250]

  I don`t shoot doe.   It`s a personal choice for me.