Something else I have noticed...Seems everyone wants to kill a big buck...Most folks don't own the land they hunt and say they are hunting big bucks only...Part of a good management plan is also harvesting does...How many, depends on the land and deer population...
I'm lucky in that I hunt farms that my family owns...The land is planted in peanuts, soybeans, corn and wheat...So basically we are hunting large food plots...We have a target number of deer to remove each year...If we don't remove 40-50 each year we have excessive crop damage and the farmer has the right to remove these deer during the summer and even use a spotlight but he can not remove these deer so they are wasted....We give them the numbers removed from each farm each year...Since starting this 15 years or so ago, he has not killed any during the growing season...
A bonus to us as hunters, since we have started this, we have larger bucks, better antlers and see more bucks chasing during the rut...The herd is healthier...I won't apologize to anyone for taking does, they are all eaten, the excess that my family and friends don't need are donated to needy families in the area...
The deer herd in NC is very healthy, last year there were 15,000 reported deer killed on the highways...To help this situation the state has issued unlimited anterless buck tags this year...
If your state has an abundance of deer there is simply no reason not to take and eat as many as you can do so legally and utilize...