Nobody needs to kill 20 does off their property unless they have a fence around it. Mother Nature will take care of it if you are over populated.

If I don't see 15+ a sit I've had a bad day. From hunting perspective it probably doesn't get much better. But we don't shoot does and the people around us don't kill them like chickens either, thankfully.

Guess it's all about perspective and management goals. There's nothing wrong with either one, but I personally don't want to sit and see 15 deer per hunt in a 1/2 acre field. I occasionally see 15 deer a hunt, but expecting it is not what I am trying to accomplish at all. It's fine if you want to manage for numbers of deer seen/hunt, but expecting other folks who are trying to manage for different reasons to stop killing does is very narrow minded. Everyone does not manage their deer herd the same, and don't want to.

I agree completely. My dad didn't hunt. When I started hunting. I grabbed a family gun and walked out the door and I was LEGAL. It was our land and there was no dang tags, or other bullcrap or I probably would have never started in the first place.

Be careful what y'all ask for. Not everyone grew up hunting and it's hard to get started.

Why is it okay to have a season limit on turkey but not on deer? Just curious to see the answers. On deer we are infringing on rights but most turkey hunters want some kind of limit imposed.

We also protect the hens but not does. What if deer numbers were shown to be declining? What then?

Just curious and provoking thought and discussion. Nothing more or less.

I've seen a very slight, and I mean barely noticeable difference in averages per age class on some properties with habitat improvements and keeping deer below CC. Most of these properties were not much over CC to begin with.

I have seen the opposite occur though. I've watched properties go from producing 200 lb bucks with impressive headgear and 130-140 lb does to 150 lb bucks and 80 lb does within a matter of years, all because deer exceeded what the area was capable of supporting. Deer numbers don't seem to explode in suitable habitats now like they did in the late 80s and 90s when deer were occupying areas they hadn't for years, with very few predators. Now that coyotes are in the equation they can impact a herd's ability to grow exponentially like deer used to do. I don't think overpopulation is a problem in most places. Heck I know it's not. Liberal doe harvest is still needed on certain properties though. For folks to say it is not, is just as ignorant as the folks who have the mentality to kill every doe they see. Lack of education is the root of all the problems. Folks take one sentence from a QDMA article about doe harvest and justify it to kill everything. They're wrong. Also wrong, are the ones who think doe harvests should be stopped everywhere for everybody.

I agree Matt but there are ways the State can manage the deer for the best of everyone.....i.e. setting doe harvest limits by districts (not for the whole State) and providing extra permits for properties that truly need to take more does for a biological reason.

If you put a limit of 2 bucks (8pt or better) and 2 does once every 5 years we'd have the best hunting in the country.

Bigt, trust me, we know something needs to be done.

If you put a limit of 2 bucks (8pt or better) and 2 does once every 5 years we'd have the best hunting in the country.

One thing for sure is that at the current liberal harvest rates it will get way worse in the near future.

Problem is that any serious efforts to increase the health of the state herd will be met with fanatical resistance from people that think they will not be able to kill enough button button bucks and fawns.

So hunting is about seeing deer? Not the health of the deer herd or "meat hunting"? I understand the draw of seeing lots of deer, I just don't agree that is should take precedence over harvesting deer.

We don't manage ANY other resource that way. Why should we deer? We don't place age restrictions on squirrels, ducks, turkeys, or any other game animals.