I used to be on the "balance the herd" qdma theory and honestly, saw less deer doing it with no increase really in buck sightings/size. I have seen too many deer to count and about the same amount of bucks and does to be honest on places that we either don't shoot does or only shoot the old barren does without yearlings. I agree with Goatkiller's opinion about laying off blasting does as well as others opinions on planting the best food you can while increasing the habitat, hunting smart, and applying as little of pressure as possible. We also limit the shooting of does on fields, so it really minimizes the pressure.

Back to the OP's post: I have seen about 60-40 Doe to buck ratio with a hundred or so deer sightings. A lot of 2/3 yr old bucks but no bigguns just yet.

I hate marshall county

I’m saying that 10 months out of the year, or longer, bucks think with their stomach. They’re enslaved to food. Provide the food and lay off the trigger and you’ll see more bucks. They do not like to compete with umpteen does and fawns for food, and typically shy away from these doe units until rut. Balance out the sex ratio the best you can and you’ll have incredible experiences. I’m not repeating some text book. I’m telling what works in the real world from managing properties. A lot of you who don’t fully grasp this concept I’m afraid were part of a QDM property that was grossly mismanaged by someone who wasn’t qualified to be managing deer herds. It’s all about habitat and low pressure, and keeping deer populations at a reasonable level that’s both productive and sustainable. High doe populations do not ever equate to larger, healthier and more bucks. Having a ratio skewed heavily toward does actually leads to LESS reproductive success. That’s not a stupid idea or theory. It’s fact based with data. It’s been replicated thousands of times. Bucks will stay with a doe for 12-36 hours while she’s in estrous. They won’t leave her. They will breed her several times. So will other bucks if given the chance. While they’re locked down on her there’s other does in estrous that aren’t getting bred if the sex ratio is skewed heavily to females. This leads to fewer buck sightings, less reproductive success, and bucks that wear themselves down over an extended breeding period. This is also dependent on neighbors. If you knock back a few does and hold off on bucks, and the properties around you are heavy on buck harvest, it’s all in vain and you’ll never get to see what I’m talking about.

And to your last point about neighbors, let's face it, most of us aren't managing 4k acres. In my situation, we have roughly 430 acres of privately owned land with just my partner and whoever we have over hunting, so that means our deer also spend a lot of time on the neighboring properties. I know there is a fair amount of bucks and does from camera pics, but the sightings are probably 90/10% does to bucks. I'd say based on pics just a guess our buck to doe ratio is maybe 3-4:1. We have done lots to help the habitat and there is tons of food and food options available to them right now on our property. We are struggling with do we go ahead and take out a fair number of does or do we just not pester them this year and see what the rut brings. This is our first year on the property, just closed on it January of this year.

Probably close to 10 does per buck sighted. If you count spikes

I saw 10 does and one small buck this evening. I reckon thats a pretty normal ratio of what ill see in my foodplot. However in a treestand in the woods my buck to doe ratio would go way up but still nowhere close to 1:1

I've seen around 35 does and 2 bucks.. and one of those was a 1.5yr old spike 😞

I’ve seen 35 does, 38 fawns, 32 bucks.

I haven’t seen 32 bucks in the last 3 years 😂

Of course that 90% public land hunting. This season I’ve seen 3 bucks and probably 30 does.

Just my 2 cents you cant effectively manage a herd unless you have a pile of land. You can’t control what your neighbors do and it is impossible to manage a small piece of property. You can try or whatever but if it’s not high fenced the deer can roam and go wherever they want. I feel that if the area can’t support the deer with food or habitat they will move on and find something better. I’ve got place that is 160 acres and was shot up when I got it. After not shooting does for six years now you can go just about anywhere on the property and see 1-8 deer per sit bucks and does. Back when we got it you might see that 1-8 a season and when the rut started the bucks I had on camera left because there wasn’t any does but out of that 160 acres there’s not that many deer living on it they are living on my neighbors and coming to my land to eat. I’ve got another 450 acres and it’s loaded with deer you see a ton of does and fawns but handfuls of bucks until the rut. For example the other day one morning I saw 12 deer all does and every one of them had a fawn with them and the afternoon I saw three bucks and one doe. Sometimes you will see 20 deer and sometimes you will see 2 so how do you justify shooting does when some may not live on the property.

I ain't on private land 😃 we just don't have many deer but Its pretty close ratio for what I hunt anyway

Ive seen 3 bucks 5 doe....ismy duck to boe radius unflatulated

We usually see about 2/1 more does than bucks. During the rut that number will a lot closer to 1/1. We don't shoot very many does, however we also don't shoot very many bucks. We do however see deer on almost ever hunt. From what I know about all the people that hunts the a joining properties I would say they are about the same on all accounts. Unless you have a large piece of property there is very little you can do on your own to effect anything.

30 or more does, only one buck.

Keep in mind if you see 10 fawns, approximately half are males. People are bad about lumping all fawns in the doe category.

Game Check does it.

I can say for a fact small properties can be "managed " for great hunting. No, can't stop the deer from roaming. Some to a lot may get killed around. But 100 acres can provide some outstanding hunting even with pressure from the neighbors. That pressure will even help. Take that 100 acres and find the middle 40 acres. Clear cut. Put about 5 of the 40 acres in food. Let the other 35 acres grow. Any large acorn producers, release them. Do nothing attractive to deer near property lines. Apply little pressure and never hunt when wind is wrong. The outside pressure will help push deer to this during day light hours. They will use the neighbors more at night and less in the day resulting in a few more surviving. Will you see 50 deer a day? NO! Will you see 20 different bucks in a season? PROBABLY NOT! But you will have better hunting and an increased change at a mature buck.

Hunting in Alabama is headed to smaller properties as more and more land is divided. We hunters better learn what it takes to have a quality experience on these small properties.

Have you used game check? It specifies antlered or unantlered and male or female for every deer. So it does not lump them all into the doe category at all.

No, I have not. My harvest record shows Antlered buck and unaltered deer.

What leads to fewer buck sightings is shooting small bucks.

IF you have too many does... someone shot the bucks... right? I mean that is the only logical explanation. Who was it... was it your neighbor or a rogue club member? Doesn't matter.

So what are you going to do then... shoot a bunch of does so that you will have more bucks.

That makes no sense. None. Not even a little bit.

Knock back a few does and hold off on the bucks... that will never happen for most hunters in this State only a select few are lucky enough to have enough acres that we aren't sharing deer with our neighbors. One Truth here.... ultimately this comes down to your neighbors. This I can get on board with. The people around you are the biggest influence.

What y'all need to think about is how many people are out there trying to do this whole deer management thing the right way and all their efforts are in vain. They can't manage their herd on their 400 acres because the State has created an environment that promotes blasting everything you see, apparently now including spotted fawns.


Y'all are trying to apply a technical theory that works in a vaccum as a Statewide management plan. IMO it is ruining the hunting in this State for a lot of people. We are not wiping out our deer herd under our current system. There is no crisis as a result of promoting doe blasting. But after 20 years of unfettered doe shooting we still have too many does Statewide. Otherwise why would y'all still be promoting unfettered doe blasting.

Y'alls application of the "shoot more does" theory is CLEARLY not working. All it has really served to do is degrade the quality of hunting in terms of shooting a nice buck...... for probably more hunters than you realize. In my opinion it is a LOT of people.

Let's ignore crop damage... Does anyone really care that they are seeing too many deer? I've never heard anyone say they wish they had only seen 2 deer instead of 18. What they care about is they are not seeing enough bucks and/or they can't grow a decent buck on their little slice of the pie.

Shooting more "deer" is not the answer to this.

IMO blasting deer IS the problem NOT the solution.

Having too many does is a problem looking for a solution and that solution is.... who's shooting the bucks? You can inscribe that on my Tombstone because that is the ultimate truth in all of this.


I'm not agruing with you specifically Matt just the theory -



I don't want to beat a dead horse so I'm not posting anymore on this thread. I've said my peace.