When I say that too many does are being killed in the areas I hunt I am not basing my opinion on merely deer sightings but also on camera observations, harvest data and usage cages on food plots. It also should be based not on one year but over a multi year time period.
That is very true. I specifically posted what I have seen this year, but it's been going on for several years. I was arguing with someone the other day who has been brainwashed into thinking that NOT shooting a doe is bad. They said the deer were just moving at night now. I told him that my cameras run 24/7 and if the deer weren't on my cameras they weren't in that area. I've put up utilization cages here for the past 3 years. There is no more vegetation in the cage than there is outside it. There are many things I am not proficient at, but growing high quality deer forage is not one of them.
A good friend of mine, a member of aldeer who never posts, could tell you a tale about his hunting club that should raise eyebrows with folks besides me. 1200 acres of pristine deer habitat, with no deer sightings by any club member in the last month to 6 weeks and one or 2 sets of tracks in all the greenfields combined, no tracks in the roads, very few if any trail cam pics........ That should be a sign to the state.....
