Originally Posted by BCLC
I own 4 small tracts (All less than 100AC) all within 5min of each other. Identical or Very Similar timber, food source, water, bedding, access, neighbors, etc. On 2 of the tracts we haven’t killed a doe in over 30yrs. On the other 2 tracts over the last 20yrs we have killed an average of 2 doe per tract per year (not very many) Year in and year out literally for decades now, the 2 tracts we do not kill does on produce better bucks and an older age class of bucks. We kill plenty of young bucks on all of the tracts so it’s not a matter of less hunting pressure or less killing. Without there being any other clear indications or logic, I gravitate towards the doe harvest theory you’ve presented.


Young does don’t disperse like young bucks do…..so replacing does that have been thinned out isn’t easy unless you have a neighbor or neighbors who are just over run with them and they’re wanting to spread out due to social reasons. In a lot of cases if you go in there and whack does then its just gonna take the remaining doe groups on your property having babies to replace those you whacked. With coyotes being so prevalent now that might not happen so easily. I don’t think the majority of folks have to worry too much about thinning out does these days like they think they do…..We’re at a whole different place now than we were a decade or two ago. Those bucks know where those high concentrations of does exist and their gonna come back to them year after year if the doe populations remain constant. I’ve been hunting the same small property now for 14 years and stockpiling does in here on it year after year…..It’s been a pretty successful strategy………I think coyote control will play a big role in doing this in the future…..Does recognize the absence of yotes and will concentrate in areas where they don’t exist or where they’re numbers are controlled.

F%$@ Chuck......If it's a doe let it go!!