Other than trail cameras and anecdotal evidence from sightings, I still do not understand how one could surmise that you have too many does. I have never hunted anywhere that I thought had too many deer.


Here is a couple of case studies:
I have been to Portland landing twice, once in January, and once a couple weeks ago during the primitive weapons hunt. There were sits on both hunts that I did not see a deer.
Wife and I sat in a shooting house overlooking a greenfield for two evenings in a row, and one evening we saw a button buck, the other we saw nothing. not a single deer.
You might think that is an isolated incident but I had a camera hanging on that field from the scout day until the time our hunt concluded and there were several days in a row that I would go without getting a picture of a deer.


similarly, my dad owns 300 acres in selma, the heart of the blackbelt, and it is not uncommon to go 2-3 sits without seeing a single deer. Granted there are not any agricultural fields on his property but he is bordered on either side by massive corn fields. He owns the only standing timber for a very long distance. One would think that the hunting between two giant cornfields couldn't get any better, but you would be wrong. Ever year we wonder why the hunting sucks so bad. I killed a doe out there year before last. that is the only doe I know of that has been shot in the last 3 years.

Moreover, I participated in a primitive weapons hunt on Thigpen Hill SOA in 2022. Me and another guy hunted for 3 days and never laid eyes on a deer.

All three of these properties in question are generally regarded as places that boast really high deer densities. Lord knows it does not make sense to me that we see so few


I have pontificated for so long on why it is that I dont see more deer, that I finally stopped even asking the question. Makes zero sense to me. Thus is the reason I greet the "Too many does" claim with such criticism

Last edited by Nightwatchman; 12/10/24 03:53 PM.