How many does should you shoot ?

[nyantler]

With such an ample doe herd here in my part of Madison county I usually try to fill both of my DMP's during the late Muzzleloader season. I keep one and donate the other... Keeps me in venison and helps to feed the less fortunate. Just lucky to have it so good in this neck of the woods.

Edited July 21, 2015 by nyantler

[Five Seasons]

Yes - 145 raw score. Got dinged for the drop tines. Adirondack wilderness deer.

BeaverRiver 033.jpg

Should have known you drive a Prius

[Curmudgeon]

Should have known you drive a Prius

 

Sorry, its a sibs - both the deer and car. It was just to show I know how big a 140 is. Anyway, didn't you see in one of the political threads where I was called an "aging hippy, draft dodger"? That's me, grey beard and all.

 

I think G-man and I are very similar. You question both of us yet I find no difficulty with his thinking. I delegate a lot of the killing. The horns are important to some of guys, especially the younger ones. They are competitive. I think of myself as having found an ecological niche. Deer are affecting the ecology of my place in the world. So, I eat them. Simple.

 

BTW - I hope you read the warning in my signature line. Disbelief is a good defense for cognitive dissonance.

 

[jjb4900]

why is it that if you tell most other hunters that you could care less about killing big bucks that they think you're a liar?...............amazing.

[Curmudgeon]

why is it that if you tell most other hunters that you could care less about killing big bucks that they think you're a liar?...............amazing.

 

It's simple. Because they don't understand. They think everyone is motivated by what motivates them.

 

[gfdeputy2]

why is it that if you tell most other hunters that you could care less about killing big bucks that they think you're a liar?...............amazing.

 

Don't get it either as I get older I care less & less about the racks. I don't think I would pass up a 140 class if I had a tag for it but I will shoot doe & bucks just the same. If I had 300 acres to myself in WNY & lived there it could be a different story but here in NH unless posted it is considered to be like public land & population is not big less then 100,000 for the state & we hunt public land in NY so we let few deer get a pass. In NH if you let a "shootable" deer pass it could be the only one you see all year

[dbHunterNY]

I wouldn't pass a 140" deer and would love you shoot a fair chase buck over 200" like one of my buddies did.  I think this explains my dilemma, except I haven't got a wall of booners as he does....
 

http://www.midwestwhitetail.com/publish/posts/1241/the-dark-side-of-deer-management.html

...even a scrub mature buck will have antlers big enough for me.
 

....anyway most here just shoot a doe or two based on how many deer they're seeing.  how do hunters on here determine how many doe to shoot is a question that's still got me curious.


 

[jjb4900]

I wouldn't pass a 140" deer and would love you shoot a fair chase buck over 200" like one of my buddies did.  I think this explains my dilemma, except I haven't got a wall of booners as he does....

 

http://www.midwestwhitetail.com/publish/posts/1241/the-dark-side-of-deer-management.html

...even a scrub mature buck will have antlers big enough for me.

 

....anyway most here just shoot a doe or two based on how many deer they're seeing.  how do hunters on here determine how many doe to shoot is a question that's still got me curious.

 

This past year I chose not to fill any doe tags Upstate where we hunt because the deer population sucks and I don't need a deer in my freezer as much as those deer need to live to hopefully build it back up.........I let the same four doe walk everytime I saw them. I live on Long Island and shoot as many as I can eat or give to others to eat, usually around 3 or 4. I'm ceratinly no biologist, but am at least smart enough to know what the population looks like in the areas I hunt.

[growalot]

 

how do hunters on here determine how many doe to shoot is a question that's still got me curious.

 

 I spend time talking to ppl to get a gauge on what was taken off the hill the year before...I run my cams all year. I take from  what I'm seeing winter through the following fall. what I'm seeing in grouped deer and fawn drops. This being single, twins and triplets.. triplets here for years have been a norm. So when I see that they and twins have decreased I know there is a significant change in the herd. I also keep a close eye on favorite browse....I do not take stock in the whole ...See no undergrowth or lower limbs theory...for I know that when you have a healthy canopy and mature trees it is natural to NOT SEE UNDER STORY GROWTH. For cripes sake the understory isn't seeing enough sun ...We do not live in the plains... In hill country sun angles during growing season just don't always line up to produce great conditions even if we were void of deer...also altitudes even in NYS make a difference in Forrest growth...A good part of my land is carpeted in a very thick layer of moss...which makes my plotting a real challenge.

So from winter to the following fall this information is what makes me determine the amount of doe I feel should be Targeted if given the chance to remove and ppl willing to take.

[thphm]

This past year I chose not to fill any doe tags Upstate where we hunt because the deer population sucks and I don't need a deer in my freezer as much as those deer need to live to hopefully build it back up.........I let the same four doe walk everytime I saw them. I live on Long Island and shoot as many as I can eat or give to others to eat, usually around 3 or 4. I'm ceratinly no biologist, but am at least smart enough to know what the population looks like in the areas I hunt.

 

X2, are they still allowing you to keep on shooting does around the Ridge check station until you shoot a buck ?. Been a while since I hunted around there .

 

[Doc]

Damn! What a bad guy I am .... lol. I don't count deer. I don't consider myself any sort of game biologist. I don't make up any rules for how many deer I will shoot or what I believe others should or should not shoot. I couldn't score a deer rack if next years tags depended on it. I don't believe that I have the knowledge or ability to attempt to balance the gender ratio. I don't do any culling or any of those grand and wonderful deer management things that it sounds like most do. I just take whatever tags are handed to me by the DEC, and go deer hunting. No fences, no plots, no secret scents and manufactured scrapes. No special scent-lok suits. I guess some of us are just bad hunters .... ha-ha. But I always have good legal venison in the freezer and a whole pile of hunting stories to tell anyone that wants to listen at family gatherings and visits with hunting buddies.... ha-ha. I'll probably finish out my years exactly the same way, hunting the deer as I find them and not trying to manipulate the herd in any way. I just want to enjoy my hunting, not make a life career out of it. I guess we are all different in what we want to get out of our hunting. I'm pretty easy to please .... lol.

[grampy]

I do agree with Doc. Keep it simple and just hunt! And a little common sense goes a long way. If you have a bunch of deer shoot more. If you don't, shoot less. Simple.

[G-Man]

You contradict yourself a little. You say horns do not matter, then you say it's fun to watch young and new members kill good deer. If horns do not matter (and that's your stance, and I don't disagree), then what is a "good deer"

lets be honest, for most its mature. Mature doe are often hardest to kill, but unless they're an absolute swamp donkey or you're good at aging you just don't know...

a good deer is something they are happy with ,be it a spike, or a fork or a big doe, I have no limits on size at camp with one exception, button bucks during bow season..if you shoot one your on dishes for the season.. although horns don't matter, everyone enjoys seeing a buck be it a spike or monster. My feeling if your happy with it then it's a trophy to you shoot it.

[dbHunterNY]

I do agree with Doc. Keep it simple and just hunt! And a little common sense goes a long way. If you have a bunch of deer shoot more. If you don't, shoot less. Simple.

 

It most definitely can be as simple as that.  From what I've seen and been told by others this seems to be the norm.  I tend to be under scrutiny with my current situation so I need to have a "count" that's supported by real world observations from those around me.  I get a lot of one guy saying there's tons of deer, so we've got to take a bunch.  then another that's his neighbor saying he's a jerk shooting all the deer, because there's no deer where he is.  when distributing DMAPs I've got to ground the both of them without discussing how they hunt which has an effect on what they'd be seeing or what to shoot or not shoot on their property.

[Curmudgeon]

Yeah, I know about the neighbor thing. I'm getting hammered by too many deer and using up the DMAP tags. One neighbor hasn't spoken to me in years because "I'm killing the brood stock".

[growalot]

We just agree not to mention how many doe I shoot...but they are always glad to here of any buck I get...

[dbHunterNY]

a good deer is something they are happy with ,be it a spike, or a fork or a big doe, I have no limits on size at camp with one exception, button bucks during bow season..if you shoot one your on dishes for the season.. although horns don't matter, everyone enjoys seeing a buck be it a spike or monster. My feeling if your happy with it then it's a trophy to you shoot it.

 

a "good" deer I've figured out has a couple facts associated with it.....

 - it's based on what a hunter sees or knows is running around.  if they haven't seen or gotten a picture of a basket racked buck then a spikes and little "crotch" horns are a good deer they'll shoot.  if there's multiple 2.5 year old racked bucks running around then that's what they'll shoot.  they never hold out based on some story of a big buck they heard by someone else, unless there's lots to support the deer is still there where they're hunting.

 

- a "good" deer changes like the wind.  one year it could be a typical 8 pointer the next it could be a spike.  there's times a good deer even changes as the season nears the end based on what they've seen or what someone else shot first.

 

[Curmudgeon]

A "good deer" is one that presents itself for a good clean shot.

[fasteddie]

A "good deer" is in the freezer .

 

[dbHunterNY]

A "good deer" is in the freezer .

 

try like heck to coax them into the chest freezer, but it's hard to get them to just jump right in there without bait.  stupid NY rules.

[Curmudgeon]

And when you do succeed, they make a mess.

[Five Seasons]

why is it that if you tell most other hunters that you could care less about killing big bucks that they think you're a liar?...............amazing.

That's not what he said. He said he hunts to control the deer population and let's a 140 walk. Not that he's just a meat Hunter but actually lets them walk. Edited July 24, 2015 by Belo

[Five Seasons]

I do agree with Doc. Keep it simple and just hunt! And a little common sense goes a long way. If you have a bunch of deer shoot more. If you don't, shoot less. Simple.

At the same time, someone who chooses to do plots and management isn't a bad guy either.

Whatever floats your boat so long as you don't hurt anyone else or hunt unethically.

[grampy]

Absolutely Belo. To each their own. The world would be a very boring place if we were all the same. It's the differences in us all that keep things interesting!