This may be a stupid post but......

[First-light]

Ok- we are all hung up on AR's and deer management. When is the last time you harvested a 3 year old doe? I think I have never gotten one. Most of mine are yearlings or 1.5 year olds. I guess what i"m saying is we don't specifically target does. One would think they would age and we would see an older class of animal. We get our doe permits and fill them when we can. Do you guys understand what I'm getting at??? Why aren't there more 3-4 year old does running around.

[132 eight pointer]

Interesting question. I have killed quite a few doe that were older than 1 1/2 yrs. I think the liklihood of any deer reaching 2 plus years depends on dmps,dmaps and the area you are hunting in.I am sure there are other factors besides hunting that determine a doe's longevity, probably a bit of luck too.Here in western N.Y. 2-3 yr. old doe are not uncommon.

[RifleSharpShot]

Deep in the woods they didnt get to be 3 years old buy playing on the side of the road!

[Suilleabhain]

We have does like horses in 3A since they haven't issued a doe permit in like 4 years

[Lawdwaz]

Who's taking the time to age a doe? We'll weigh some of the bigger ones but don't generally age them.

Heaviest doe I ever killed & weighed went 152lbs and was shot in Holland, NY 6 or 7 years ago. She was a load!

[fasteddie]

Deep in the woods they didnt get to be 3 years old buy playing on the side of the road!

That's right . The smart ones live longer !

[WNYBuckHunter]

I have one thats either a 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 hanging in the garage right now, and its not the first one Ive taken. I had one that the DEC aged at 4 1/2 and she weighed 168lbs. I actually do try and target specific does. We have one running around by my dads place that I call the Grey Witch, because shes an old, spooky, very grey colored doe thats gotta be 6 1/2 or older, I mean she is an absolute slob of a doe. Ive been after her for 2 years, and she's sharp as a tack. My dad saw her Sunday, so it looks like she made it for another season.

[Pygmy]

A doe that dressed 168...?? Amazing...In 45 years of hunting I have seen less than a dozen bucks that dressed that heavy..Awesome doe..

Generally, here in the southern tier, where we have plenty of dmps and guys get to cull the bigger does, a doe that dresses 120 or 130 is a pretty big doe.

I'd guess the average 1.5 year old doe dresses out around 100.

[Lever action]

I've never had a doe aged but I believe most of the does I harvested were older than 1.5 yr old.

[Doewhacker]

Why lookie here its my favorite topic, Doe whackin! I look for 100+ pound doe's, and yes I can guestimate close. We weigh all of our deer and my brother logs em all, I like to weigh them cause me and him have a friendly most weight competition every year. He won for the first time ever this year I think..hehe cause I usually shoot a few doe's and he concentrates on bigger bucks.

Any way, there are older doe's out there its just that not many pay them any attention. My biggest was 135 pounds and my average is 110-125, 1.5's run 80-90 in our spot and 2.5's are 110+, you get the picture. I don't age them because I don't know how and I am not going to bother taking them some where to have some one else do it. A good old doe is every bit as had to catch as a buck, I think Alsehimer had a portion of one of his shows dedicated to just that topic. He had a doe that they could never catch up to and finaly did when it was way old (8 maybe?), that was a neat show.

I realize there aren't many guys like me, and thats a good thing..more fat does for me!

[dave6x6]

Because i'm a trophy hunter, whenever i shoot a doe i just let her sit for a day or two before i get a couple pictures. They look much more impressive when their belly's about to explode..lol

[dave6x6]

This one i shot tonight didn't need any bloating to look impressive..

[screamon demon]

i shot a 4.5 year old doe this year. i had it aged at a check station. it was the only deer taken from the property i hunt

[hunterman7956]

Dave thats a nice doe ! Isn"t it a great feeling to fill a tag in the last hours of the season !

[ny hunter]

Great job Dave..

[Four Season Whitetail's]

We shoot big old does here every year!! We way them. 136,149,142,131 were the heavy ones this year. I think its pretty simple why most big girls dont get taken!!! They are the smartest deer in the woods. I mentioned in another post about last weekend,I saw so many huge big old does on letchworth it was unreal. Either alot of the big girls like the bottom of the gorge or they have a cave some where that they all meet at for the first 3 weeks of the season!!

[CTHunter]

Had a doe in my neighborhood that had a broken back foot. She was still around this year and has had twins every year. This is her 4th season that we have seen her limping. Not sure how many years before she was injured.

[Doewhacker]

This one i shot tonight didn't need any bloating to look impressive..

Did you shoot that at night?

Why is the bottom of the photo chopped off, is it because you have it sitting atop the bait pile?

Is that the new "trophy" doe pose?, I have seen that a few times on here now and its always you professional types.

Ok thats enough jokes for now, good job Dave6x6.

[Dad 6424]

Just a little input from 4o I hunted on some land that was over seen by DEC you cant shot a buck unless its 6 points or more and outside there ears and they give alot of doe tags and you have to give the heads to them they age them and check them for CWD you do get the bucks back we have shot some BIG girls off this hill 180 lbs 12 plus years old my soninlaw shot a bear 2 years ago and the dec officer that came to get his tooth gave me alot of info about the way they age deer and bear the guy was right on the money with the bear he said it was 2 and a half years old when we got the report back from the lab it was right the break down on ageing deer is kind of like this 1 ,2, 3-4 4-6 6-8 8-10 10-12 and 12plus .

[Grizz1219]

I always try to shoot mature does... I go by length of nose and size, I'm not savy enough to know teeth aging... But I've shot at least 1 120 - 130 pound doe every year plus a few 100 - 120 pounders... But in reality, a doe is a doe is a doe.. I do it to help the farmer with deer #'s and to fill my freezer...

[Dave]

Ok- we are all hung up on AR's and deer management. When is the last time you harvested a 3 year old doe? I think I have never gotten one. Most of mine are yearlings or 1.5 year olds. I guess what i"m saying is we don't specifically target does. One would think they would age and we would see an older class of animal. We get our doe permits and fill them when we can. Do you guys understand what I'm getting at??? Why aren't there more 3-4 year old does running around.

Burt, good topic in my area in 4W this year and last there have been more does running around Normally we don't shoot does, but the does look small, there should be quite a few 3-4, and 4-5 year old does. If they are they sure don't have the weight to back it up. Probably because there is no agriculture in our area. But this year I did shoot a doe, didn't weigh it maybe 100# hanging.

[G-Man]

It doesn't matter what you try to manage yourself the hunter population is very high in new york as compared to size of hunting properties. If 100 doe tags are to be issued for a certain area you don't need to shoot 100 doe the dec looks at reports and figures sucess rates... unfortunatley if you live/hunt in an area they the hunters are proficent the take may adversly affect the population resulting in less older deer / doe,and buck . Doe have a much smaller home range than buck and if you get doe tags every year and fill them by targeting the largest oldest doe your doe age structure will decrease. although down the street the doe age structure may be much older..... Remember wmu are large do you really expect the dec to be able to effectivley manage for age in that size area? You need to learn to control your own area and population working within the dec regulations. I know my property needs to have 10 doe a year taken off it to maintain good regrowth in my woods. when i reach that number we stop shooting doe! even though we posess enough tags to effectivly double that number!!

[Red]

We shoot big old does here every year!! We way them. 136,149,142,131 were the heavy ones this year. I think its pretty simple why most big girls dont get taken!!! They are the smartest deer in the woods. I mentioned in another post about last weekend,I saw so many huge big old does on letchworth it was unreal. Either alot of the big girls like the bottom of the gorge or they have a cave some where that they all meet at for the first 3 weeks of the season!!

i seen a few huge doe resting 30 yards from the side of the road in letchworth yesterday. with all the pressure gone they were out every where yesterday i even had a low 120s buck at 28yards in one of the bow only areas in the morning but it just wasnt bright enough for an ethical shot. next year hell be even better. Edited December 22, 2011 by shawn

[132 eight pointer]

I was at Letchworth yesterday too. I only jumped one small doe in the a.m. Took a walk to the river bottom but didn't see any more deer. I did see 3 doe at the Mt. Morris entrance on my way home after legal shooting ended. I stopped and said hello- maybe I will see you next year.I did see a lot of fresh tracks in the mud as well as other fresh deer sign.I will be looking for a new area there this winter.

[132 eight pointer]

Sorry I meant Monday I was there.