Aging Does

[Demoderby4]

Never really thought about the whole big/small property comparison, it makes perfect sense though! That was a great observation made there, have you thought about just not shooting any does for a year or so on that property? Do you think that would that do anything? Good or bad? Just an idea i had.

Other than tooth aging and worn down molars i figured it would be almost near impossible to age a doe after it reaches 2.5 or older, I have learned a lot tho from what you guys have been saying. Im not sure if it is just the way their coats are here in SE Mich or any cold wintery place but it seems that the younger the deer the shorter and more chubby their body looks? Anyone else notice? Or am i just seeing things? [:D]

[buckhunter21]

ORIGINAL: reeper0697

Here there are so many does to bucks. I usually try to take old dry does since they arent producing fawns yet still eating food that supports good breeding does and bucks.

 
Does anyone believe there is such a thing as a 'dry doe?'  I really don't think there is...JMO!  Want to see what everyone else thinks. 

[JPH]

ORIGINAL: buckhunter21

ORIGINAL: reeper0697

Here there are so many does to bucks. I usually try to take old dry does since they arent producing fawns yet still eating food that supports good breeding does and bucks.

Does anyone believe there is such a thing as a 'dry doe?'  I really don't think there is...JMO!  Want to see what everyone else thinks. 

I think there have been some good articles written, debunking the idea of the dry doe.

[Goose]

I've read articles as well in D&DH going against this dry doe theory.

[reeper0697]

Let me restate "dry doe" since D&DH itself had a good article about this topic and it was a bad choice of words. could they produce fawns? probably. What I mean are big does that are usually alone. Like I said in the spring time we will see a decent amount of does without fawns, just alone in general at times. did the get bread? possibly. Did they have fawns? maybe, I really dont know. I dont mean a doe that is sterile, I mean a doe without fawns

[buckhunter21]

Yea, I don't think I'm that big of a believer in the 'dry doe' talk.  For one, most of our does don't live long enough to be considered 'old.'  For two, I think I have read that there are documented cases of does as old as 15 still having fawns.  Everyone has their own opinion though I guess!

[reeper0697]

Buckhunter,
 
I agree with you. I was actually amazed the first time I heard how old does can be and still reproduce