When to shoot does????

[OHhunter]

What do you all think, should you shoot them early, late or anytime they're within range?


I always plan on shooting them early, but then the big buck hunter in me kicks in and I pass them up until after the rut. I'm afraid of spooking deer and having the bucks go nocturnal before I have shot at them.

[JPH]

We kicked this topic around recently on another thread. It is worthy of revisiting.
 
I have been a "whenever they're in range" guy for the past few seasons, but I'm backing off this year. I hunt micro properties. I think I have removed some of my natural buck attractant and altered the flow of the rut.
 
Another issue is the time factor. I do not have any vacation until Holloween. If I shoot a doe on a work night, I've going to be up all night caring for it.
 
If I shoot early this season, it's going to be for a mature buck. My rut hunt will also be for big boys. Then, I'll go after does around Thanksgiving.
 
Of course, I've been known to get a little itchy when a fat doe stays under my stand too long. We'll see if I can keep the antlerless tags from burning a hole in my pocket.

[OHhunter]

I'm going to try and shoot at least one early, I've set up a couple doe stands, where I should be able to take one and not spook any bucks. 
 
Caring for them has always been issue with limited time and high temps early in the season, with my extra time this fall, I hope that won't be an issue.

[djohns13]

My goal is to take two does as early as possible, then one later during the late season.  Somewhere in between I hope to take a mature buck.  But for my property, with its heavy doe population, early and often is the right answer.
 
Good shooting.

[deerdown]

I'm kind of in the same boat as you OHhunter.  I'm afraid of spooking too many deer when taking does, but I think if you get some does early on in the season you can let things cool down for when the rut kicks in later.  Like JPH said it's nice to have some does hanging around for natural attractants .. pretty hard to beat the real thing!

[hilltop]

I will take a good doe any time with my bow, but not with a gun. I dont get as much enjoyment shooting a gun as I do with my bow.

[PrairieShadow]

ORIGINAL: JPH

We kicked this topic around recently on another thread. It is worthy of revisiting.

I have been a "whenever they're in range" guy for the past few seasons, but I'm backing off this year. I hunt micro properties. I think I have removed some of my natural buck attractant and altered the flow of the rut.

Another issue is the time factor. I do not have any vacation until Holloween. If I shoot a doe on a work night, I've going to be up all night caring for it.

If I shoot early this season, it's going to be for a mature buck. My rut hunt will also be for big boys. Then, I'll go after does around Thanksgiving.

Of course, I've been known to get a little itchy when a fat doe stays under my stand too long. We'll see if I can keep the antlerless tags from burning a hole in my pocket.

I to have been guilty of getting itchy when a does keeps going back and forth by my stand. I believe i had done myself more harm than good by doing so though. I know for a fact that that some of the does i have shot have been 3+ years old and imagine that a 3yr old doe is only going to let a mature buck breed her. This being said if she never leaves more than 1/4 mile from my stand a mature buck is going to have to find her eventually and give chase but if shes in my freezer im most certain that mature buck isnt going to look that hard for her.

I like to keep the natural(and most effective by far!)buck attractant around as long as i can.

Also in SD all tags convert to anterless on Jan 1 through jan 31 so this give me a month to shoot my does even if i havent filled my any deer tag yet.

[schlupis]

I dont think shooting a doe early will spook bucks Just shoot the doe get the itch out and then get down to buisness.. I know people who have killed deer from there stand and then one of the other hunting party sits in his stand the next night and kills a nice buck, happens a lot.
 
I killed my doe this year opening day and continued to see deer the next two days, with my buddy hunting only a few acres away seeing 4 does and a nice buck 15 inch 8 point.. Deer didnt seem to be spooky just went about there lives..
 
So I wouldnt worry about spooking any bucks just shoot the doe (I used to use that excuse also) besides it takes the same shot placement to kill a doe as it does a buck might as well find out how your shooting earlier rather that later...

[PrairieShadow]

I wasnt saying that shooting a doe will spook Mr. Big. I was just saying that by shooting doe's on your property early that the bucks will have less desire to come check the area out since the doe are gone.
 
To each his own but im going to try to keep the doe around until after the rut is over.

[Panman1949]

My setup is a river between two good-sized woods in NW Ohio.  It looks like a skinny, bent hourglass.  All around is open, flat cropland with corn and beans.  I have the added bonus of a small apple and pear orchard next to the river and bedding area.  So many deer use this funnel that I almost can't scare deer out of the area.  Most of these are does it seems, but come rut that changes quite a bit.  I can't take so many does to hurt my area in my mind.  Can't speak for other areas, but I think I am setup very good...FINALLY!!  Good luck to all no matter how you go about it.  Panman