When to shoot does????

[stumpsitter66]

My area is overrun with does, so I try to take them whenever possible. It doesn't affect my chances at bucks. I have harvested many bucks the day after shooting a doe. These bucks were following the scent from where I dragged the does out of the woods.

[OHhunter]

ORIGINAL: 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.

 
The farms I hunt are generally big enough and have enough does on them, I don't believe taking a couple does would, make the bucks roam any more during the rut than the would if I hadn't shot them.  My main concern is spooking a big mature buck, and making the chances of him becoming nocturnal greater.  I spend my summer hanging treestands so I don't spook anything close to season and I'm a scent control freak.  I think it counters all the effort I put into not spooking deer to be sweating and dragging a deer through the spots I plan on hunting for a big one.

[DeerCamp]

D&DH has a video out about shooting does. It's really good I recommend that you take a look at it. Myself I like to shoot them a little later in the season. Usally the last 2-3 weeks Im maily doe hunting. But I wont pass on a bruser if he comes by either.

[Patriot]

Good point hilltop,
I'm not nearly as selective while bowhunting.  Hopefully by gun season, I have a doe or 2 under my belt with a bow.

Everyone's hunting situation is different, but I'd say early and often with does....unless you have a known buck / doe ratio that is out of whack.
 
oh....I'm the only bow hunter on my property, so if I shoot one or two, there's plenty left for natural rut bait!  MN gun season normally is during prime rut.

[EatDeer]

I'm over run with doe's here in my hunting area too. I take the doe's any chance I get to harvest them, which is mostly earlier in the bow season. The doe's here are just too pressured to hold off on killing them until after the Rut. 

[Bear]

I usually take a doe if the opportunity presents itself. However last Saturday I was given the opportunity and I passed. I am kicking my self now for passing.

[shaman]

I got to re-reading this thread this morning. I got to thinking about my past record and tried to come up with a rule that would cover what I've done. What I found is that I am a take-doe-early kind of guy.  The vast majority of my doe have been taken in October, or certainly by the end of Opening Weekend of gun season. I have also encouraged my sons to take doe with their Yute permits.

My reasoning has been this:

1)  My best shot at a trophy buck is usually Opening Weekend of KY's rifle season.  These bruisers are coming from off-property. A doe here or a doe there early in the season is not going to affect them all that much.

2)  If I haven't seen a shootable buck come by my stand by Noon on Opening Saturday, I'm going to opt for a nice doe and get it to the processor. That leaves me two more weekends  to hunt Mister Big.

3) Weather gets to be a problem in the Trans-Bluegrass the further into November you get.  The last thing I want to be doing is freezing my butt off in December still trying to fill my first tag.  By the time Ohio's Shotgun Season opens the Monday after Thanksgiving, I want to be in by the fire with my freezer full.


This year, things will change.  #2 son has his first set of adult tags.  I'm not going to suggest anything to him.  If he wants to go hunt the Great White Whale, that is fine. He needs to find his own way in the world.  #3 son is hunting his first year as a Yute. Yutes get one tag, and they get a special Yute Season this weekend.  Angus, #3, says he is of the brown-n-down school of thought.  That means we should have one doe in the freezer when Moose and I get to go out the following weekend for Smokepole Season.

If Angus really does bag one, that's probably one doe.  If Moose scores with his muzzleloader, it will probably be a doe as well. If I bust a cap, that's probably 3 doe in the freezer before All Hallow's Eve, with two adult tags left. The first freezer is full, and we're now jockeying for room in the second.  Remember too that the bucks around here can top 300 lbs live weight. On the one hand, I don't want freezer space to dictate my sporting habits. However, the second freezer is there because the shaman went back out into the woods two years ago after cramming the last pound of sausage in the first--big mistake.

[8uck5nort]

I already got a doe in the freezer after missing my first opp on a buck.
 
I agree with some of the above statements about shooting a doe earlier and getting that early season monkey off your back.
 
There are numerous does on at least two of the properties I am hunting. It is my understanding the less available does the better (or at least get it down to a 1 to 1 ratio of buck to doe as the desired ratio). This causes, if the logic holds, the bucks to become much more mobile looking for does as the pre-rut/rut starts to kick in. If a buck has a large harem he can bed down with close by then he will not go looking very far thus decreasing the chances you will see him or so I've been lead to believe.

[PrairieShadow]

ORIGINAL: shaman

I got to re-reading this thread this morning. I got to thinking about my past record and tried to come up with a rule that would cover what I've done. What I found is that I am a take-doe-early kind of guy.  The vast majority of my doe have been taken in October, or certainly by the end of Opening Weekend of gun season. I have also encouraged my sons to take doe with their Yute permits.

My reasoning has been this:

1)  My best shot at a trophy buck is usually Opening Weekend of KY's rifle season.  These bruisers are coming from off-property. A doe here or a doe there early in the season is not going to affect them all that much.

2)  If I haven't seen a shootable buck come by my stand by Noon on Opening Saturday, I'm going to opt for a nice doe and get it to the processor. That leaves me two more weekends  to hunt Mister Big.

3) Weather gets to be a problem in the Trans-Bluegrass the further into November you get.  The last thing I want to be doing is freezing my butt off in December still trying to fill my first tag.  By the time Ohio's Shotgun Season opens the Monday after Thanksgiving, I want to be in by the fire with my freezer full.


This year, things will change.  #2 son has his first set of adult tags.  I'm not going to suggest anything to him.  If he wants to go hunt the Great White Whale, that is fine. He needs to find his own way in the world.  #3 son is hunting his first year as a Yute. Yutes get one tag, and they get a special Yute Season this weekend.  Angus, #3, says he is of the brown-n-down school of thought.  That means we should have one doe in the freezer when Moose and I get to go out the following weekend for Smokepole Season.

If Angus really does bag one, that's probably one doe.  If Moose scores with his muzzleloader, it will probably be a doe as well. If I bust a cap, that's probably 3 doe in the freezer before All Hallow's Eve, with two adult tags left. The first freezer is full, and we're now jockeying for room in the second.  Remember too that the bucks around here can top 300 lbs live weight. On the one hand, I don't want freezer space to dictate my sporting habits. However, the second freezer is there because the shaman went back out into the woods two years ago after cramming the last pound of sausage in the first--big mistake.

 
Maybe this is why im a harvest doe late guy. I want to hunt until the last possible day i can as this is all i can think about in the off season months, why make it any shorter. I dont care about freezing my butt off. Cabelas has lots of warm clothes.[:D][:D]

[dtrain56]

I shoot does during the october lull, it seems that you have a good chance to shoot a buck the opening of archery, since the big boys dont know your around yet,
 
but bucks seem to disapear the middle part of the month and don't reappear until the rut kicks in...
 
so i pass on them the first week, after that it is open season on doe harvest until the rut kicks in when every doe could mean a big buck lurking...