does

[habs]

is it better to take a younger doe or a mature doe, as there are not many fawns this year because of coyotes.

[shaman]

Good question.

Everyone has differing ideas on it. Me? I try to stay away from the matriarchal doe. She's the one that's usually at the lead of a line of doe on the move. I also try to stay away from tail-end Charlie. By this time of year, that's often a button buck.

Mature or not, you usually want to go for the second or third doe in a line of 5. In groups of 2, go for the smallest. Singly? It depends. It may be a button buck, it may be a barren doe.

Why not the matriarch? She is the one with the most knowledge about how to keep the herd living. The longer you can keep her happy, the greater likelyhood you will have a happy healthy resident doe population on your place. I made the mistake once of killing off the lead doe. Basically, it disrupted a stable movement pattern of the herd. They stopped using the area as a travel corridor, and screwed up hunting out of one blind almost permanently.

[JPH]

I agree that it's a great question and I agree with much of what Shaman has said.

Doe harvest is a tricky question that is heavily dependent on your herd dynamics, habitat and what you want to see in the area you hunt. I'd say it is impossible to offer you advice without knowing a lot more about where you hunt and what you want to do.

Obviously we can all offer our own doe harvest strategy but that is all specific our situations.

[deerstalker85]

I agree with much of what was said there. I have never been a supporter of killing a large middle age to old doe. The meat will be much more tender on the younger does, and I agree keeping the lead does on your property will only ensure future continuation of the deer population and not disrupt the deer nearly as much. Go get the young tender ones that taste the best anyway!

[JPH]

Again, specific to the property in question. I've hunted farms where the population has spilled over the carrying capacity. On those places I have tageted large does will no ill effects.

I'd like to hear more from the OP about where he hunts and what he wants to see happen in the long term.