Pregnant Doe

[Hawk78]

MY pro pic is real ,,perfect catagory less than 11 points boone n crocket deductions.I live for deer n hunting life of whitetails changing my life to do the ultimate pursuit.40 years never going without a 8 point plus bigger.I know the deer

Sounds like you have great locations to hunt. But down here where I am located, around a decade ago, a disease broke out in the over-populated herds because of too many "buck management" hunters only wanting to kill large, racked bucks. Just saying that the practice must keep in mind the population.

 

[FishDFly]

I think I struck a couple nerves with this post!

Yep and don't take much to rile the troops.

 

[Dutch7]

For the record since this topic took this direction...
My father never shot a doe and would not allow me to take one either for several years - said I was hurting the herd taking two deer with one shot. Now mind you this was in the 70's when it was nothing to see herds of 30-40 deer at a time on opening day and totals near 70 or more a day!
Well I have taken my share of doe and buck over many years and guess what, there are still plenty of deer to be had. My neighbors took 11 deer off a 25 acre property this season and I thought they were all shot off until I ventured out there on Saturday and nearly got run over by a herd of 5 and the other neighbors were pushing two herds of 6 & 8 around all day on Saturday. The days of 70 deer a day sightings are long gone but now we are taking some bigger bucks and the little ones get the free pass.
I feel humbled to take a deer but I don't feel pity or remorse - if I need the meat I shoot it, If I don't they get a pass - simple enough.
Cheers!

 

[appalichian hunter]

HAWK, I hunt now bye myself since my dad passed three years ago, it is a mountain that is very difficult too get into about 65 acers, I hunt the top. There are two farms on either side of me that no one hunts, both of these farms are probally in the area of 400 acers, the nearest person I know who hunts that area is at least 5 miles further out the ridge, it is a strange sound if you hear another gun shot and then the weather and wind must be perfect too hear that.

 

[pamtnman]

OK everyone, who wants pizza for dinner? Extra doe pepperoni topping?

 

[appalichian hunter]

Strange you should mention that, not pepperoni, but a baatch of (buck) kielbasa the other day.

 

[MountainSmoke]

I would say that anybody who has shot does later in the season has probably at one point or another shot one, or several, that have been pregnant. It's bound to happen. Really though what difference does it make if the doe is 2 weeks pregnant or two months pregnant? The latter may be a little harder on the eyes when field dressing that's all. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean she wasn't pregnant. Personally, I would much rather shoot one later in the season and not have to worry about two fawns following me out of the woods while dragging their mama. That happened to me with the second deer I ever shot. It was in early October and it really stuck with me, I vowed it would never happen again. There are way too many does where I live, 30 or more in a field at a time. Yes some are button bucks and yearling does but most are mature does. These mature does need to be thinned out plain and simple and I am all for it. I try my hardest to take an old doe who I believe to have no fawns. It makes the hunt ten times harder than just "going out and shooting a doe" often passing dozens of does with fawns by their side and button bucks and yearling does trying to find what I feel is the right one to take. I'm aware that just because a mature doe doesn't have fawns by her side doesn't mean that she doesn't have some off in the distance somewhere but I try. The bottom line is that many areas have way too many deer and it's not the end of the world if you shoot a pregnant doe or a button buck or whatever. You will be helping the rest of the population survive the winter in good health regardless.

 

[hunter thompson]

Sounds like you have great locations to hunt. But down here where I am located, around a decade ago, a disease broke out in the over-populated herds because of too many "buck management" hunters only wanting to kill large, racked bucks. Just saying that the practice must keep in mind the population.

exactly every place is different and in the same states one side of the road is different from others.The ratio to 1 buck 5 does i think does the trick.

 

[hunter thompson]

in the late 60s early 70s the seasons and the type of deer that were allowed to shoot were set by legislators not the biologist..So these old farmer legislators thought that the more does kept the more deer,which was the worst thing ever that could happen.Our farm had deer eating the leaves of corn 4 ft high because there were too many hungry mouths to eat.WE shot 18 in 3 weeks,had big bbqs for many familys on sat night.Finally the biologist took the rule making over away from these old farmers in legislator then open the doe season up.Well the old school farmers got mad and posted the land.5 years of getting the herd under control. does fawns if it was brown its down..PREGNANT WAS THE BETTER.

 

[Hawk78]

HAWK, I hunt now bye myself since my dad passed three years ago, it is a mountain that is very difficult too get into about 65 acers, I hunt the top. There are two farms on either side of me that no one hunts, both of these farms are probally in the area of 400 acers, the nearest person I know who hunts that area is at least 5 miles further out the ridge, it is a strange sound if you hear another gun shot and then the weather and wind must be perfect too hear that.

I hate your dad isn't hunting with you anymore. My dad is 77 and I still have him and we still hunt together. It sounds like you have a heaven of a place to hunt. I wasn't throwing off on you. I was just reminding anyone who may read my comment that "buck management" practice can have negative affects, may. Depends on many, many factors.

 

[Hawk78]

exactly every place is different and in the same states one side of the road is different from others.The ratio to 1 buck 5 does i think does the trick.

Me too, 1:5 is a good number. I'm jealous, u need to invite me, dad, and our 3 male beagles. They have evolved to not only being excellent jump and chasing dogs, to becoming "baying" dogs as well. They will not leave the kill, nor let the wounded get away. Plus we have tracking collars on them. Lol

 

[Oldbear63]

I don’t know if it was propaganda, but I remember being taught that here in AZ at the Grand Canyon, hunting was completely and enforcedly outlawed. After a harsh winter and a natural culling and great suffering of the deer population, Theodore Roosevelt realized his error and re-opened hunting near the national park.

I learned in an ecology class that the scars from that episode are still visible today on the trunks of some trees from the starvation feeding of the herbivores. It was done because deer and elk were picturesque, so predators were removed with disasterous results.

 

[pamtnman]

I believe QDMA biologists recommend a buck to doe ratio of 1:1 to 1:2 for optimum herd and habitat health. It’s frustrating when “hunters” want an unsustainable, overabundant deer herd, usually just for their viewing pleasure three days a year. Who houses and feeds all those hungry mouths the other 362 days? Why it’s the farmer and forest owner who are expected to provide room and board to the deer herd. These old timey deer hunters would never think of themselves as socialists, but the weak deer management policies they demand are exactly that: Everyone else has to bear the direct cost of too many deer, while these hunters spend maybe three days afield, total. This past November I archery hunted on a property in Perry County. At dusk my buddy and I convened at his truck. “See anything?” “Nope. You?” “Nope.”
Then my buddy told me a native tree and plant nursery nearby had been so frustrated by the deer eating their inventory that the owner had been shooting every deer he saw. Which by PA law he is allowed to do.
Not only did the nursery owner reduce his own deer problem, he eliminated a great deal of the whole local herd. If hunters had taken his plight seriously, they would have helped him via recreational hunting, and saved some deer for themselves. But the area is rife with “we don’t shoot does.” Now they have no deer. Not even bucks. Even I was disappointed. Lesson is: Don’t let the deer herd get too big, because the people who have to feed and house that herd will eventually grow tired of losing their livelihood so others can watch tons of live deer **** from their stationary stands.

 

[Marshhawk]

That's how I ended up in the depredation hunts last spring. Deer were devastating a friend's landscaping business. So he applied for depredation permits. His place is sandwiched between two big properties that don't allow hunting. So he is one of the reluctant "food providers" for the deer. We also live in a state where the legislature determines fish and game laws, not the DNR biologists. Politics over science. With results you might expect.

 

[Stony Broke]

I've found a baby occasionally when deer hunting. Where you will really see the babies is when you are out hog hunting !!!

 

[Dutch7]

That little piggy didn't get to the market!