I must be doing it all wrong all these years. #1 for me all the way. That and I don't like killing does early season just cause its so darn warm.
Just a curiosity question but, what does the heat have to do with killing a doe?? Seriously just curious.
Up until year before last,I'd kill any mature doe that stepped inside of 30 yards of my stand during bow season.But the past two summers,we got hit hard with blue tongue.You couldn't get out of the truck on the club property without the smell turning your stomach.Dead deer laying everywhere around dried up ponds and mudholes.70 something around one little pond. Since that,some of my favorite stands are dead as far as deer goes.MIGHT find a track every couple of weeks,but that about it.
My gut has always wanted to do #1 but like Vito said if you get buck early your drive and time can filter other places easier. However with a healthy deer herd you could get away with #1, however I'd say #2 is the better way to approach it in most cases.
Thanks for the responses guys. There are 4 guys total on the property. I wanted to see before hand what people would say before I put my 2 cents in but I believe in #2. There is one guy on the group who we just can't seem to change his frame of mind. Problem is he holds/pays for the majority of the lease, so he kind of has the last word. We have a lack of mature bucks that hold on our property as well. There are more than you can shake a stick at of 1.5-2.5 yr class bucks on trail camera but mature deer just don't seem to stick around. Does are more than abundant as well. I have been trying to lead the "revolution" into changing his mind by explaining to him that the lack of mature bucks could very well have to do with the abundance of does on the property. Just can't seem to change his mind. Might I add he's in his late 50's so you know he stubborn :p . Any advice on getting to change his mind?
i agree with heckler.. i hate messin with does in the warm weather.. lots of work in one day with no hang
IMO shooting a couple does off your property isn't going to make much of any difference on your overall buck hunting success, whether it's early or late. If I'm looking for a doe to shoot, I'll take one just about any time. I prefer to get them shot and out of the way early in the year to concentrate on buck hunting later on, but that's not always how it works out. The funny thing with I've found with a lot of hunters is that they seem to put far too much emphasis and thought into stuff that doesn't really matter in the big scheme of things. I'd much rather worry about finding a good place to hunt, getting my stands in the right spots and getting into/out of them properly than when I'm going to shoot a doe.
Normally I would'nt concentrate on this but, I can't seem to find a solution for our lack of mature bucks. We spend countless hours in foodplots, leave up standing crops for winter, never hunt bad winds or over hunt one stand(we have almost 30 stands out), provide thick underbrush as well as tall native grasses for bedding, leave over 75 acres of sanctuary woods that never gets walked in by humans, only shoot "mature bucks", and the only thing I can think of is over run with does. What am I missing?
Do you use trail cameras? If so, are you getting any pics of mature bucks? If you are in Ohio, Illinois, or Iowa, do you have any trees? Have you looked behind them?
I like shooting does early & often. Especially since our bow season ends before the rut is really over, I'd never shoot a doe with my bow if I waited until after the rut. Season is out.
Ahhh...so that's what you're getting at here. A lack of mature bucks! Well let's take a look at the full picture. Where is the property located at? Do you know the buck:doe ratio for the area you're in? What is the total size of the property that you're referencing? How many people in total are hunting the area? What do surrounding properties look like, and how much pressure do they get? How are you defining "mature" bucks? By their actual age, or by the size of the head gear? Lots of things can have a bearing on a lack of mature bucks. Some spots, for whatever reason, seem to attract and hold them year in and year out regardless of habitat improvement, food, etc. Other spots seem to never be great for mature bucks even with all of the food and improvements you can throw at them. Very strange phenomenon, but certainly one that I've seen time and time again.
In my opinion, this decision needs to be based on the same as every other decision you make as a hunter. When, where, and how do you plan on making your move on a mature buck? If that's your goal…..which for most of us it is. If you plan on hunting for one week each year during the rut, then maybe #1 is your best option. I think you should carefully evaluate your deer herd (buck to doe ratio) and make a responsible decision based on that. Then, maybe leaving your hunting area a little heavy on the doe side will work for you. A good buck may move in on a hot doe and stick in the area with her long enough to give you a chance at him. If you want to hunt over a food source early in the season or want to employ tactics such as using mock scrapes during the pre rut in mid to late October, or want to try rattling in a buck as the rut gets closer, then I think #2 is definitely the best approach in most areas. I think these tactics are made much more difficult by incorporating option #1. Mature bucks, in most areas, won't want to be in a heavily populated area where they have to compete heavily for food or bedding. That makes it very difficult for someone trying to harvest a mature buck over a food source, mature bucks will be eating and bedding somewhere else. By reducing the number of does, mature bucks may see your hunting area as a place to LIVE rather than to visit to fill a temporary need. As far as using pre-rut tactics like calling (grunt or rattle) option #2 should increase the quality and quantity of rut activity in your area and make the bucks more responsive to these tactics. For the way I like to hunt, I go with option #2. With that said, these questions are so relative to the characteristics of each individual property that it makes it almost impossible to develope one hard fast rule. I would evaluate your specific hunting area, then match it with the option that best suits your game plan for success.
