Does shooting does ruin your chances at a big buck - early season

In theory 1 only before breeding season---- after that the reality is maybe 3 or 4 75% of the time...

I gotta repeat the britts comment... have you killed a big buck? 140+ just kidding good buddy!

 

Like others said it depends on your property I think. If you have a small property and shoot a doe and she blows though a major bedding area after the shot and you blood trail through there it might mess things up for a few days or push a more mature deer to another property.

I personally am a meat hunter. I will pass on smaller bucks and readily shoot a doe if the shot presents itself. Cant eat the horns right? But I do dream about a big ol hoss buck and I have been passing on smaller bucks in hopes of increasing my odds. The problem is I don't have enough property to hunt to really manage a herd. That being said I have never killed a huge buck either but I generally consistently see deer. People will call BS but as long as I am seeing deer I am happy.

 

There was a couple years where i was passing nice mature does in the early season just for that reason. Then late season rolled around and the freezer was still empty....then when i said "ok havent seen a buck in range im taking anything now", no shots presented themselves...... so my rule is like this..... if there are plenty of does and i have multiple stands to hunt and i havent been seeing a good buck during daylight in that area, i will take a doe then let that stand cool off for 8-10 days.

 

I try to fill the freezor as my first priority. The deer in my avatar walked right past a doe I had shot an hour earlier that morning. Two does had blown out at the shot and ran in the direction he came from. This was early October pre-rut and he either didn't see or smell the doe or didn't care. Last year I shot 1 of a group of 4 does that were feeding together. My doe fell within sight and the other 3 does spent 20 minutes trying to get her to stand up. They eventually fed out of sight. They were curious and cautious but not spooked.

 

I have no problem wacking does early season. Hell, I'd take em in the middle of the rut if I needed meat

 

Gross yeah, once haha! but I got that 125-135 on lock down! haha!

 

It would defiantly change my season if I shot a doe, most of Minnesota it is one deer and done.

 

I can't imagine being in a 1 deer area...

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

Whenever I hear someone say that, my first thought is always, "true, but if I kill a buck that might have impregnated 2 or 3 does, then I have just potentially killed 5-9 deer correct?" Especially if you live in an area where there are few bucks and many does (as is the case in a lot of PA) from my limited experience.

I think a lot of property managers cull their does so that the buck population is improved, as weird as that sounds to me it must work.

 

Only if there are not enough bucks around to breed them. In which case you should be working on your buck : doe ratio anyway. Otherwise, another buck/bucks would step up and do the breeding

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

I say absolutely not. I've done in many, many times and have taken good bucks from the same exact tree later in the season. Last year was a perfect example. Killed a doe the second Saturday of the season and two weeks later, took a big eight pointer out of the same tree.

In the past, I've taken a buck early and spent the rest of the archery season with a doe tag in my pocket, taking a doe during the rut. The very next day I had a huge, mature buck sniffing the guy pile.

Two things can blow an area out for a while. One, if you don't cleanly kill the doe or have to chase her down, you're making a lot of commotion and racket in the area. This takes time to settle down, but usually only a week at most. Secondly, coyotes on the gut pile. If there are a bunch of them in the area, they make a whole lot of commotion and noise locating and feeding on the pile. This again would take a bit to settle down.

Predators kill things in the woods all the time. Deer are part of that and have come across blood and other animal carcasses in their daily lives plenty of times. We just happen to be part of that food chain.

Again, I in no way believe that us killing a deer will effect it for long. Especially with the rut looming in the not so distant future where things come unraveled in the lives of the deer for a few weeks.

 

Its really situational and dependent on your area, and state. Reading all the posts you can see this. It really comes down to how much pressure you are adding to the area first of all, by taking a deer..the noise you make, hauling it out, etc. Also buck/doe ratio. In some places in Michigan its way out of whack, but doe numbers/deer numbers are also way low in some areas. So you need to know your herd in your area and be wise. Don't just follow what the DNR "allows" you to do, but make the best decision for your area and herd.

 

I have doe areas I can take my does there and then move along to the farms I want to chase bucks on. I prefer to take early does, I don't care for the thought of shooting a doe that my best bucks spent valuable time and resources on to breed. I'd prefer taking what I want and letting the bucks breed from the remaining pool of does, seems more efficient.

 

Awesome advice, thank you all.

 

I take my early does out on the edges and well away from sanctuaries and bedding areas. That makes for very little impact on the area. They are normally on their feet and in the fields well ahead of the bucks. If it is getting later in the evening, they get a free pass.

 

If I am going to take a doe I almost always do it early season. I just prefer to take them before they have been bred. I don't always take does, it depends on where I am hunting that year and how I feel the population is doing. One year I didn't see much sign when scouting and ended up only seeing 4 deer all season. No way was I shooting a doe that year.

 

I agree with everyone that's saying not to take them close to bedding areas, especially if you make a marginal shot and they might run through one. That's simply not the case. The particular property I'm questioning is only about 3 acres (that I have permission to hunt), the rest is a 50 acre bean field surrounded by another 300 acres of big woods. The property I have to is strictly a thin strip, maybe 40 yards at the widest point along the north side of the field. It's mostly mature hardwood corridor that deer use to feed and get around. I'm just afraid that all of the time and money that I have put towards corn this year trying to bring in the big bucks would be a waste if I shot a doe, but you all have convinced me that I will be fine. I just wanted to clarify that none of the property that I have permission to, nor if I shoot a doe that I think it will run to the nearest bedding area..which is about 150 yards.

 

FTR, my brother shot a buck that was sniffing the gut pile from a deer killed the night before.

 

I think the most important part is to limit getting you scent everywhere when recovering or dragging the deer. Gut piles and such seem to have little effect on deer. It's our scent we leave behind.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I think in most cases shooting Does wont interfere with your bucks, unless you have to track a Doe into bedding areas etc, always that chance, is it worth it if you have some target bucks in that immediate area? I've seen a Doe lick a bloody arrow stuck in the ground so the blood and gut pile isn't what I think will booger a spot up, human scent/presence, where it normally isn't, will. Personally, I'm split on the buck to Doe ratio ideas. Both have their plusses and minuses. If there are a bunch of Does hanging around, my thoughts are it could keep your target bucks hanging around an area longer, more Does to breed as they don't all come in estrus at the same time. If there aren't many Does around, your target bucks may walk right off your property and onto your neighbors searching for breeder Does right in the beginning of the rut and may spend most of the rut on another property, always that risk as well. Having more Does around can also pull in neighboring bucks which to me is another bonus IF you have what you consider quality bucks in the area. I don't know, I think about this all the time and never really come to a hard decision lol.