Are you familiar with QDMA or have you ever talked to a whitetail biologist in Length? We have two of the best here in GA, back a few years ago when I managed a 5000ac lease we used to have one of them come out every few years and asses our herd and help up draw up a management plan for the upcoming season, and most of the time that entailed killing doe's of all age classes...That being said there is some new data coming out that points to not killing adult doe's that raise twin or triplet fawns as they are thought to be better mothers and raise healthier offspring.. I grew up in a state MI where all the old timers would doe's of all ages are or should be off limit because those are your deer of the future while partly true, I am almost 53 and having managed or helped to manage several large leases I know that was flawed thinking..
To answer your initial question, Yes to QDMA, and No to talking to one of my colleagues on the wildlife side. I'm not saying that mature does are totally verboten. Rather, that the emphasis should be on harvesting younger (or older), less productive does - not take, say, 10% across the board. Part of my point is that hunters tend to value killing larger animals, which, if your habitat will support a larger population, is detrimental to your overall goal of more deer and larger bucks. On your property, did you have disease issues or think that you were close to the habitat's carrying capacity? If not, what was the purpose of killing the mature does? The last sentence in your first paragraph is at the core of the philosophy I have seen in action. From an evolutionary standpoint, the most productive does are the ones dominant bucks will seek out - not necessarily individually, but as an area with a higher density of mature does - to have the best success passing on his genes. Now, I hope I don't sound like a know-it-all, but that is my opinion based on my own biological sciences background and observations of 'typical' hunting properties and one managed explicitly for trophy deer. I find the topic interesting and would love to hear other management experiences.
