How do you know how many does you should be taking off your land? We have about 450acres with 4hunters and I don't want to take too many does. How do you know what the population density is and how many does you should kill?
I would put out some trail cameras and do some scouting to get an idea of how many does you have then put a plan together on how many does to shoot.
There is a book out by QDMA called Deer Cameras The Science Of Scouting. Almost half the book is on how to figure this out. Something that you figure out in summer. Real good read check it out.
Another factor is how much ground do you hunt/own? Reason I state this is my father and I don't hunt large enough tracts of properties where we can properly control or manage the doe population as we'd wish. Add in the factor that there are many other hunters in the immediate area and managing the doe population for us doesn't start till roughly the second weekend of our firearm season. We like to judge how many does we currently have using the property in the summer via cameras...keep track of sightings during bow and then once the majority of doe harvests by other hunters are done (not a lot of guys take them around us for some dumb reason) we start taking them to the levels we want. This year on our little 10 acres we know of at least 4 different doe groups/families (roughly 18-23 does in all) that use our property. That number is way too high and we haven't seen the mature bucks we normally have in the past...needless to say we're taking as many does out as we can if we see a group of 4 or more while hunting from now till the close of the season.
We own 60 acres of nice prime hunting grounds, and we usually take 3 does each between 5 people... and we can do this every year, and we still see plenty of does... With 400+ acres you will be fine to take as many does as you have tags im sure!
QDM is tough though; it's a case by case basis I feel in many cases .We practice it on our 400, 120, and 80 acre parcels (all separated by 1 other landowner) and we do not barely take any does and our ratio stays in balance. The reason is because you also need to account for neighbors. Three of our neighbors have 300 acres combined. They hunt the WI gun season and T-zone heavily and harvest almost any deer (sometimes not fawns). They take at least 30 does/fawns on these properties together on average each season. This greatly impacts the number of deer we need to take to keep a healthy ratio and overall population. Camera inventory really is the way to go and summer scouting. We determine our approach during this time. A poorly managed doe ratio will also lead to poor rut activity. If a buck doesn't have to travel far or look hard for the next hot doe the season can often appear slow or look as though mature bucks have does on lockdown all rut.
I agree with most everything said, but I would also add in how much habitat (food, water, shelter) do you have to support deer. I am doing some doe management on the ground I hunt, and is overpopulated based upon available habitat. We have been hit pretty hard by the drought this year. We lost a lot of corn to silage, and a lot of the winter wheat is drying up, so food is at a premium. Typically we have a lot of deer here, but I am harvesting more does this year to help manage the herd, the habitat, and to help prevent future widespread outbreaks of disease (some areas close to us were hit pretty hard by EHD this year). I am trying to take 6 to 8 does out of about 26 off the property this year. But this based purely on stuff I read, and opinion from other local hunters, not natural science or formula.
I'm not a big believer in the theory of "less does=more buck rutting activity" I personally live in an area rich with agriculture including acorns, corn, soy beans as well as food plots. The carrying capacity of a property IMO has to do with bedding, food and H20. The more of this you have the more deer your property can adequately maintain. I can relate it mainly to myself in college.... Rarely would I ever hang out in the bars where historically NO girls were at! I think a buck is the same way. If you kill all of the does, chances are, he'll know your property doesn't have many and skirt through checking the limited amount you do have in their bedding area and be gone. Relate the same principle now to food, it's like saying "The less food your property has the better because bucks will have to search for food" <<<<<<<<<Do you think this makes any sense!?!?! Because I don't. I think I understand QDMA's point because you CAN get to a point where your carrying capacity will negatively effect the deer herd. But, what 90% of guys don't understand, is that a majority of land in the midwest can sustainably hold more deer than they currently have. But since QDMA says to kill does, they kill them and think they're doing the "right thing" for their property.... I do not make it a priority to kill does on my property. I think numerous factors take care of the does on my property without my intervention including: roadkills, coyotes, mother nature, the neighbors and EHD are enough at the moment. Best of luck in your endeavors but it's simply a case by case situation that only you can assess....
Dont go strollin through my shootin lane in a doe suit...I got an itchy right finger..and a pretty nice grill..
