i am REALLY looking fwd to harvesting a doe this yr! last yr i got skunked and ate tag soup in IL & WI. if its brown its down this yr!!!!
My Dad and I have always waited until later in the season to harvest a doe, but things have changed this year. We both have different bows this year and are extremely anxious to draw some blood with them. Last year we waited until late in the season, passing up too many does to count, and when the time finally came that we decided we would take out a doe.... no does to be seen lol.
One of my spots is "earn-a-buck" so I will most likely shoot one given the chance. Then I'll let it cool down until Nov.
I don't hunt does early for a lot of reasons. I usually hunt way back in and don't want to drag a doe out of those spots. I'm usually on the road and the temps would force me to end my hunt if I killed one. I want to keep disurbances down in the areas I hunt. If i get a chance nearer to a road I will shoot a doe with my rifle. I love filling doe tags with my muzzleloader! I kinda divide my season into 2 parts. Buck hunting and later on tag filling.
I hate EAB for this reason! If you are going to hunt there in future years I would make sure you get your EAB the year before so you can take your doe later on and it doesn't interfere with your buck hunting.
In my home area,coming across a better than average buck is no small fete so if I am hunting in an area that I know holds a very good buck I will not kill a doe there. I will kill doe's early if I am in area's that they are plentiful and I have seen nothing to indicate that there are any bruisers in the area.
I am not a notorious Nanny whacker..But I may change my ways lol (Damn Greg/Mo and Germ, that was fun) I'd take'em early and late not during the rut or direct run up to it. I'll take'em in a few select areas, 1 is public land But not in my primary KNOWN buck spots. 2 local farms...but there is one farm I won't...in fact I don't even plan to sit there till near Halloween (which is killin me) I have an awesome stand deep in the tangles and swamp. There's a deer or two in there that I'd like to get a crack at, and I got the stand position to get it done!
Does...Early & often! I shoot does on my main propery, but not in the "good" areas. Any other spot I hunt I shoot does every chance, because I have little to no confidence of seeing a mature buck. I get enough tags that I don't have to "save" any for gun season. Tomorrow is our opener, I hope to whack a doe in the AM & go sneak into a spot where I might have a chance of catching a buck in the eve. After that it'll be all does until the weekend of the 23/24
I used to not care when I would take a doe. At any point a doe walked by me and I had a tag in my pocket I would air her out. One November morning I shot a doe right at dawn. As I watched her crash, I noticed a big 10 pointer that was trailing her come bolting by me. Whoops!!!!! About an hour later I started lowering my stuff down to go get started on the chore that laid ahead with the doe and here came a big 8 pointer that I had been hunting that morning. By the time I got my bow back up it was to late and the buck had bolted. That one doe (or my own stupidity) screwed me out of 2 cracks at P&Y animals that morning. Now I have a simple theory. Does in October are fair game. Does in November get a free pass.
This early season, I'll take a doe anywhere. We are a month or so from the rut so I don't worry much about it, but I do try to leave as little sign as possible of a deer death.
I don't and won't kill a doe on a property I expect to kill a buck on, and if I did it would be FAR away from where I expect to kill said buck. I don't DISlike killing does, just don't find the greatness in it that some do. It's fun, gets me going and all, but it really wains in comparison to killing a buck...so IF I have a buck tag available, I usually try to focus on filling it first. I do however make an exception for filming, If I have a buddy agreeing to be in the tree filming (and we set out on a doe hunt) I will smoke one in a second, I love killing stuff on film, it honestly adds to the rush of it for me. One key thing that allows me to view it this way is, my family does not consume venison. I alone consume it. I won't call it a "chore" to process and take care of a doe, but it sure is a LOT easier to swallow the after work of a kill when you have a rack sitting beside you.
