When to take Does?

[meatGrinder]

I would love to shoot a doe any time of the season. Last 4 years on two different leases, we see very very few does and then pretty decent bucks only. Then from rifle season on to Jan. 15 it's ts a ghost town. I would rather shoot 3 or 4 does a year than wait all season for a buck that never shows.
I'll be dropping my current lease and looking for something with overall better deer density. I love seeing big mature bucks too, like most hunters. I love cleaning buck skulls and doing my own Euro mounts. The whole process of chasing big bucks and the rut and everything like that is a blast.

For the most part however, for all intents and purposes, I am a meat hunter at heart and want to shoot does whenever the chance presents itself.

 

[dennishoddy]

At our place, it doesn't matter when or how many we shoot. One of our farms is still enrolled in the DMAP program because the doe population has gone way out of skew. Back 15 or so years ago when the neighbor started the DMAP and enrolled our place the buck to doe ratio was 65-1.
Kill em when you see em. 40 does per year with a few mature bucks was the biologist recommendation.
All these years later it's down to 42-1. Back in 2020, the last year I participated, I took doe #40 during the last day of Archery season in the early evening. Got it field dressed and proceeded to take it to the barn for check-in where the jaw had to be removed, weighed, and entered into the old style books, then add the DMAP tag and carcass tag.
In that 4.5 mile trip, counted almost 80 does out on the wheat and alfalfa fields. They breed like rabbits.
Not 30 miles SE a former coworker rarely sees a doe. He's been hunting the same property and sees only bucks. Both mature and immature. The does must be out there to be breeding the young bucks, but he never takes a doe if one is seen.
So the gist of my long story is that there is no set rhyme or reason when does should be taken. It depends on the herd in your location.

 

[RickN]

I would love to take a doe, or a buck for that matter.

But to answer the question on when to take does, right after doe see.

 

[Oklahomabassin]

I would love to take a doe, or a buck for that matter.

But to answer the question on when to take does, right after doe see.

Think you could get one for the sword?

 

[RickN]

Think you could get one for the sword?

If I could sneak close enough, I could get one with the sword.

 

[Oklahomabassin]

If I could sneak close enough, I could get one with the sword.

Not a legal means of take. Do you think someone would trade you a guided hunt for the sword?

 

[retrieverman]

Not a legal means of take. Do you think someone would trade you a guided hunt for the sword?

You’re fixing to end up with a sword.

 

[RickN]

Not a legal means of take. Do you think someone would trade you a guided hunt for the sword?

I will launch it from a homemade crossbow.

Seriously I doubt anyone would and my animal loving wife would freak out if I did. She likes eating venison but can't stand the thought of me killing one.

 

[Oklahomabassin]

I will launch it from a homemade crossbow.

Seriously I doubt anyone would and my animal loving wife would freak out if I did. She likes eating venison but can't stand the thought of me killing one.

I have heard of people protesting the killing of animals and saying just purchase meat at the grocery store so no animals are harmed.
Now I see it first hand.

 

[kirk1978]

At our place, it doesn't matter when or how many we shoot. One of our farms is still enrolled in the DMAP program because the doe population has gone way out of skew. Back 15 or so years ago when the neighbor started the DMAP and enrolled our place the buck to doe ratio was 65-1.
Kill em when you see em. 40 does per year with a few mature bucks was the biologist recommendation.
All these years later it's down to 42-1. Back in 2020, the last year I participated, I took doe #40 during the last day of Archery season in the early evening. Got it field dressed and proceeded to take it to the barn for check-in where the jaw had to be removed, weighed, and entered into the old style books, then add the DMAP tag and carcass tag.
In that 4.5 mile trip, counted almost 80 does out on the wheat and alfalfa fields. They breed like rabbits.
Not 30 miles SE a former coworker rarely sees a doe. He's been hunting the same property and sees only bucks. Both mature and immature. The does must be out there to be breeding the young bucks, but he never takes a doe if one is seen.
So the gist of my long story is that there is no set rhyme or reason when does should be taken. It depends on the herd in your location.

This year was odd where I hunt, I usually get 8-10 does on camera and about the same bucks. This year I had 4-5 does and 15 or so bucks.