QDM for Anterless deer?

[Rippinlip]

Lots of debate here and every web site, magazine article and TV show about how we need to let the proper "buck" walk to grow a better pool of deer.

What about the antlerless deer?

Should we be shooting older does only?

Yearlings? Mid aged does?

Which are the best breeders?

They are the ones that bare offspring, so which ones hold better genetics on that side, we know the human gene pool is not made strictly due the males...we could end up with one not so even society.

When it comes to fishing, we try to save the premiere spawning walleyes and so on.

Just wondering, we try to fill our freezer with any doe early in the season, but now I am thinking about it.

What are your thoughts?

[Scott K]

When it comes to doe's, especially early bow season, I will always leave a mom with twins, or triplets walk. The way I see it, is she is putting back 2 deer almost every year. Now later in the year after the fawns stop hanging out with mom, I know this is hard to decipher, but atleast early in the year, I let them walk. I also let all doe's walk that have young fawns. Once about 20 years ago, I had to clean mom, while having the fawns watch me, they broke my heart. Ever since then, I will rarely take a doe, with a fawn.

[harvey lee]

I have no issue shooting a doe this time of year, Mom is going to be kicking her fawns off very shortly for the rut. If the little ones cannot make it now, a month before the snow comes, doubt they ever will.

It also depends on the herd size for the area one is hunting, if we have alot of doe's and more than the habitat can carry for a winter in regards to feed, they will more than likely run short on food. if I am seeing alot of does, no problem for me to whack opne, but if the herd is smaller, then I would let an early archery doe walk. All depends on the situation for me.

This happened in ND a few years back and the deer could not find a quality food surce as the herd way out of control, so, a huge die off for 2 straight winters.

Hard for deer to live on next to no food and very little browse. Then, a wasted deer unless the coyotes find them all. Not than long ago, in the spring when the snow melted, we found 7 deer in one small hay filed that had starved to death that the coyotes never got to as there were so many dieing deer.

So, for me, all depends on what is going on herd size wise.

[TruthWalleyes]

I like to shoot them big. Shot a mom last year last day of muzzy season with a bow, and she still had 2 young ones with. That's getting late in the year.

[SmellEsox]

Does only kick their fawns out when they are ready to breed. Then they join back up. So a doe will be with her fawns all year except for a short time while she's getting bred. In fact, she'll kick out her yearling buck the next year, but the yearling doe will often hang with the doe the next year. If you shoot a lone doe, there is no way to know if she had a fawn or not. Unless you got her on camera often w/o fawns. I've shot lone does in the past and, whoops!, she's lactating.

[BLACKJACK]

So a doe will be with her fawns all year except for a short time while she's getting bred.

I agree, I've watched does with fawns all winter long going back and forth to my food plots.

I really wonder if its the doe driving the fawns off during breeding or if its the buck running them off, not wanting any other deer around??

I used to shoot the biggest doe I could find, more vension for the freezer, but then I realized shes the one thats producing twins every year, so if I have a choice I shoot a barren or smaller doe. But come later in the season any doe is fair game.

Another side thought, its been a long time since I've seen a doe with triplets. When I lived down by Rochester I watched one doe with triplets for several years but can't remember the last time I've seen triplets.

[Bear55]

Ideally you would take out an older doe who can no longer have fawns. However this is all put impossible to predict. Its also not easy to age a doe even though you can kind of tell when they are up there in years. The bigger mystery is when/if they no longer have fawns. I remember reading are article about a doe that lives to 20+ years old. She had several years with no fawns but those years were scattered throughout her life so you might take out a doe with no fawns one year but the following year she could have twins again, you just never know.

[Jameson]

In much of Minnesota where the deer will yard up for Winter I really think it is best not to shoot the big old does, they know where to go when things get the harshest. Attempt to shoot a doe fawn, and if you mistakenly shoot a buck fawn know that it is the deer most likely would have died if you shot the big doe instead. Just my opinion, everything scientific kinda says it doesn't matter.

[TruthWalleyes]

No way am i shooting doe fawns I catch bigger fish than bambi

[skee0025]

I shot the biggest doe I can. There is a good chance that even this years doe fawns will be bred, depending on when the were Born.

[bowhunternw]

I will shoot a lone doe, if they got a fawn they get a free pass. Also agree that the fawns get back with mom after the rut. I often think they will hang with her next year if not bred. A lot of times I see a doe with fawns and then a medium sized deer hanging with them.

[SmellEsox]

Yes bowhunternw, those medium sized yearling does typically don't have fawns and are great eating. I love shooting those. They are generally 85-110 pounds of pure mouth-watering goodness. I passed up a doe w/ fawns last year because I saw a yearling coming behind them. That's the one that went in my freezer.

[Rippinlip]

Funny how most of the interpretation of "horns" vs "anterless"

young antlerless and no problem shooting, young buck, and its "what are you doing?"

There were some that judged the shooting does by herd size and the family element, but overall, its "just a doe" kind of theme.

We are incredibly hypocritical towards our own values I think.

I do understand its harder to judge a doe age by body size, but same goes true to the age of a buck.

[SmellEsox]

Kind of hard to manage for "doe quality". That said, I'm sure the age structure of does is much different than it is for bucks. The percentage of adult does in the population is much higher than bucks. We shoot them without bias and w/o an ability to know their age. Does also are managed differently than bucks.

[BLACKJACK]

I often think they will hang with her next year if not bred. A lot of times I see a doe with fawns and then a medium sized deer hanging with them.

For most of the summer I've been watching a doe and fawn, with a smaller doe with them, my guess would be thats its last years fawn that either didn't get bred or lost its fawn. In Deer and Deer Hunting they talk a lot about 'family doe groups' and how an older doe with several of her previous doe fawns and their fawns will group up.

[92python]

Good question! I hunt in several different parts of MN every year and have a feel on what is going on with the local population. Most area seem to have more does than bucks but I have seen the opposite in small areas in the Metro. In the areas that have way more does than bucks and that allow bonus permits I am less picky as to what doe I shoot and just want to make sure I have a perfect shot.

I guess it all depends on where I am hunting. Got a ~100lb dressed doe in Anoka County a couple weeks ago. Passed on what I think was the same deer a few days earlier when I didn't have a perfect shot. I hunted this area for 6 sits and only saw does so my feelings were that taking any doe was the thing to do.