Anyone still shooting bunches of does?

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
Do the properties you hunt have herd levels that require a lot of doe removal?

Are the farmers still telling you to"'killem all"

If so are you complying? Seeing enough to warrant extra tags?

I think i am talking about private lands but perhaps some Public Land is over populated as well.

maybe i should just ask how many does you killed last year?

I killed zero. How about you?
 

Gilly

Ten Pointer
I let a buddy shoot one doe off 150 acres this last season, somewhat begrudingly but he's a good guy. I only shot one buck. The last 8-9 years of shooting 3-6 does a year really showed on the trailcams last year. Plus the fawn recruitment has been in decline due to the coyotes for about the last 5 years. This is Southern Alamance
 

bshobbs

Old Mossy Horns
I shot 3 does last year. I made a lot of sausage and jerky for the family. I hunt a 50 acre block adjacent to a 500 acre pulp wood block.
 

Greg

Old Mossy Horns
I haven't shot a doe in 3 years. With the low number of deer around here, I don't dare.
 

MJ74

Old Mossy Horns
I dont see near as many as in the past but yes the Farmer and Landowner still ask us to kill them.
As far as a Farmer is concerned you can't kill enough deer.
 

Buxndiverdux

Old Mossy Horns
My entire family shot one Doe all season. A record low for us. Building a house was the culprit. Too busy to hunt.
 

TravisLH

Old Mossy Horns
Killed 3 between all of us... land owners want us to kill all we see but I think we're where we need to be.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Buffet Trout

Twelve Pointer
The pig who owns the farm next to one of my best stands shot 7 does over his feeder one night in December...I don't get the whole feeder thing...more like shooting than hunting to me
 

RJ1

Ten Pointer
As a landowner and a farmer I lease land to hunting clubs for them to kill deer,I would rather they kill them then me.I spend money every other year to have a biologist come out do his little survey and give me a number on how many need to be taken If the clubs get anywhere near it I leave them alone but in the long run it doesn't matter they will be taken one way or the other.I manage the wildlife on my farm not the state and not the hunting clubs I lease to.
 
Last edited:

Sp8

Ten Pointer
I killed one doe and zero bucks. I hunt 2 different properties one is in the northern part of Stanly co this is my personal farm and the other is in eastern Stanly co that is a lease. At my farm the doe numbers were way down form recent years and didn't see as many fawns so I opted to not shoot anything but a mature buck there, but at my lease it was nothing to see 10-15 does on trail camera so I harvested a doe there. My farm is hardwood and open pasture the lease is fields and 3 y/o cutover. My dad farms the fields and this year had to turn the beans in on crop insurance so doe harvest is necessary there.
 

hunthard2

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
This past season was the first I've shot a doe in 6/7 years I believe.

But starting about 4 years ago I noticed a drop in numbers around my spots and made a conscious decision to only kill 1 at most. Funny how people I talked to were laughing at me for seeing a "decrease" now they too are singing the blues..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

aya28ga

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
In years past I'd kill 6 - 9 deer a season, maybe half of them does. Since we had the EHD outbreak here a couple of years ago, I've scaled back considerably. Shot 4 deer last season, 2 of which were does. Could have taken a few more, but didn't. The local farmers still would like to see every deer shot, but I've decided that I'm not going to shoot "everything I see." Numbers here are still on the low side, and coyotes are a real problem.
 

Eggman

Twelve Pointer
No does were killed on my place this year. That was a first since 2008. My father-in-law killed one on his farm which joins me and the adjoining club killed a few. With that being said the doe harvest was way down.
 

pinehunter

Eight Pointer
I killed 3 does this year. We are loaded with deer on our 4000 acres. We have bear hunters come in and run dogs in season and they remark on how lucky we are to have so many deer. I don't think it is hurting them too bad. I eat will eat venison 2 to 3 times a week with our family of 4. They do not go to waste. If I start seeing less does I will kill less.
 

appmtnhntr

Twelve Pointer
I shot 3 of the 60 (IIRC) or so does I saw this year.
But each was in a different county.

coulda killed plenty more but 3 does was all I needed.
 

KTMan

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Kinda tough to answer this because I hunt so many different farms. Each farm is treated different. Overall I think the numbers are down. But we still have a couple farms in different area that we are still over run with does. I was still reluctant to kill too many on these farms because of what I've seen county wide with the drop in numbers. We probably killed less than half what we normally would kill.
 

Familyman

Twelve Pointer
I still take does out on the tracts that have plenty of them, and especially on tracts where the landowner wants them thinned. If I remember correctly, I think I shot 4 this past season. I am not taking nearly as many does in recent years as I used to though. For all the reasons we talk about, they just aren't as overpopulated as they used to be. Overall, that's a good thing...but I kinda miss "doe patrol". Gave my life purpose. :)
 

nchunt101

Ten Pointer
I killed my first in 4-5 years inNC. I do stack them up on my BIL family farm in Middleburg,VA. They are like rats up there.
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I still shoot does. I shot 2 last year, most years 3 or 4. We never went crazy shooting mass numbers, but we have consistently taken a few each year and still do. I pretty much shoot adult does when it's convenient to do so, which is less than half my hunting time. None during November usually. None off our best buck stands, only in good light when I can ID them, only when I have time to deal with them, etc.

We've got coyotes out the rear end and have for over a decade, but the population has been very steady - EXCEPT when the farmers get to shooting, and then we see a big drop-off around the fields. It's happened twice and it's they just wipe them out.
 
Last edited:
I lost a lease with a farmer 3 years ago to only shooting my 4 does and my BIL's 4 does. That county was so spread out it didnt phase em. 2 counties south, I didnt see 8 does all year.
 

Weekender

Twelve Pointer
Landowner: "Kill all the deer you see or lose your lease."

Hunters: but if I kill all the deer, what am I paying for?
 

cloningerba

Old Mossy Horns
I killed 8 does this year.... could have killed 5-7 more easily.. I eat deer and deer jerky 3-5 times a week. It doesn't go to waste.

Most of the properties I hunt have very high numbers of deer. When I start seeing less I'll start shooting less!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

DRS

Old Mossy Horns
On properties I lease, I only kill does where I see five or more in a family group. I then only take the mature does. I hunt one farm to keep the deer herd from destroying the pumpkins. The farmer said I must be doing a good job, because there were no damages this year. I told her, thank the coyotes not me. I hammered this farm hard over the years when it came to killing the does, there were too many. I couldn't make a dent in the total number. All I could do was keep them from getting way out of hand. The coyotes moved in the deer population has dropped significantly, with no or very little doe harvest the past 5 years. This is also the farm where I have witnessed packs of coyotes hunting adult deer. I have also shot a few yotes there.

I shot one other doe on public land. I didn't shoot anymore does on any of the other near 10,000 acres of private land I hunt on, most of which are clubs and I thought they were killing a plenty, if not too many without my help.
 
Last edited:
Top