Any one else hunting in an area with generous or unlimited doe tags in an effort to slow down CWD? This has been going on for a while in Wisconsin. We have noticed the lack of mature doe sightings on stand, in headlights and on trailcams. Seems as though there are not enough does to go around??? Also less buck sign than other years, but many young buck sightings. One doe was being chased by 8 bucks on November 8th. What are your observations?
Both Georgia and Alabama give 10 anterless "tags". Pretty excessive but I'm ever lucky to fill one. Gun hunters like it though. The deer are smaller though so I feel it evens out, haha.
In Tx, we get 5 whitetail tags on our license. 2 are antlerless only, and 3 are buck or antlerless. It depends on what area you hunt as to how you can use all your tags.
Bisch
I spent 20 years in Germany where they do a very good job of managing the deer herds to keep the numbers at that which can be supported by the land in question.
A lot of my friends (not so much bow hunters) would never shoot a doe. I see it as sort of self limiting. You can shoot all the bucks but a couple and all the does will drop sets of fawns. Still a large herd of deer, but not much in the way of huntable bucks. Or, you can take more does, have little effect on the number of mature bucks, but reduce the total number of deer the area has to support. Obviously, there has to be a good balance, but I've seen it work well.
If they ever figure a way to have bucks bear young, guys we are all in big trouble. I sure wouldn't want that job :)
CWD is a big problem. It would be better to get folks to stop baiting to reduce its spread but that's another topic ;) . I guess you have to trust the biologists on this one, they window what's going on.
Don't know if we have CWD here in NJ but in certain zones, the number of doe that can be taken is limitless. The reason is probably due to the density of the state's population, being THE MOST densely populated state in the US. And most of these zones encompass private land so the number of hunters is far lower than public land. However, it doesn't seem to make much difference this year as I have taken only one. Seems everyone is seeing and shooting deer except me. :banghead:
Good question. Hunters forget that they are the managers, not the departments! If hunters restrain themselves and don't take more of one sex the department must bend to the wishes of hunters.
My personal opinion is that many state departments, (Wisconsin and Iowa would be two that come to mind) want deer numbers to remain lower than most hunters would prefer. This is not a bad thing but can lead to lower harvest numbers ect.
My rule is that I will never attempt to shoot more than equal numbers of bucks/does on any given property. I have the opportunity to manage my parents farm and also hunt alot of public land since I like to share the farm with others. At each location I hunt I attempt to harvest an equal number of does/bucks.
What I don't like seeing is guys who shoot doe after doe just to be killing them then give them to the states food program. Seems to promote too much "blood lust" to suite me.
In unit L in TN which is about all of the state from Middle Tn to West TN you are allowed 3 a day from start of bow season last sat in September until end of season which is usually around jan 1. ML opened Nov 7 and rifle usually opens I think sat before thanksgiving annually. So if you look at it Oct, Nov, Dec that's roughly 90 days and legally you can harvest 3 a day so that equates to around 270 does. Pretty generous. If need more meat there are some draw WMA hunts that don't count towards your statewide limits.
In Louisiana we get 6 tags, 3 anterless, 2 antlered, 1 choice.
I won't/don't kill more than two deer a year. That's about what I can eat and give away
I can get a doe a day in one of the zones I hunt. This is not due to CWD, it is just to cut back population.
I grew up in WI and during the deer reduction period. Its true, hunters were allowed as many deer as they wanted.
In the years that followed seeing a deer was worth celebrating.
I agree with Michael where hunters need to be stewards of the resource but unfortunately many just kill because they can.
It made me sick to hear of how many people would throw away venison to make room for more every year. just because you have a tag doesn't mean it needs to be filled. We found numerous carcasses because guys would shoot first then ask questions later, often resulting in unfound deer due to poor ethics in shot selection.
NJ is one a day
Maryland is unlimited. The 2 farms I hunt on the deer numbers have been down the last 5 years. There is just 2 of us on 1 farm and we bow hunt only and take just a couple but all around us it's if it's brown it's down.
Incorrect 2w. You could shoot a doe from your stand, watch it drop. phone in the kill, continue hunting and shoot another one if it happened to walk by. And then another just as long as you check it in.
im lucky to get 1 deer a year (normally score in gun season)
Even if I was allowed to shoot 5, I doubt I would
just me.