When I hunt my in-laws place I'd see at least 20 does a hunt and most days there would be a 2.5 yr old buck cruising through also, and on my farm before the thumping of does I would see many 1.5 bucks and does but now The sightings of all deer is way way down! Last year it seemed like the place was dead and the habitat is wonderful.

Changing the social dynamics of a local deer population is matter of what is being killed over a fairly wide area. What deer you see on your property are also travelling across many other properties, where they are subject to different harvest strategies.

Your father-in-law is probably pretty lucky that someone nearby is shooting does or that population would get too high, greatly reducing body and antler growth.

BSK.....we used to try and take several doe every year because of the idea it was good for the dynamics of the herd but we got away from it because we could not see much changing . We have maybe killed 3 doe in the last 10 years and the quality and numbers of the bucks has gotten better with each passing year. I am sure that bordering hunters are taking some but just not sure of how many but I do not hear many shots as I did years ago. I guess the selective nature of the surrounding hunters is one big factor in the quality of the bucks also.

I mostly kill does with a bow,seems less intrusive,but that may be just in my mind

Since bucks don't breed as many does as most hunters think, taking out more doe will likely have little affect on the rut. IMO. many bucks may only breed one doe per year and some will not breed at all. once a buck finds a hot doe and gets with her, he takes himself out of the race, so to speak. Sure, bucks run around crazy during most ruts, but they can also disappear with a doe and then it's game over....


JMO