Doe Hocks?

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Mike Belt

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Lakeland, Tn.
I've always glassed the does I've seen from the stand to check out the coloration of their hock glands and I've always been under the assumption that dark hocks meant a doe was or has been in heat while white hocks meant she hadn't entered estrus yet. In the past this has even determined where I hunted covering certain groups of does frequenting certain areas. This year I haven't seen many does to glass but most of those I have glassed and most of those on camera still have white hocks. They haven't entered estrus yet. Am I assuming right?
 
The does here at the house have darkened up a LOT in the last 2 weeks. Ive been seeing random smaller bucks cruising around after them but nothing good yet.
 
I saw several doe's this morning and I did notice that there hocks where very dark


Sent from my iPhone that I ain't smart enough to use with tapatalker
 
Interesting.... I'm gonna have to start taking a look. I've never heard this before.
 
Like you, that's what I had always heard and pretty much went by. Now that you say it, I wonder if it's even a true theory. Simply what I grew up hearing.


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This is my worst year at Ames for seeing deer. I haven't seen 1/30 the does I have in years past so I can't practice on them. In the past I've come to know doe groups in the areas I hunted and kept a close eye on them as the rut approached and was under way. If all my does had dark hocks and I wasn't seeing any bucks around them then I took it that they were bred because I figured they had been in heat. At the same time I kept up with how many I saw with hocks that were still white figuring they hadn't entered estrus yet. Where there were does I figured hadn't been bred yet frequented is where I concentrated my hunting efforts. It always worked pretty well in the past....except for this year.
 
I noticed recently that he hocks of some of the does in our area were a reddish brown color. You could visibly see it- and never noticed it before. What does it mean??
 
Mike Belt":37377gpy said:
I've always glassed the does I've seen from the stand to check out the coloration of their hock glands and I've always been under the assumption that dark hocks meant a doe was or has been in heat while white hocks meant she hadn't entered estrus yet. In the past this has even determined where I hunted covering certain groups of does frequenting certain areas. This year I haven't seen many does to glass but most of those I have glassed and most of those on camera still have white hocks. They haven't entered estrus yet. Am I assuming right?
Click to expand...

This year is the first year I have ever set my cameras on video mode over scrapes. I got a video of one squatting and peeing and rubbing her glands together like a buck does. Do they do this all the time or does this mean she was getting ready to go into estrous?
 
Mike,

As we've discussed many times before, for whatever reason, the does in my area rarely display darkened hocks at any time of year. And I can't even speculate on the reasons why. I've never even gotten a trail-cam picture of a doe peeing in a scrape.
 
BSK...

This is not only my worst year for deer sightings at Ames but also my worst for getting pics as well. I'm having better luck getting pics in my own back yard. I just checked my camera and had wads of does and most had darkened hocks. Three or four of this year's young did not. I have an 6 pointer that keeps following them around but no chasing on camera yet.

I pass by 3 scrapes on a logging road every time I hunt a certain stand site. Almost every trip in and out those scrapes have been worked while I was on stand. On the last hunt 2 of them had been freshly urinated in by a doe. Will a doe piss in a scrape like that if she's already been bred?

A side ? that has nothing to do with a doe.....If a buck shows signs of piebald (a circle about the size of a volleyball on one hip) is he considered a piebald deer?
 
Mike Belt":1rjp1sz9 said:
I pass by 3 scrapes on a logging road every time I hunt a certain stand site. Almost every trip in and out those scrapes have been worked while I was on stand. On the last hunt 2 of them had been freshly urinated in by a doe. Will a doe piss in a scrape like that if she's already been bred?
Click to expand...

Honestly, does peeing in scrapes is not that commonplace. It occurs, but is not something regularly observed. I think you just have messed up does in your area. They think they're bucks! ;)


Mike Belt":1rjp1sz9 said:
If a buck shows signs of piebald (a circle about the size of a volleyball on one hip) is he considered a piebald deer?
Click to expand...

Biologically, yes.
 
That explains it then! Those **** dyke does are keeping all my bucks hunkered down and not moving.

I have witnessed does urinating in scrapes a few times over the years and had several pics of them doing so. I'm guessing does make a single circular puddle. No matter how unusual it may be, would they do so if they had already been bred? I can't see them interacting with a scrape otherwise.
 
Killed a big doe Saturday night with dark
Stinking hocks. When I went to her another deer blew and I could hear it run off.

I believe dark hocks are a doe
In heatm
 

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