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Doe management question
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<blockquote data-quote="megalomaniac" data-source="post: 5430748" data-attributes="member: 2805"><p>My biggest complaint with doe harvest strategies is that almost NOONE has a clue on what is appropriate for a given property... because NOONE has actually taken the time to do an accurate herd density or age/sex ratio or fawn recruitment ratio.</p><p></p><p>An example... I have dozens of friends with properties in MS who have signed up on the DMAP program (which allows an individual to kill more than 3 or 5 (depending on unit) does per hunter per season). Universally, the state 'biologists', recommend exactly the same number of does to be killed... 1 per 40 to 50 acres under management. For some properties, that is inadequate... for most, that is FAR too excessive. And what's mindboggling... they continue to recommend the exact same number of does per acre to be killed year after year after year....</p><p></p><p>Those properties who do kill their recommended does (25 per 1000 acres annually) find the number of trophy bucks (130in or better) to decline drastically over time. At the same time, the quality of hunter experience (seeing seer) drastically declines over the years as well. Yet the same blanket doe harvest recommendations are put forth year after year after year. And when age structure of does killed are skewed towards 1.5 and 2.5yos... guess what... still 1 doe per 40 acres recommended. </p><p></p><p>Sure, it is easy to make a generalization. And hide that generalization under the guise of 'biology'.. but 95% of hunters are simply not capable of observing, collecting age/ weight/ lactation rates/ sex age trail camera ratios to make the correct doe harvest goals. And that's OK... its fine if the majority of hunters aren't that into it. Nothing wrong with that.... but don't fool yourself thinking you are doing the right thing by killing a bunch of does or not killing any does on your property unless you truly understand herd dynamics and year specific fawn recruitment... and willing to flip in a single year from aggressive doe harvests to conservative doe harvests.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Blah, blah, blah... too much diatribe.</p><p></p><p>As much as I HATE generalizations when it comes to doe harvests...for the average landowner who isn't into all the data collection, monitoring of habitat conditions, fawn recruitment, etc..... just kill 2 does for every buck killed. That will work for 80% of the properties out there.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="megalomaniac, post: 5430748, member: 2805"] My biggest complaint with doe harvest strategies is that almost NOONE has a clue on what is appropriate for a given property... because NOONE has actually taken the time to do an accurate herd density or age/sex ratio or fawn recruitment ratio. An example... I have dozens of friends with properties in MS who have signed up on the DMAP program (which allows an individual to kill more than 3 or 5 (depending on unit) does per hunter per season). Universally, the state 'biologists', recommend exactly the same number of does to be killed... 1 per 40 to 50 acres under management. For some properties, that is inadequate... for most, that is FAR too excessive. And what's mindboggling... they continue to recommend the exact same number of does per acre to be killed year after year after year.... Those properties who do kill their recommended does (25 per 1000 acres annually) find the number of trophy bucks (130in or better) to decline drastically over time. At the same time, the quality of hunter experience (seeing seer) drastically declines over the years as well. Yet the same blanket doe harvest recommendations are put forth year after year after year. And when age structure of does killed are skewed towards 1.5 and 2.5yos... guess what... still 1 doe per 40 acres recommended. Sure, it is easy to make a generalization. And hide that generalization under the guise of 'biology'.. but 95% of hunters are simply not capable of observing, collecting age/ weight/ lactation rates/ sex age trail camera ratios to make the correct doe harvest goals. And that's OK... its fine if the majority of hunters aren't that into it. Nothing wrong with that.... but don't fool yourself thinking you are doing the right thing by killing a bunch of does or not killing any does on your property unless you truly understand herd dynamics and year specific fawn recruitment... and willing to flip in a single year from aggressive doe harvests to conservative doe harvests. Blah, blah, blah... too much diatribe. As much as I HATE generalizations when it comes to doe harvests...for the average landowner who isn't into all the data collection, monitoring of habitat conditions, fawn recruitment, etc..... just kill 2 does for every buck killed. That will work for 80% of the properties out there. [/QUOTE]
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