jag1,
From a management perspective, does are harvested for two reasons. First, to control total population. Does are the offspring producers. To limit herd size and growth, young producers must be removed. However, first you must ascertain whether the local population is over biologically desired levels, and that requires assessing the availability and browse pressure on the best quality foods at the lowest food-resource time of year, which in TN is generally late February, before spring green-up. And it is most helpful to assess browse pressure in a late winter following a poor acorn fall. A big acorn crop can take pressure off of the primary food plants which can hide the effects of the current deer density. However, acorn crops cannot be relied upon hence looking at browse pressure in late winter following a poor acorn crop will provide the best browse pressure assessment.
Second doe harvests are used to keep the adult sex ratio in balance. A highly unbalanced adult sex ratio can lead to all sorts of poor animal performance and poor hunting experience problems. In the past, I used to advocate for as close to 1:1 ratio between adult does and adult bucks as possible. However, after working with and hunting deer herds with a wide variety of adult sex ratios, I now suggest hunters shoot for an adult sex ratio of around 1.5 to 1.7 adult does per adult buck. This ratio is balanced enough to avoid major biological problems, yet doesn't require the very intensive doe harvests and ensuing problems of excessive harvest pressure shooting for a completely balanced ratio can produce.
I would also recommend, given today's deer herds and hunter attitudes, using caution with any doe harvest program. In essence, start off slow and if needed, work your way up. Years ago, when doe harvests were first being studied, it was a different world, both biologically and from a hunter harvest perspective. Deer herds were over-abundant and few hunters shot does. In those situations, does could be shot with abandon without much effect. Immigration of over-populated doe groups from surrounding properties, and high reproductive rates could easily swamp even the most aggressive doe harvest practices on a single property (the "doe sink" problem). However, deer populations, reproductive success, and hunter attitudes have all changed. In today's conditions, adult females CAN be overharvested.
If you are considering implementing a doe harvest policy, I can't stress enough how important good data is for measuring results. Running yearly photo censuses is critical to assessing whether your doe harvest policies are having the desired result, or if they are too aggressive. This can only be determined if you have a good sense of how many adult does, adult bucks, and fawns you have each season. "What you see while hunting" will not provide this information, as different age and sex deer behave differently and will be observed by hunters at very different rates than at which they actually exist.
