to many doe's
- Thread starter 7wsm
- Start date
BSK
Well-Known Member
Deciphering appropriate doe harvests (if any are needed) for a given location is one of the most complicated aspects of deer management. And unfortunately, there are no easy answers. Determining how many does to remove annually (if any) is matter of assessing the current habitat and the local deer population's impact on that habitat (how much of the habitat are deer eating away each year?). In addition, other herd parameters need to be assessed, such as the adult sex ratio (ratio of adult males to adult females). A healthy deer population is kept well within the limits of the habitat's ability to feed it, and has a relatively balanced adult sex ratio (anywhere from 1.2 to 2.0 adult does per adult buck).
And, before anybody starts to say that my buck/doe ratio is 20:1 because I see 20 does for every buck, please be aware that hunter observations can be highly skewed to the point IMO of being almost worthless. It takes some dedicated census work through cameras or other tools to have decent data upon which to base a doe harvest decision.
FARMTOFIELD
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- Apr 4, 2011
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scn said:
Good point SCN, you could see the same 20 does using the same area but just the occasional buck cruising through.
BSK
Well-Known Member
scn said:
Extremely well said. After analyzing many, many years of hunter observations versus knowing what is really out there in the woods (camera census), I can say with complete authority that hunter observation data is virtually worthless as a herd composition/population tool. Honestly, the only thing I use hunter observation data for anymore is as a measure of hunter satisifaction; i.e. are hunters seeing more or less deer per hunting hour? More or less shooter bucks per hunting hour? etc.
