# Doe Huntuing



## born2hunt65 (Jan 22, 2000)

Well time to stir things up abit now that deer season is approaching. The western half of the UP is issueing doe tags for the third year in a row now. Lets have your opion on doe hunting, are you for it or against it. Please give your reasoning why. Happy hunting, Born


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## gunrod (Jan 16, 2001)

I am all for it. A balanced herd is a happy herd. I hunt an area in Manistee County that was closed to does for some time. They opened it back up two years ago and we are seeing more bucks and quality bucks. We never shot anything bigger than a five point until does started being shot. Now we count two 8 pts and a 9 pt to our trophy pole.

I took my first deer (a doe) in Menominee County in 1985. At least back then the western UP was loaded with deer that were over eating the area. After shooting my deer we took it to the DNR and they gave me another tag. They were chomping at the bit to have the herd reduced. We hunted a large farm that lost half his corn to deer (over 400 acres of corn). We found his add because he was being hit so bad he advertised in a national magazine and only charged ten bucks a day to hunt. That has to be bad.

Its been awhile so the herd may not be so large now but I would have to say I am all for it.


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## Tom222 (Oct 21, 2000)

First and foremost, I am meat hunter. BUT, given my druthers, I would choose a buck over a doe. It's the way I was raised. I used to be one of those guys that would put in for a doe tag and not fill it, "because when you shoot a doe you are really killing 3 deer. This one and the two she would have had in the spring".
I am of a different opinion today. Don't get me wrong, my first inclination is still to shoot the rack, but I have decided that unless I have a real wall hanger in my sights, I will limit myself to doe this year (on my land).
It's taken a long time, but I have come to see the importance of trying to maintain a better buck to doe ratio.
On my brother in-laws farm where we gun hunt, I am one of 7 hunting the property. Farmers have a different outlook on deer. Deer are profit eaters. The farm rule is, if it's a safe ethical shot you had better take it, or your spot will go to someone who will.
My vote - Take a doe


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## Strawberri (Jan 29, 2001)

My opinion is to take a doe. The buck/doe ratio has to be balanced out to pay dividends farther down the road. I've hunted in Osceola county for many years. All we've seen mostly when we've hunted were numerous does with the very occasional buck mostly spikes, forkhorns and small 4-pts. However, with the introduction in recent years of liberal anterless permits in the area, the number of overall buck sightings has increased. Also antler sizes have seemed to creep up a bit with more 6 to 8 pt bucks being spotted and taken. I believe that when the ratio tilts towards does too much stress is put on the buck population. By stress, I'm talking about competition for food sources, reproductive health, a thinning gene pool and what kind of shape the buck is in going into the winter. So, we fill our doe tags every year with this in mind, knowing it will pay dividends later. Plus, you can't eat horns anyway and we enjoy the venison. Then perhaps one day we'll be lucky enough to encounter a real wallhanger.


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## unluckybuckhunter (Jul 27, 2001)

i have shot a few does, and will pass on all smaller bucks. Unfortunately, most of the other people in the area do not share this view point. This kind of thinking has led to an extremely unbalenced doe to buck ratio. For every buck I see, i probably see about 20 does, and that is even counting button bucks. My hope is that by passing on small bucks year after year, and trying to eliminate a couple of does, i might eventually see a nice 8 point, or god forbid, a nice 10 point!


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## Joe Archer (Mar 29, 2000)

I believe it is best to assess the herd in your area and make an informed decision. If you have high numbers of deer in your area, and an unbalance with more doe than bucks, I would take some doe. If however (as in my area), the deer herd has been nearly obliterated, the number of deer is way way down, and the bucks outnumber doe, I would pass on the doe. 

In previous years I have passed on many young bucks and taken doe. This year I will not take a doe, but would settle for the first spike that I see. The buck to doe ratio in my area is probably 3 bucks for each doe now, with deer numbers way way down. <----<<<


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## Oct.1 (Jun 29, 2000)

I was raised in Manistique in the upper. The rule was no does. The reason is because you kill off future bucks.
However now that I live down below I have seen way too many doe for the area I hunt. Up until 3 years ago it was about 20 to 1. Now that the TB massacres have taken place and most of the does are gone, I am seeing more and larger bucks. I have changed my mind based on the facts collected because of the large reduction in does.
I have seen many responses from the many that live down here about taking a doe, but when I go back to the U.P. to hunt I still feel that the old ways apply. No Does. 

So to you that still have the honor of living up in Gods Country is the consensus still No Does????


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## turkey tom (Apr 22, 2001)

I say shoot the doe's. It's nice to get a buck, and if you really want a buck take one, but the herd seems unbalanced, at least in the area I hunt (S of Cadillac). Let the small bucks grow up a bit and don't shoot the buttons.


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## yoda (Jan 26, 2000)

Don't get me wrong when I say this But there's a problem here.. In some areas, yes, doe's need to be reduced but there are a lot of others that can not take the hit of the "invasion" of orange with there pockets full of doe permits, And yes there are a few locals up here that do the same thing.. But with the DNR infinite wisdom of expanding the DMU to such a large size up here,#1. there are going to be areas in those large DMU where the deer population CAN NOT take that kind of pressure and #2. when, after a heavy harvest of doe's in certin areas, we get a "Normal" winter we lose most of the rest of them, And it's 4 or 5 years before a huntable herd is back.. Problem being is, the locals have to ride it out the "Invasion" moves to another area. Most of this area (Eastern U.P.) is still trying to rebuild a herd that was lost in the winter of "95" ... So if you want to kill a Doe, kill it out YOUR back door not mine,, or at least take some time and look at the numbers, and pull permits in the areas around cash crops( Corn, Pea's, ect.) Not the heavly wooded area's with no farming..


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## unluckybuckhunter (Jul 27, 2001)

You all make a good point, certain areas can not handle the pressure of killing a large number of does, and I was speaking of my particular area, Gladwin. I have hunted 8 days so far this year, I have probably seen close to 40 does and fawns, but have yet to see a buck, besides a button, not even a spike. So in my area, harvesting a doe would obviously be the right thing to do. The population is way off balance, and needs to be evened out. This however, is not the case in every area; michigan is too large to have the same situation in every area of the state.


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## Joe Archer (Mar 29, 2000)

Unluckybuckhunter, if ya need some help thinning out the doe in your area, just let me know? <----<<<


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## Oct.1 (Jun 29, 2000)

Yoda,
I have read your response and re-read your response and hope that many will read it and re-read and understand how to apply it the their own hunting area. If people would take time to understand not only what they hunt, but also understand why, what they hunt is where they hunt, they would become more successful. I think they call that QDM
Considering that the DNR has never found a way to control the quantity of the heard that is taken in a given area, than a bit of research on the hunters part will answer questions like "Should I take a doe." 
Good response Yoda.


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## born2hunt65 (Jan 22, 2000)

You guys hit the nail on the head. It is important to assess the area in which you live in. In the western part of the UP the doe to buck ratio is at least 2o does to every buck. Many here will argue that when you shoot a doe you kill the future bucks. I really sisagree with that statement. To have a haelthy herd it needs to be balanced. I'm really glad to see so many agree with me on this one. Good luck hunting 11-15th. Born


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## Tom222 (Oct 21, 2000)

As you can tell, I did not stay with the plan to shoot only a doe. I took a 6 point this year, even though he wasn't a "wall hanger". My reasoning was that I have seen as many bucks (different) as does this year. But, I am coming around to a new way of thinking


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