Let’s say all of us have been given a 400K acre Texas ranch to manage and we plan to take 2000 does off of it next year to "get the herd in check"…….How would you go about dividing it up and taking those does out??.....Meaning, how small would you make your squares?? Would you break it down into four different 100K acre units and then just try to take out 500 does somewhere within each unit??......Would you further subdivide it into eight 50K acre units trying to take out 250 does in each unit?? Would you break it down into four hundred units of 1000 acres each trying to take out 5 from each square??.....What would be your game plan?

I'd just shoot bucks and not worry about does then I'd build a giant lake and stock it with f1 hybrids

First thing I’d do is hire some Mexicans to do the work. Shooting that many does is a big undertaking. But yeah divide it down as far as I could and go to work. Killing 5 does in some of the 1000acre sections might be hard.

I think this is going to be one of those situations where the law of diminishing returns kicks in quickly……You’re going to reach a point where very little additional benefit is gained from continuing to further subdivide it and further complicate it. I don’t think there would be much reason for taking it past 4-8 units….

Well…i have done this very thing…and…it will be a NIGHTMARE…..like…im havin flashbacks right now…no bueno

I could not kill all the beavers because it being Texas i might need the water

Where are you going with this? Suggesting that Alabama's doe harvest push is being done too much in some areas and not enough in others? If so, I agree and it was inevitable with a one size fits all unlimited doe law.

I think you should call your buddy Uncle Huck and invite him to bring a busload of deerslayers with him.

That part of the world responds well to senderos and roads being baited with a road feeder. Step one for me would be to test various areas to determine where the excess of does is living.

After that, concentrate on those areas and try to get the job done quickly. 2-3 shooters per blind, or the same on a road overlook. With that many to take, most ranches would not consider age or size of the doe, just shoot the first ones to show up. I have also been on a similar cull hunt where the deer were so thick that they would come back out minutes after the first deer got shot, and the shooters could get additional targets.

Feeder locations that are not being hunted should be turned off during the process to direct deer traffic to the active locations.

If you are looking for help, say when. I would be happy to offer assistance in the endeavor. As far as to answer your question, probably the quickest way would be trapping (i.e. helicopter and rifle or net gun, large deer trap like a hog pen, etc) and then cataloging the results. another way would be to have a "youth round up" where you take a set number of youth hunters, and let them get their feet wet over a season.

Whachu gon do withem when you killem…its a million degrees sown there til January..and rven then..still warmish…bet factor that in

So what I’m saying is……As long as 500 does are being taken out somewhere, anywhere within each square on our map then the ranches herd will take care of the rest……Correct?.....Do you agree??



……and if we took it down to 8 squares then that would surely be "site specific" enough for our 400K acre ranch to prosper……. wouldnt you think? Do we need to break it down further??

What I’m getting at is that when deciding on something like “needing to shoot does”…..or the discussion we were having on buck to doe ratios….or the “strategy” you choose to take on your property……etc…etc….…Your focus should really be on the surrounding area and what’s going on there as well as your own property….Are those 250 or 500 does already being taken out by other folks around you??…..Did the number of out of state hunters in your square increase and more get shot last year?.....Did the number of backyard hunters in your square increase and more get shot last year?.....You need to expand your thinking past your own property line and look at the bigger picture around you……It isnt just a matter of “I saw 20 does and no bucks so I obviously need to shoot more off of my forty”……..Negro please……..If you’re slaying does off of your property with no consequences then its most likely because there are lot of other folks in your square who ARE NOT doing so…..


What nobody is noticing when ignoring this scale of management is that last year instead of taking 2000 does off our “ranch”……there was 2900 taken……So add another 100-200 does to each of our squares for some reason…..That affects you on your 500 or 1000 within that square whether you are doing anything or not…..This is how “herd management” is really occurring on the landscape with bucks and does…..Its happening on a much bigger scale than most people are wrapping their head around when making decisions. Just look at how the data usually groups together in clusters for multiple counties when I make maps……It for sure does in squares within counties…..You don’t live within your own box within your own property lines……your “deer herd” lives within a much bigger square.

That’s why you should communicate with your surrounding neighbors. We know that no one hunts the property to our east. The gentleman that owns the property to our north may kill 1 doe a year. The elderly man that owns on the NW side has his grandkids come in on holidays to hunt. They only kill a couple deer a year. No one hunts to our south and west. So if we want to try to control doe numbers it’s up to us. That ranch we hunt on in Sonora is overrun with does because they do not shoot them. They will let the kids shoot some but only a couple members have kids. Last season when we were able to go, the members asked rack of us to fill every tag we could. That would have put me killing 5 whitetail. I did kill 3 but I also killed 3 axis also. That was more then enough. We didn’t even begin to put a dent in the does on that ranch.
As I said on our place we try to keep them in check. Some years we have to shoot less if we’re not seeing many and other years we have to shoot more. It’s ever changing. No one size fits all plan works every year.

Why do you think I push cooperatives so much? It takes a community to effectively manage deer.

We have a thousand continuous acres and can’t manage our herd.

Precisely.