Ding ding

You have to measure a large enough area to get an accurate reflection of the buck to doe ratio……..You cant sample 25 acres……You cant sample 100 acres……..I doubt you could really even sample 1000 acres in many areas and not run the risk of a bias measurement compared to the reality.

Well, I take that back……..You could probably sample something like the number of late born fawns on a 1000 acres and get a decent idea…….something like that…..You’re not going to be able to just simply sit in a stand and count bucks and does though and try to extrapolate that…..Bucks and does just don’t use the landscape the same as each other…….Does tend to flock to the improved areas with good food and prime fawning habitat and the bucks tend to occupy more of the secondary habitat generally speaking……It could really throw your count off depending on where you’re sitting…..That’s why you have to take a much larger area into account……

Some of the best areas for bucks is often times the unimproved property bordering the big plantation for that reason ^^^^……You may have a bunch of bucks over here and they have a bunch of does over there and either one of you would be off if you just tried to count only what you were seeing…..Urban areas are similar……An urban area may have many more bucks occupying the green spaces than does while just outside of town in better habitat a guy may be stacked with does…..If he doesn’t take into account the larger area and not just what he’s seeing then he wont have realistic perspective on buck to doe ratio. Buck to doe ratios don’t exist on small scales…..If you have 500 acres and your neighbor has 500 acres…..you both have the same buck to doe ratio…..Its whatever the ratio is for the 1000 acres combined and that’s whatever it is for the 5000 acres around that and probably more…..When bucks start moving around for the rut they cover a lot of ground.

You dont worry about shooting what you aint got

Other than trail cameras and anecdotal evidence from sightings, I still do not understand how one could surmise that you have too many does. I have never hunted anywhere that I thought had too many deer.


Here is a couple of case studies:
I have been to Portland landing twice, once in January, and once a couple weeks ago during the primitive weapons hunt. There were sits on both hunts that I did not see a deer.
Wife and I sat in a shooting house overlooking a greenfield for two evenings in a row, and one evening we saw a button buck, the other we saw nothing. not a single deer.
You might think that is an isolated incident but I had a camera hanging on that field from the scout day until the time our hunt concluded and there were several days in a row that I would go without getting a picture of a deer.


similarly, my dad owns 300 acres in selma, the heart of the blackbelt, and it is not uncommon to go 2-3 sits without seeing a single deer. Granted there are not any agricultural fields on his property but he is bordered on either side by massive corn fields. He owns the only standing timber for a very long distance. One would think that the hunting between two giant cornfields couldn't get any better, but you would be wrong. Ever year we wonder why the hunting sucks so bad. I killed a doe out there year before last. that is the only doe I know of that has been shot in the last 3 years.

Moreover, I participated in a primitive weapons hunt on Thigpen Hill SOA in 2022. Me and another guy hunted for 3 days and never laid eyes on a deer.

All three of these properties in question are generally regarded as places that boast really high deer densities. Lord knows it does not make sense to me that we see so few


I have pontificated for so long on why it is that I dont see more deer, that I finally stopped even asking the question. Makes zero sense to me. Thus is the reason I greet the "Too many does" claim with such criticism

There are very few places left with too many does. There were some in the 90-'s early 2000's before all the rules changed. But now, it is just an excuse to shoot. If you like shooting does, just say so and quit pretending you are doing the rest of us a favor.

I like shooting does and we shoot them every year because we want to. Heck if we don’t have does to shoot, we shoot spikes and other young bucks. We’re going g to get our venison for our sausage and other great things we do with the meat. We don’t shoot them because we’re trying to do you or anyone a favor. We couldn’t care less what happens on any other property besides ours. Is that what you wanted to here.

I’m with Marshmud991 as you can’t make tasty treats to eat out of antlers. I hunt for meat and eat what I kill. I’ll pop a doe before young buck any day. Will I massacre them? No. I’ll pop 1 or 2 does at my place for meat though I went about 4 years without shooting any deer at my place. If I don’t shoot them my neighbors or poachers will so I try to shoot some. Same in AL at the club. We can shoot 4 does a year and a 5 th with a bow. I will shoot at least 2 but I have never come close to shooting 4 or 5. 2 in AL and 1 or 2 in FL plus a buck or 2 a year is enough for me. Big Antlers are nice but you can’t eat them and I’m too selective in my old age to shoot young bucks.

Yes

It’s about the same at my place. This property used have hardly any deer on it. Then it got to where nothing but bucks were living on it and now you see some bucks but a lot of does. We are about to lay the hammer down