Doe Harvest Timing
Doe Harvest Timing
I would argue that having a doe population strategy is as important as any other tactic if you are managing a farm for whitetail deer. High population farms are not good for the herd, for native plants, and surely not good for local farming. They can be exciting to hunt for young and beginning hunters because you see a lot of deer. But over-populated herds create conflicts within themselves as the deer have to compete for resources in food and cover. Local farming can be severely impacted if crops are decimated…creating potential conflicts between hunters and non-hunters. And let’s not forget, a balanced herd within acceptable population goals makes for great hunting.
These are some of the reasons why it is important to have a deer herd in check. But I still run across many hunters who won’t shoot does for various reasons. The two most common reasons I here are “does bring in the bucks during the rut” and “I don’t want to shoot does on my farm and bump deer to other areas while I’m doing so”. The first concern seems on the surface to hold merit, but it just doesn’t work that way, (more on that shortly). And, the second I’ll address on what has worked for me.
Does Bring in the Bucks During the Rut Myth
I’ve heard this argument my whole life and I’m still hearing it. The thought goes that in order to have good hunting during the rut you need a bunch of does. Although it might seem like common sense, it’s simply not true. Bucks will spend most of their time almost all year in a relatively small area in their home range. Some bucks will spend time in open canopy timber with great summer food around, then transition to a fall range that has thicker cover and better fall food. Some bucks don’t transition at all. All this activity is based around the best available food and cover for that time of year. That makes up maybe 11 months of the year and occupies 2/3rds or better of every hunting season.
So, what about those two or three weeks when bucks are really looking for a hot doe? Well, for the most part, they’ll continue their search in their established home range. Some bucks, (they are all a little different), won’t even leave their core areas within their home range to search for a hot doe. Sometimes these homebody bucks are the oldest and biggest in the area. Case in point…last year in 2020 my wife Amy found a giant buck long-range scouting in mid-October.
Not hunting, she continued to watch this buck all fall with her spotting scope and binoculars take refuge in a small brushy draw of about 50 acres. The buck would stay in that draw during the day, and exit to surrounding food just as it got dark. Surely the buck would move more and well outside this little draw he called home once the rut came, right? Wrong! All November, she watched this same giant chase and tend does right in that little draw. I ran cameras close to but outside that area as well and never got a single picture of him until a few days in very late November. He simply had plenty of does to choose from even in that low population area. This type of scenario has been my experience more often than not with mature whitetail bucks.
Buck Dispersal
Also, we have to remind ourselves again that bucks disperse when they are young. Buck dispersal is when a young buck leaves his doe family group where he was born and looks to find a new home…away from where he was born. This can be a mile or two or ten miles away. The research I’ve read shows this dispersion takes place between .5 and 1.5 years of age. Also, we know that almost all bucks will disperse …except those who lose their mothers.
Many of these bucks stay! Of the bucks that do disperse, I would argue a lower population farm with great habitat is much more likely to attract those bucks looking for a new home than a highly doe populated one. All the more reason to make sure your farm’s population is in check. I personally prefer to have my hunting areas at or below the areas average population to make sure I’m attracting as many dispersing bucks as I can. Because of buck dispersal, harvesting does on your land means you have a higher chance that a young buck won’t disperse and will stay, (because you shot its mother). And you will attract more bucks during dispersal that will set up their home range on your property and won’t leave, perhaps, for the rest of their life!
Best Time and Place to Harvest Does
The best time and place to harvest a doe is a combination that has the least amount of impact on your farm in terms of hunting pressure. In my experience, and what has worked for me, is very early in the season on morning hunts outside of the timber. And very late in the season after most hunting is done and very few hunters are still hunting.
In the first case, I like to target doe family areas usually concentrated around a food source. You can enter after first light making sure deer are off the food source and hunt on the food or just inside cover. Many times, a doe will take one last bite before going back to bed, (which is close to food), and you can take her without much fan-fare or bumping other deer. Taking a few does very early also allows the farm to, what I call soak, a week or two after the harvests take place.
Another great time for doe harvests is late in the season after most hunting is done and most hunters are done. This keeps pressure off your farm for almost the whole season, and with any luck, your buck tag has already been filled making hunting pressure less of an issue. Going late also helps with bumping deer to neighboring landowners who don’t have your same management goals if that’s an issue. Very early—and very late in the season are the two best times to harvest does.
Don’t let timing get in your way though. There have been many years when early doe harvests didn’t quite pan out and I felt that I needed to take a few before the late season to make sure my harvest goals were met. Getting to and maintaining a good deer herd level through doe harvests takes precedence over bumping a deer or two. A properly managed deer herd that has female deer numbers in check will give hunters some of the best hunting they could ask for!
by Tom Peplinski
October 2021
