Doe killers?!!?

[Fullquiver]

So I saw this thread and it made me think.(https://www.hunttalk.com/threads/better-than-a-tag-sandwich.303586/) how many just want to get some meat in the freezer and some hunting time for their sanity. I live here in MI where we have the ability to kill quite a few deer if one desires and have always killed several deer per season (2-6 deer) and usually lean heavy on killing does as I live on a farm and in an agricultural community where most farmers look at deer as a plague on their crops..

I thoroughly enjoy my venison and I am a doe slayer and an unapologetic one at that. I even had a friends wife ask me how I could kill all of those poor innocent deer, I told her "I only shoot the guilty ones." I am glad to be in a situation to be able to do so. So the questions is who here is a doe shooter?

 

[Wildabeest]

Guilty.

 

[Jbotto]

As seen on the other post.... guilty. Don’t get me wrong I want to shoot a buck on occasion but I thoroughly enjoy venison. If that means shooting more does I’m ok with that.

Was seriously thinking about this recently, as I have people close to me who shoot small bucks every year on an either-sex tag. I think the bucks would mean more to me if I shot one decent or nice buck every few years and filled the vast majority of my tags on does. That wouldn’t hurt my feelings or ego.

I feel less pressured to shoot does too. If the shot isn’t just perfect, I’m not going to take it. No sense in ruining any meat unnecessarily. Like this year for example, I passed on three does, under 150 yards,the same evening I filled my tag this year. Didn’t like the angles I was getting or the background to the deer. Just couldn’t get comfortable taking those shots. Then the doe I ended up shooting stepped out and gave me about the perfect opportunity, stopped in front of a dirt pile that would catch my bullet, and I made it count. I have no issues shooting does.

 

[rtraverdavis]

I think it has more to do with mule deer does in particular. I’d shoot a whitetail doe or a cow elk any day of the week, as long as I had a tag and the herd was doing well. Look into just about any mule deer herd across the west—not doing so well.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Does behave quite a bit differently than bucks and pursuing them is it’s own unique hunt - I enjoy the pursuit and challenge during archery season.

Forkies seem to be the easiest of all deer to hang a tag on, maybe with the exception of a lone fawn, so they have got the pass from me for many years now mostly so my season isn’t over so quickly, and I hope they survive another year.

 

[F250]

I take several does each year. Headed out for another one this afternoon.

 

[BAKPAKR]

Add my daughter and me to the group who would choose a doe over a smaller buck. I was pleasantly surprised last year when my then 10 year old was fine going without a buck after passing on several bucks from spikes to 6 points (3x3)* while waiting for something bigger than the 6 pt she shot the year before. That was her choice not mine as I told her she could shoot any buck she wanted. I didn’t have that in me when I was a kid. With our liberal bag limits, we do shoot a few does each year.

*With a mix of eastern and western hunters and mule deer and whitetail hunters reading these threads, I never know how to best report the point count.

 

[jvanhoy]

Heck yea!! They are getting out of control in my neck of the woods. Definitely have to keep them in check.

 

[shrapnel]

I generally get a couple every year, then pursue them with old guns. Iron sights and does make for good stalking skills...

 

[Shangobango]

I usually kill 2 or 3 a year down here. A man's got to eat, may as well eat venison.

 

[pabearhunter]

I sure don't have a problem killing does if you need to balance the herd or need some venison. BUT why would any one need to kill 6 ?

 

[Fullquiver]

I sure don't have a problem killing does if you need to balance the herd or need some venison. BUT why would any one need to kill 6 ?

Well having a large family of 5 boys my wife and myself with usually at least one sometimes 2 other adults living in my house we had no problems eating that many deer. Additionally I usually give 1-2 to some needy families that I know of..

In reality I have been on local farms here in years past doing crop predation control hunts and killed in excess of 25 deer in a single year on single farms.. That isn't really hunting just work for the most part. In reality it didn't do much to help the farmer as you could easily watch 200-300 deer a night go into 100 acres of corn..

 

[Shangobango]

I sure don't have a problem killing does if you need to balance the herd or need some venison. BUT why would any one need to kill 6 ?

I can't speak for anyone else but me and by son can go through 6 deer before quick gets ready. Not to mention we provide venison to my dad, sister and grandma. Between the two of us we get 12 deer tags a year here at home. Probably average filling 8 or 9 of them. We don't have much venison left besides a few packs of burger by the time season rolls back around.

Venison is a part of around half of the meals we prepare at home. Maybe more.

 

[Bigjay73]

6 wt does will give about as much meat as a large bull elk, or a moose. We wouldn't argue with a person with a family of 3 killing a moose, not sure killing a bunch of does is any different. Im also in the boat of not killing mulie does anymore. Not against, it, just not something I want to do. WT does ill kill all season long. I wish there were more of them on public in Colorado

 

[Big Slick]

I had reservations on shooting a mule deer die this year. I actually helped out a rancher as the deer were in his hay bales quite a bit. I do appreciate the venison she provided fir us to eat.

 

[Brandon270]

Two years of tag soup for me and still haven't killed my first deer. I wish my state had doe tags available.

 

[Islander]

Heart shot at 150 yards. She managed a single bound and then expired. More humane death than anything that would have happened in the wild. Easy peasy. Decent size for this area. Big deer can't take our summer heat, or at least that's what I tell myself.

 

[thusby]

I'm still eating deer from 2019 thanks to some does. It helps me stay selective if the freezer is still full. Didn't pull the trigger this year on a deer, buck or doe, as a result. No problem by me.

 

[cwitherow]

In MN, doe permits are on a lottery system, so we call them "golden tickets". I personally have not shot a doe, but would have no reservations doing so if it was the difference between a freezer full of meat and tag soup.

 

[ssmusicman]

I keep saying this year I'm going to shoot a doe if I need too, have not needed to for quite a few years now. If and when the freezer gets to an unacceptably low level does with be shot. They have been giving us 2 doe tags for gun and 2 for archery for quite some time now. The next 4 days in WI is doe only hunting, any weapon, almost state wide.