Finally, I often am asked about "culling" does. Obviously, there is nothing about the outward appearance of a doe giving any indication of her genetic quality. Yet, it is indeed possible to manipulate genetics through doe harvest. If you are managing for a young doe herd and protecting older bucks, in effect you are genetically selecting your deer.
After all, if there are some older bucks that make it through the season, their experience will permit them to breed more of the young does. It all boils down to managing your herd to maximize productivity. To accomplish this goal, you must keep your habitat highly productive, your herd beneath saturation level, and demographics that promotes genetic diversity. Give a Gift Subscriber Services.
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Add an email address. Get Digital Access Not a Subscriber? Subscribe Now. Remember, fawns grow up, and will eat close to one ton of vegetation per year. These tips are not always true, but they can give you a guide for achieving your management objectives. If one fawn is running all over the place and the other fawn stays closer to its mother, the rambunctious fawn is probably a button buck.
Again, many biologists would totally disagree with these observations, but they have served me well over the years. Shooting fawns may not be a viable option for you, but I can assure you that they taste great. In these overpopulated areas, I tell my hunters to pick a spot and shoot. Chances are, many readers of this magazine are totally against shooting fawns for emotional reasons. I get that. But why is it okay for beginning hunters to take a fawn, yet experienced hunters get ridiculed for doing the same thing?
Taking does or fawns in the early parts of the hunting season has added benefits for the habitat. This is because a deer will consume about five pounds of dry weight vegetation per day. That forage saved roughly equates to a couple one- to two-acre food plots. In other words, there will be more food later in the year for other deer during the rut!
Although many hunters may disagree with shooting spotted fawns, albeit cute, these are the deer that have the greatest chance of not surviving the winter. As for taking the adult does that have fawns in tow?
Remember, those fawns are already weaned and will survive, with or without mama. Give a Gift Subscriber Services. See All Special Interest Magazines. All Bowhunter subscribers now have digital access to their magazine content. This means you have the option to read your magazine on most popular phones and tablets.
If you only see one fawn for every two to three adult does, your deer numbers may be down. Look at the property. It may need a sledge hammer, it may need a tack hammer, or it may need no hammer at all. In most cases, shooting or not shooting a couple does for the freezer isn't going to disrupt any overall management goals.
But hunters should know their property and the health of its herd before mowing down a bunch of does just because it's en vogue. Our editors have hand-picked these essential pieces of gear to make you a more successful hunter when you hit the game trails this season. Give a Gift Subscriber Services. See All Special Interest Magazines. All Petersen's Hunting subscribers now have digital access to their magazine content.
This means you have the option to read your magazine on most popular phones and tablets. To get started, click the link below to visit mymagnow. Get Digital Access. Subscribe To The Magazine.
More Articles From Whitetail. By Jeff Johnston. Learn More. Sign Me Up. Is the 10mm Enough Gun for Bear Defense? Joseph von Benedikt. Best Coyote Cartridge? Skinner Sights Gear Skinner Sights.
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