Doe limit for hunting clubs

[Son]

For the last 35 years our club has had a two buck, two doe limit and it's worked very well. But try as we may to manage, loss of habitat if kicking our butt. Since hurricane Michael of 2018, several hundred acres of wooded lands has been cleared for cow pasture and crop farming. Our club property continues to have a decent carrying capacity. But we're not getting the mature buck numbers we have enjoyed in past years. I feel it's because there's so much cleared lands around us, we are not getting the numbers of mature bucks from other wooded lands during our rut like we once got. Doing everything we can to manage anyway with 15 food plots we keep planted year round. We're seeing less mature deer and more turkeys. Evidently turkeys love the cow pastures and crop fields. One sitting three flocks came by with a count of over 42. mostly hens and poults, but some big gobblers were with them too. This past season we noticed more hunting around the boundaries of our club than ever before. All in pastures and crop farms, possibly workers for those properties. I'm sure this takes our numbers down more than in the past, so we didn't take many does this past season. The club took about 9 bucks, the least ever taken with only three aging more than 3.5 years of age. We never saw a hard rut, but now our cell cams are showing more deer activity. The last two weeks of the past season we saw a lull in deer activity, the same as in the last few years. It's like they were resting up until we left the woods. I've actually gone up and rattled up more bucks after the season, than I ever did during the season. I liked to do that to see what survived before we got the trail cameras. Now the cell cams really help keep an eye on property, who comes and goes, and how the game is looking. It's quite a change going from 2400 acres to about 1000 acres to hunt, and expecting that to be even less as the years pass. I've been managing private properties for hunting and timber for many years. Loss of habitat is the only thing I can't control. When a food plot is finished, we replant. Just replanted this plot today with oats It will help the deer, turkeys, rabbits and gophers...lol

 

[antharper]

You are probably doing as best you can with what you have to work with ! Keep on keeping on

 

[Buford_Dawg]

In Northeast GA, we limit doe harvest to 2 does per member on my main club, the other club, we dont have a limit, but no one shoots does at all. Works for us.

 

[Gut_Pile]

6 of your 9 bucks killed being 3.5 and under isn't helping with your mature buck numbers either

 

[Hunter922]

Yep, Property carrying capacity.. My Alabama property is about the same. The private we are surrounded by is mostly food thank Godness because my 300 acre carrying capacity is about 10 deer. Even with planting and corn there is only so much we can do other than reducing the mouths to feed..

 

[Son]

6 of your 9 bucks killed being 3.5 and under isn't helping with your mature buck numbers either

If we had the amount of property we once had, we would be more selective. But losing so much land to cow pastures and crop farms, we're down to about 1 K acres. Can't do much abut trophy management with that. Knowing the border hunters are taking most anything that goes across the property line. Might say we're just doing the best we can considering the conditions. We recently lost another 250 acres. End result will probably be losing the last of this lease eventually as a cattle business buys up more land around us. It's been a great 35 years where we once had over 2400 acres. We saw less mature deer this past season than ever before. Makes me wonder if night hunting for feral hogs isn't taking some of those old bucks too. After all, it's baiting, night optics and we know everyone isn't ethical. I remember a story a young fellow told me years ago about crop damage permits. He and friends used the excuse to see who could get the largest buck.

 

[Dustin Pate]

6 of your 9 bucks killed being 3.5 and under isn't helping with your mature buck numbers either

I agree 100%. It sounds like y'all are doing as much, or more, damage than the neighbors. 1000 acres is plenty of land to make a measurable difference. I do it on much smaller scale and have had great success. Sure I get deer shot around me, but every year we manage to see and kill mature deer.

If getting bucks to a mature age is the goal then it sounds like all of the members need to have a sit down and get on the same page.

 

[specialk]

i'll throw out our ''stats''....we have 800acs spread out over 4 tracts.....hunting all around every track..we keep ''about'' 25 members.....over the last 35+ years we've never had any club limits, just follow GA regs.....we kill about 15 deer a year....normally one of those would be ''mount'' worthy......the one thing that has change is turkey #'s.....wayyyyy down.....on every tract we got....

 

[Gator89]

Our landowner/farmer asked last year to take some does, I know of 3 being taken in 2021.

This year the landowner said "y'all need to take out some does". We set a goal of 2 per member and we have 5 members.

I know for sure we took 6.

 

[billy336]

Three does per member. 9 members on 1800. I think 10 does 10 bucks were taken. Many does with fawns all through season til it ended. We are just north of Valdosta

 

[Jim Boyd]

844 acres leased plus our 57 acres adjoins.

We ran 6 members per year and going to 8 in 2023.

We run a contest so we WILL kill more dies.

We usually take 6-10 and they are still seemingly crawling out of the woodwork.

 

[livetohunt]

"The club took about 9 bucks, the least ever taken with only three aging more than 3.5 years of age"........"Knowing the border hunters are taking most anything that goes across the property line".
I think you just described your problem in not seeing many mature bucks...Everyone wants to see big bucks but VERY VERY few do what it takes to consistently see them.

 

[Buckstop]

We started out about 8 or so years ago with a three doe limit on one tract that has AG and no does off another timber tract, based on what we were seeing on cameras and in the field. Some members only took one or two does the first couple years and primarily hunted bucks. Last several years as density grew, we've had to make a point to take a lot more does off the AG tract. The timber tract seems to stay pretty well in balance with a healthy stable herd. We do take a few off it in archery now. An AG tract has the potential to jump in numbers much faster due to the high carrying capacity and to a point that's not workable for the AG operations. We try to do our part to keep it on keel.

All depends on carrying capacity of the tract and neighboring tracts and hunting pressure in the area. They are all different and can change within a few seasons.

 

[Son]

Interesting to read everyone's thoughts and results My grown members all hold out for a spell hoping to get a monster. We might have youth take a couple per season that's 1.5 years old. As the season nears the end, most adults will decide to take the first two decent racks that show up. It's that or nothing for all your time, labor and money. I have held out too long and wound up with one buck and two does for a season. In the past I held out and was about to finish a season without a buck, then shot one 24 inches wide on the last weekend. I've managed deer and turkeys since 1975 with great success. Small tracts can do well depending on what other properties are available to feed them with roaming deer, especially during the rut. I've hunted deer since the 1949/50 season, Florida Big Cypress at the Everglades is where I began at 7 years old with my Dad. Were no roads back then, and very few deer.

 

[Son]

I've been around awhile, when living in Florida where I come from. I always helped the Florida Game and Fish, had many friends there as well. Served as President of The Florida Bowhunters Council Inc for a number of years. The state wide bowhunting organization. Bowhunting was my first love when it came to deer Age and a bad neck made me retire the bows.

 

[Son]

The group I used to hunt with in Florida were the first to perfect "Catch and Release". I'm bottom left, Jim Haislop (Mr. America 1968) bottom right.

 

[buckpasser]

I manage a couple thousand acres in south GA (1 tract). For the past 2 seasons I have recommended killing zero does and all undesirable mature bucks, as well as the mature trophy bucks. The owners have not taken any deer except two trophy bucks.

None of us are starving, and we also like seeing deer from the stand. That combined with the fact that our habitat is nowhere near carrying capacity has us simply asking “why not?”

Intense large predator trapping, intense habitat improvement as well as woods roads and perimeter road deletions has resulted in excellent fawn recruitment. We’re on year 5 for protein feeding and the deer numbers and well as the perceived deer health is through the roof.

If I were your club’s advisor, I’d strongly recommend you take no does, unless you feel your place is nearing or over carrying capacity, which I doubt. The killing of a few small bucks doesn’t excite me either, but they don’t really effect future population.

 

[elfiii]

Until this year we've been 0 does for over a decade. I let a friend of mine who has been hunting with me since I started deer hunting kill a doe this year. It was his first deer.

 

[buckpasser]

Until this year we've been 0 does for over a decade. I let a friend of mine who has been hunting with me since I started deer hunting kill a doe this year. It was his first deer.

How’s fawn recruitment there? Do you see many twins during season?

 

[elfiii]

How’s fawn recruitment there? Do you see many twins during season?

We only got 2 fawns on cameras during the Summer but the number of individual does has increased. Instead of seeing 2 or 3 yearlings together we are seeing 6 and 7 at a time with a good age distribution - a couple of 3 y/o nannies, 2 or 3 2 y/o's and fawn or 2. It's almost becoming encouraging again!