Too many does?

XJfire75

Senior Member
Anyone ever had a property where the does are so plentiful that not all are being bred at all and when they are they’re dropping fawns from mid May to late July?


I’m dealing with that right now on my home property and the neighbors that I have gotten 3 total bucks on cameras that I run year round in 15 months or surveys.

I know typically folks say lots of does makes a good rut but what if the does I do have are taking 3 months to be bred and some not at all?

My plan is to kill several for the freezer but what are other ways to promote a balanced herd?

Could killing 4-5 does this year and then a few more next year make room for more bucks and get the carrying capacity back to normal?

Just wanting yalls take on this since I’ve never had a problem of too many deer before lol
 

jmac7469

Senior Member
We actually had this issue on our place. We had a lot of bucks as well but the ratio was so out of whack we saw no true rut for years. We finally brought in a biologist he did surveys and basically told us to start taking does by the truck load. After a lot of doe patrol hunting improved drastically on our place. We also had an increase in body size across the board as food became more plentiful. The bigger bucks started venturing out of the deep swamps. The breeding rates increased. We started to see true rut active. Fawns were healthier as the does were healthier. It took time and wasn't an instant success. Some members didn't like the idea of killing does but as we started to see results everyone got on board. If you truly have an issue think of getting a biologist involved it's money well spent to implement a true management plan.
 

BCPbuckhunter

Senior Member
Not sure on how big a track you hunt, but I speak only from experience of the places I hunt and the land I manage. I find that for what you might consider a better rut ( more bucks sighted cruising for does or more chasing); in my experience more does means less of a pronounced rut and more of a prolonged rutting activity. I have a very good deer population on my property and my neighbors property(we work together for our common goals). I see better rut activity when we have a buck to do ratio of 1:1. Our doe population crept up a little over the last 2 seasons because nobody really shot any and we will need to manage that accordingly. I have hunted places in the past that had a ton of does and don't recall ever seeing a chase before. The place I hunt now, it is very common place to see a ton of rutting activity. The downfall to a population close to even buck and does is a lot of busted up racks.
 

Hunter922

Senior Member
Yep.. I have seen spotted fawns in October and November. But all those does keep our big bucks around in the Burbs so it's not all bad..
 

XJfire75

Senior Member
My land is a small sample size but it’s a semi suburban area tucked away from larger neighborhoods. There’s 38 acres on my hone lot and then another 25 I have permission to hunt 300 yards from my tract with no hunting within 300-500 acres nearby other than a hunting club down my dirt road that I only see from opening day to Jan and don’t hardly hear any shots so no clue on their management practices but I can tell you more deer use my small tracts the later into the season as those guys must push some out of their club.

These deer are frequent visitors to my garden, yard and all the 3-4 neighbors yards as well so I see them often.

I know I can’t manage for growing bucks and all that per say but I’d at least like to give a couple bucks the opportunity to coexist in the habitat I’m building for them.

I’m trying to increase their a available food year round by small food plots, mineral sights, TSI in small chunks to promote native browse, and year round feeders. There’s a lot of soft mass and native browse as it is but do see some heavy browsing when it’s drier. I’ve also planted about 25 different oaks, apples, pears and chestnuts for long term food options.


2 of the 3 bucks I’ve seen on camera only came through 1 or 2 times late season last year and I run 5-7 cameras on both my land and the neighbors so I don’t miss much lol.
 

XJfire75

Senior Member
Here’s a typical trail cam pic. 1 fawn out of all these does. I just had one of them drop her fawns last week of July. Saw the first fawns mid May.
 

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BCPbuckhunter

Senior Member
My land is a small sample size but it’s a semi suburban area tucked away from larger neighborhoods. There’s 38 acres on my hone lot and then another 25 I have permission to hunt 300 yards from my tract with no hunting within 300-500 acres nearby other than a hunting club down my dirt road that I only see from opening day to Jan and don’t hardly hear any shots so no clue on their management practices but I can tell you more deer use my small tracts the later into the season as those guys must push some out of their club.

These deer are frequent visitors to my garden, yard and all the 3-4 neighbors yards as well so I see them often.

I know I can’t manage for growing bucks and all that per say but I’d at least like to give a couple bucks the opportunity to coexist in the habitat I’m building for them.

I’m trying to increase their a available food year round by small food plots, mineral sights, TSI in small chunks to promote native browse, and year round feeders. There’s a lot of soft mass and native browse as it is but do see some heavy browsing when it’s drier.


2 of the 3 bucks I’ve seen on camera only came through 1 or 2 times late season last year and I run 5-7 cameras on both my land and the neighbors so I don’t miss much lol.
See in my perspective that changes things. I would only shoot whatever does you want to eat. Leave the rest as bait. good luck this season.
 

Bud Man

Senior Member
I've had a well balanced heard with very little pressure due to what I believe is a strict supplemental feeding and natural food enhancement. I feel like this has pulled deer onto my property . Been able to see a lot of rutting activity for a small tract of land . I had some illegal activity the last few years around that hurt the larger bucks and worked with LEO to fix that problem . This week I have been seeing some "New " Bucks showing up . I'm on a 32 acre small tract with very little pressure on surrounding tracts , there have been 7-9 fawns and 7-10 smaller bucks seen with the regular 20 or so does around . I have 12 cameras monitoring the property. I am a firm believer of sticking to your plan and keep trying to enhance the land you have with the best foods and bedding and with time you will be rewarded with your harvest of your desired size.
 

Mr Bya Lungshot

BANNED LUNATIC FRINGE
You’ve got more bucks and fawns then your camera is capturing.
Move the cameras more often and shoot a couple does if you want.
It takes a buck to make a doe so you have some somewhere around.
 

Kris87

Senior Member
All of my suburban properties are over ran with does. I have plenty of does every year that don't yield any fawns. There's no way for me to manage my herds. I still have good bucks around, but the rut sucks when you have this many does. The pre-rut can be good and post rut as well. I typically have better luck rut wise in December when the un-bred does come back into heat.
 

rutnbuk

Senior Member
Of the problems you can have in the deer woods- this is the best one to have. More Does means more deer - period. I love seeing deer each sit, and where there are Does there are Bucks - of all ages. As a result I see rutting activity from October to January. Yes I understand the benefits of QDM...but I have never bought in to whacking all the Does you can. Enjoy what you got- has not always been that way.
 

XJfire75

Senior Member
You’ve got more bucks and fawns then your camera is capturing.
Move the cameras more often and shoot a couple does if you want.
It takes a buck to make a doe so you have some somewhere around.

Yeah but I’ve got almost half of these of age does not getting bred at all.

I’ve moved cameras to every other tree I feel like haha. I’m gonna venture deeper into the thick swamp and toss a camera over a mock scrape and a few closer to the road to see what I’m missing on both tracts.
 

XJfire75

Senior Member
All of my suburban properties are over ran with does. I have plenty of does every year that don't yield any fawns. There's no way for me to manage my herds. I still have good bucks around, but the rut sucks when you have this many does. The pre-rut can be good and post rut as well. I typically have better luck rut wise in December when the un-bred does come back into heat.

That’s actually when I captured the only “mature” buck on camera. Mid December and he came through daily for about 4 days. Makes sense as I’ve got a few does that dropped mid June, July. I didn’t hunt this property las these as we were building our house on the front couple acres so I’m definitely ready to get eyes on things from a stand. I figure if I can fill the freezer here my leases that don’t have an abundance of deer will benefit from me hunting them less and taking less deer.
 

humdandy

Banned
I hunted Upson County in the early 90's. I counted 76 does feeding in a pecan orchard.....not the first buck. We had a rule against killing does....
 
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