What Are Your Thoughts About “Doe Days”?

[TxDispatcher]

In my opinion, and I am only speaking for my experiences in Washington, Fayette and Colorado, having a 4-day 2 doe harvest is unsustainable in the long run. This was tried in 90-92, and the population was hurt severely. It has taken almost 26 years to propose doe harvest again. In the meantime, land has become more fragmented. I think it is a bad idea. I talked to the area biologist and he seems to think the impact will be minimal and I disagree. Oh well. They seem to think mandatory reporting will hold people back. I disagree. I would prefer no doe days in the counties of wash, fayette, austin and Colorado. At best a limit of 1 doe for a couple years and see if thee is an impact.

Just my two cents...

I'm thinking this is the route to take, and see what the overall impact is. I've counted 22 doe at one time in our pasture, and there isn't much hunting pressure in our area at all. But that could be because of the lack of hunters due to the no doe during rifle season restrictions. But I would hope that they would open it up slowly and take an assessment of the change in population before opening the door wide open and regretting it when it's too late

The biologist in Colorado and Austin Counties told me there was a massive overpopulation of does and he couldn’t pay people to shoot them. He’d give doe permits and they’d almost invariably end up unused. Obviously it can vary a lot property to property, but I think it’s a good idea for the most part.

I need to contact him and see about getting into the program I have a couple of kids who would enjoy getting a doe under their belt

[JeffK]

The biologist in Colorado and Austin Counties told me there was a massive overpopulation of does and he couldn’t pay people to shoot them. He’d give doe permits and they’d almost invariably end up unused. Obviously it can vary a lot property to property, but I think it’s a good idea for the most part.

Curious what are the biologist using to determine an overpopulation of does? I hope they are not using a buck to doe ratio because there is no way this can match south texas. You have one area where bucks are taken at all ages and rarely make it to 5 years old and another area that has age structure on bucks up to 7.5 and less deer being taken at a younger age. If this is to help the buck to doe ratio, remove the extra spike tag.

I usually see 20 does per sitting, but I don't consider this an overpopulation when they don't care one bit about corn. Before doe tags were handed out, I had sits where I counted over 50 does.

[gonehuntin]

Curious what are the biologist using to determine an overpopulation of does? I hope they are not using a buck to doe ratio because there is no way this can match south texas. You have one area where bucks are taken at all ages and rarely make it to 5 years old and another area that has age structure on bucks up to 7.5 and less deer being taken at a younger age. If this is to help the buck to doe ratio, remove the extra spike tag.

I usually see 20 does per sitting, but I don't consider this an overpopulation when they don't care one bit about corn. Before doe tags were handed out, I had sits where I counted over 50 does.

I would lay money its all politically driven. Just like the antler restrictions. Call Mitch Lockwood and ask him the truth behind it. He told me the antler restrictions were politically driven. He is pretty good to talk with when you can get ahold of him.

[bowmansdad]

I’m in Waller county and in my situation, I don’t think it’s a good idea. The property I hunt has at least 5 different properties adjoining it and I rarely see a 4yo buck, so letting does be shot during gun season would decimate the population. The most does I’ve seen in 2 years on TC has been 8 so the herd isn’t big at all.

[bossbowman]

Does the science support it? The main county I hunt had 2 doe days in the 1990's, first 2 days of general season, then we went to first 9 days, then all of November. Then in 2009 when the AR regs came it was all season plus 2 more weekends in January late season. No changes now for about a decade but our deer population has been on a steady but slow rise for 20 years and the land is not near as fragmented as those southeastern counties.

[Red Man]

I think the doe day issue is driven by many factors. Politics, insurance carriers, and some landowners are pushing the issue and the state biologist I talked to is not against it. This leads me to believe that the decision has pretty much been made to have doe days. JMO

[jdg13]

On big properties in areas with more deer, if there truly is an overpopulation, then the proposal makes sense. I just can't see it being good in areas like where I hunt in Colorado county where every 20 acre city rancher can bring the whole family and im stuck with 2 mld tags. Seems like a good way to reduce participation in mld and shoot out certain areas.

[SAC]

On big properties in areas with more deer, if there truly is an overpopulation, then the proposal makes sense. I just can't see it being good in areas like where I hunt in Colorado county where every 20 acre city rancher can bring the whole family and im stuck with 2 mld tags. Seems like a good way to reduce participation in mld and shoot out certain areas.

I'd be curious to see the amount of huntable acres in the county that are not MLD vs MLD land. The MLD guys have been doing their "job" for the last, what 18 years? The people who care about the county wide deer herd are on MLD. It's not difficult to join if want to.

[Tx_Wader]

In my opinion, and I am only speaking for my experiences in Washington, Fayette and Colorado, having a 4-day 2 doe harvest is unsustainable in the long run. This was tried in 90-92, and the population was hurt severely. It has taken almost 26 years to propose doe harvest again.

I'm old enough to remember when the state did this in Colorado County in the 60's and everyone that owned property were charging people to come in and shoot doe. We suffered from a lack of deer for a good long while after that on the 1800 acres we hunted.

In Jackson county north of 59 you can't take doe with a rifle unless you're MLD and get the tags and in some parts north of 59 there are a lot of doe and this would be a good deal in that area. However those who own property on the Lavaca River have a shortage of doe and bucks since the bad flood we had with Hurricane Harvey. We lost a LOT of deer.

I already told our biologist that we won't be shooting any doe this year and we didn't shoot any last year either but we got the tags anyway. Before Harvey we saw groups of doe at every stand heck just doing our survey we had more than enough doe and we'd use all of our doe tags.

We hardly see any now.

[doghouse]

Guess I'll jump in. I would love a doe only season in Mills county. All hunting season. It would hurt the people that lease their land but I think it would be good for the long run. Flame away.

[solocam_aggie]

As a hunter in Bastrop Co, I think it's a great idea.

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[brokeno]

I live and hunt in SE Gonzales county and we have very few does. I've got three does to go from one feeder to the next. Sure some areas probably need to harvest does but not here. The tpw needs to issue doe tags per the game surveys. They are just making it easy on themselves by just having doe days and during thanksgiving when they are off work. I know the meat hunters next to me would kill all the does and bring their buddies to try to kill the more. I am totally against it but as already posted their mind is made up.

[mmoses]

With you on this one as well.


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Would like it for our part of Lavaca Co.


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Why? Are you on the MLD property?

I'm not with you on this one. I'm seeing less and less deer.

[DPerez905]

We are not on mld property and we’re seeing more does every year than bucks. More does doesn’t always mean a good thing. There’s not enough bucks that come running through during rut to take care of all of them and that’s why we see atleast at our place an extended rut. I’ve seen bucks chase does in our county from September all the way to January last year. Just my two cents here but this is why I’m down for it.


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[mmoses]

We are not on mld property and we’re seeing more does every year than bucks. More does doesn’t always mean a good thing. There’s not enough bucks that come running through during rut to take care of all of them and that’s why we see atleast at our place an extended rut. I’ve seen bucks chase does in our county from September all the way to January last year. Just my two cents here but this is why I’m down for it.


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Are you seeing twice as many does as bucks or more than that? How many deer is your property holding?

Our numbers are way down. I'm seeing more does than bucks but probably 2:1.

We haven't used any of our tags. Last year the state issued 3000 doe tags and only 1100 were used.

Why arent you MLD? Sorry for all the question, just curious.