This is a great topic and only underscores the need for hunters to find out what their goals are, what steps need to be taken to achieve those goals, given the harvest regulations for each county. I can't count all the times I've heard people come on our place and say, "y'all need to shoot doe". That seems to be their 'pat' answer to everything without knowing squat about our population dynamics.

I agree it's on a ranch by ranch basis, but I'd be willing to bet someone around your ranch is taking plenty of doe if you're at a 2-1 buck to doe without having shot any doe in 20 years.

I don't know where you place is and ive never hunted the panhandle or more than 2 properties in west texas (kinney county) but I don't think I have ever been on a property that didn't probably need more does shot. Im sure they exist but my bet is they are an extreme minority.

Eastern Erath county. 30 acres per deer. High fenced neighbors have 3 acres per deer. You do the math. When you sit in a stand day after day and don't see doe that's a pretty strong case for not shooting one when you do see one.

Assuming the HF neighbor has heavy supplemental feeding. Is the CC of the land a deer to 30 acres? Or why don't yal have more?

just chiming in... but if anyone needs any doe taken off there place to help with herd management im your guy! Slick heads are the best eating IMO

Shooting does early helps enhance the chance of a trophy buck showing up later. Think about it like this. When you were young if you had all the girls you wanted in your front yard would you still travel from bar to bar looking for one? No you would not. Same principal applies here. If you have a heavy doe population the bucks do not have to travel to find them. Less does = more travel and more competition for said does.
having said all that I am the worst offender. I rarely take does as I am horn hunting and only eat one a year. I usually take a friend during the late season to get my quota of does although that does nothing to help the pre rut doe tally. Our Buck / doe ratio was way out of whack but over the last 3 years we have begun to bring it back in line. I am seeing a much better scenario this year. Many more pre rut rumbles between bucks than I saw last year.

Your first sentence is dead on. More competition that brings in more dominant bucks

Right if you have a heavy doe population the bucks you have stay buy you and the neighbors bucks come to you looking for some. If you shoot the does early your bucks leave and go to your neighbors.

I have friends and hunting partners who love eating venison. I enjoy the smiles on their faces when I give them deer sausage as much as I enjoy taking my legal limit of does. I trust the TPWD will set that limit at what the resource can safely provide. Anything more is just a needless debate over the value of antlers.

Now on the flip side, I can remember when the QDMA crowd first started preaching to hunters that the path to quality bucks was to shoot every doe you see. As a result, you soon found camps that were literally slaughting their doe populations. Little wonder their deer populations took a nose dive as the QDMA leaders quietly slipped into the media shadows.

If everyone in the entire Hill Country took 4 years off from shooting bucks and shot only does, the heard would benefit greatly. But that will never happen. And yes, they shoot the heck out of those 2.5 year old deer and then turn around and tell you that he was a big, old buck. "He must have been 6.5 years old"....blah, blah, blah, as they roll back to the big city in their Bro Truck, pulling their $20,000 UTVs and blaring Jason Aldean and Luke Perry.

Wife and I eat 4 or 5 doe per year. I pass on all bucks....even the older mature bucks with good racks. MLD and we have too many doe so I am happy to help. I also get to see awesome bucks.
To each his own.

And who after paying whatever for a lease is going to shoot only Does for 4 years. And those that would after paying good money for a lease and only shooting Does for 3 years lost the least. The majority of people that lease could give a rats rear end on score, age or antlers. They lease to get away. Away from what depends on the individual. Could be work, wife, kids or who knows what. But as always this only my opinion so take it as that.

In 40 years of hunting I have probably shot 5 does per 1 buck taken. Back when it was by permit only we tagged those doe first before we started hunting bucks. Hill country

I’m always a guest wherever I go and I only shoot Does and Spikes.

It's simple if you shoot a buck you have to shoot two doe before you can kill another buck....

Can't speak for anyone else but I haven't shot a buck in more than 15 years. All in all I have taken 92 deer on license and did some culling when I was stationed in VA and probably took around 200 on culling ops. I have no use for any more antlers so all I take now are does for meat. So if any of you in the Hill Country want someone to take a few does, send me a PM.

Bucks, no matter what the size is, hold no interest for me but I do love me some does in the freezer.

I agree that it depends on the ranch and situation. We are a large LF ranch. IMO killing does is one of the top management tools there is. There is only so much food available for deer. By keeping the numbers in check it is leaving more food for fewer mouths.

Exact same as if you have a pond with too many fish - they become stunted due to lack of available food - so to counter that one should cull some fish out.

We killed over 100 does last year (MLD) and around 70-80 I believe the year before that. We have a 1.5 doe to 1 buck ratio. We give the meat to the game wardens who distribute it to those in need.

Nope. I know all of our neighbors and talk to them frequently, none are shooting doe. Approximately 3000 acres total, probably no more than three deer per year taken. The reason there aren't many doe is because they used to be shot like crazy. When we bought our place it was pretty much shot out. A bunch of cousins owned 100 acres a piece. They all said the same thing, "you need to shoot does". WRONG!

I might add, just across the hwy, my friend and neighbor has 1100 acres on a major tributary of the 'Paluxy' river. He's covered in doe. My guess is they prefer riparian habitat for raising fawns. There's always something green to eat by the waters edge even during a drought.

Place was shot out years ago by people that said, "we need to shoot more doe". We're Still way below carrying capacity. Neighbors do supplemental feeding. There is no noticeable browse line. I had passed on bucks for years on the ranch I shot the 8pt. It sold. Time to kill what the old owner says I can kill. No regrets. It has nothing to do with being macho,, or having to shoot horns.
Beating a dead horse, I know.

Im sorry being shot out 20 years ago IS NOT the reason you have low deer density and a 2:1 buck to doe ratio. Our property was shot to pieces when we got it too. We ran feeders year round for over a year before we saw more than 3 identifiable different deer. In less than 3 years we have over what carrying capacity is suppose to be. There is something else keeping your deer population down and it has nothing to do with being shot out 20 years ago.

If you have young bucks or even older bucks every year, you have does. I see way more bucks than does on my place and still shoot does, even though I see very few and not many fawns. My area of the county should be at a deer to 17 acres, I am more like a deer to 7-8 acres and have been for the last 6 years since I bought this place. Buck to doe ratio back then was 1 buck per 1.88 does. By 2015 it was 1 doe per 1.4 bucks, in 2016 it was 1 doe per 2.05 bucks which I did not think was correct but that is what I saw in my blind counts. Then last year it went back to what I think is correct with a 1.12 does per buck. My problem is I hold bucks year round and they keep the does off the feeders till late season most years. This year I am not seeing many deer at all with all the rain and acorn crop. Corn is growing under feeders that were turned down to 2 seconds twice per day. I still have protein in my feeders that were last filled in late June. I shoot about 25% of the does I see every year. I still see the same amount of does each year, it is the buck numbers that have gone way up. They still run the does away from the feeders. I was hoping that buck numbers would correct themselves back down if I kept my doe numbers that same. Most of the time I still believe in the old statement....."if you are seeing does, you still have to many".