Aging Does

Going to do a little MLD doe patrol for our first time ever down South next week, rancher wants does to be at least three. Bucks get that nose and kind of sagging rump and brisket, any specific characteristics on a doe besides overall body size that say I am mature?

When I am told to shoot doe's I wait until there are a decent amount out and shoot the biggest one, or the one that is snorting at me.

Always shoot the one that is in front of you.

Just like bucks...sagging belly and swayback.

This is what I do as well.


Unfortunately at this point in the year, a bred doe will have a sagging belly and is harder to judge (at least for me).

Shoot the does that have fawns as they will be at least 2.5 yr old in most cases. If they don't have a fawn then they will likely be 1.5 yr old or just not good at raising fawns. Look at color of hair on face and then on the tail...the older does will be grey faced/ears and tail. Look at the skin on the face and jawline for sagging. Lot of older does in South Texas will get droopy-ear also. Then if you have several does out, just compare the body size and shape for age.

Your right, that was my mistake for saying that. I was thinking about the beginning of the season, not the end.

Not so much in South Texas as the rut started in mid to late December, many areas they were still chasing and rutting into Jan.

The ones with the long heads are the old ones. We always called them horse heads.

And we will be South, Del Rio, Pecos area. Thanks for the good information, looking forward to filling the freezer.

One more question, how do you feel about .243 for does? I shoot 30.06 most of the time but that seems maybe over doing it to the point of wasting meat for does.

Are your does significantly different than your bucks? To put it another way, why would calibers differ by gender. You may want your buck to drop on the spot, and I would say you want the same for your does. If .243 does it for does, then why would you use something different for bucks. Vice versa with 30-06.

Put the bullet where it needs to be and any legal caliber is fine. I have killed does with a .223 and I put the bullet where it needed to be.

This is what I try to do for shot placement every time.

Not to be contrarian, but it makes no sense to me to search out the older does. It seems to me that they are the experienced mommas that are more likely to produce twins and more likely to have their fawns survive. For me, when it's time to shoot does I go by the rule "see a doe, shoot a doe".

I would have thought the same thing but on this particular place from what I understand it is all about reducing the number of mouths. Shooting older does means you are likely taking out 2-3 mouths with one shot. We are guests so just going to do what the ranch manager asks us to while filling our freezers.

Exactly what you want to do when you have to many does. Take out the older does that will produce the most fawns leaving the younger ones to produce one healthy fawn, most of the time. That slows down the growth of the herd to allow for success of the management goals. By leaving younger does or does that did not produce you are allowing them a chance to produce an offspring to carry on the genetics that have. IMO if the management plan is working then the younger deer are more valuable than the older deer.

This. If you've been working your herd hard, the hope is that the younger deer are a product of your bucks with better genetics.

I call them "Big Bird" but "Horse Head" is a good one too!

You're right. I should have clarified my location. We primarily hunt Freestone Co. Dad shot a doe last weekend and she was very heavily bred. We typically will see our first rut a little prior to Halloween then our main rut is generally Thanksgiving timeframe. We may get a few that come in in late December/early January, but it's not super common from what we've seen.

I dont concern myself at all with weather they are bread or not. As a general rule 100% of does capable of having a fawn will be bread. To me it doesnt matter if you kill that bread doe in the beginning of the season or the end of the season. You have no way of knowing what buck bread what doe and if it will even matter what buck bread what doe.

For picking a doe i always look for the biggest one, they usually have a long head, who ever said horse head above nailed it to me.

An old doe will look like she has a long head. Oldest doe I have killed also was skinny, missing teeth, and had loose skin on her face. Biologist looked at her and said 9 or 10 years old.

Worrying about if a doe is pregnant or not, is a moot point to me, shoot one after she is bred and she will be pregnant even if the fetus is too small to find or well developed 2+ months later.

When shooting them you are best off shooting them during bow season if that bothers you. I like to get does during bow season that do not have small ones hanging around them take a potential non productive one from the herd. The place I hunt on in Eastland county I have seen does being bred as early as the second week of October and rut seems to peak about the last week of Oct or first of Nov.

If it is where I can pick it will be the largest one most of the time or if the largest one looks a little thin like is the case often I will opt for one that is fat and slick. I shoot does for the meat.

We killed a couple does this past Saturday, one did not look like she had ever been bred and out weighed the other one by at least 20 lbs some of which was fat, she had a good layer of fat.

At the start of the 2019 season I had a set of baby twin fawns with spots that didn't fade away until later in the season. I think they were born early to mid October...

Not uncommon in a lot of areas though. Areas with bad buck to doe ratios can see late born fawns also. A doe fawn gets large enough and born early enough that first year and they can breed in Jan-March. Here is a late born fawn in early November in Colorado county. I am 99% sure it was born to a doe fawn though.

When I hunted doe patrol down south I was told to shoot the mother doe first then the fawn. Also agree with the longer face as an easy way to identify an older doe

The oldest does blow more. Let the air out of those. It's absolutely worth targeting those old biddies...

The blow stomp is annoying for sure!

Good luck filling the freezer, doe are mighty fine table fair.

I look for the biggest doe, it there is a group of deer. I think the only route (if you want an invite back) is to do what the rancher says. However, I also think this can be over thought. For example, an old doe may already be at deaths door. A doe fawn may live a full life span. IMO, if there are excess does, everyone gone makes a difference.

I always pick the biggest of several at the feeder.
If it’s not a yearling a doe is a doe if that’s the mission.

If you are trying to improve your Deer population by keeping certain types of Bucks then shooting the oldest Does each year will help in your quest. But if not then just shooting Does of any age does not matter.

Great read. And I have stored the original and all links, for future intake. I agree with everything said, and learned some too.

I have shot old does that were tough. I shoot mature does but not necessarily the biggest/oldest. I have not eaten any meat off this one yet. I mark all my meat when I vacuum pack so I know which deer it was. Also pull jaw bones on most.

other than fawns any dead doe is a good doe - we shoot 50-100 each year (unless it is severe drought) - so we do not get picky. If there are multiple does standing out there I shoot the biggest one and move on - best management tool we hunters have IMO- unlike cull and management bucks, shooting a doe is never a mistake ........... it is all about taking out mouths that eat the food that the bucks need to grow - there is X amount of food to eat period.

So eliminating Doe numbers leaves much more food to eat for those that count - BUCKS. More food equals bigger horns - pretty simple if you think about it

'Inspires me to keep pulling the trigger. 4 more to go to fill my MLD quota. What do y'all do with 50 to 100 does? I assume donate, but to where? I've worked out an arrangement to donate, but it's still, most of the time, $30.00 each. PM me, if you'd rather not post it. Thanks!

great question. Other than the ones our members keep we donate to the Game Wardens who take them to needy families. We call them and they roll into camp to pick up. And they are very grateful.

Our Landowner also takes a lot of them to donate to needy families - nothing gets wasted ever

So if we shoot a doe all we do is gut it, tag it, fill out the transport paperwork, put it into our cooler, and they get picked up

Thanks! I've met the GW folks filling in out here (the position is currently open), but I didn't get their cards and didn't think to ask. I will try to contact them. I also heard the Menard county Sherriff's department might do the same. There are plenty of people in need out here; it's pretty obvious.

Our game wardens and border patrol are on speed dial! lol

We were very successful and have 11 nice does in coolers which we will be cutting and packaging this evening. Thank you everyone for the information, this harvest, (I would not really call it hunting) was a very unique experience for me. The land owner and manager are obviously really good at what they do, it was a target rich environment to say the least. We usually hunt in Denton County and do well to keep a few does around and to see a couple of legal bucks each year on our place. We are very grateful for the meat and our families as well as others we know from church will benefit huge from this experience. Just a thought, if you need to cull a lot of does each year, In addition to local Game Wardens, contacting local church leaders wherever you are will probably help you find families in need. Youth and/or Wounded Warrior type hunts would also be good and nobel ways to cull does if you have a heart for service like that. Anyway, great experience with one young man getting to take his first, second, and third deer grin: Looking forward to some delicious meals!