$20 a doe? Man if your DNR is ruled by commisioners it sounds like it's time to send ALL of them home and replace them with new blood. That's ludicrous, they are out to make money not manage the herd. Here in TN we used to have quota hunts (you had to apply earlier in the summer) for does and a few days each season were open too antler-less for everyone. But that wasn't even working in many counties. So a new unit was created and called "Unit L" (the L being for liberal bag limits) and beginning on the first day of rifle season you could shoot 2 does per day and in some counties you could shoot 3 does per day, each day of the season. Our gun season runs from the weekend before Thanksgiving too pretty much the second weekend of January! But even that wasn't enough so this year the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (our DNR) basically doubled the amount of counties in the Unit L and moved the 3 per date back too the opening of bowseason, which is always the last Saturday of September. So if you actually wanted to you could shoot 3 does per day, everyday from the last of September until the middle of January.
The simple fact is there are now to many deer, most southern states waited 20 years to late to begin heavy doe harvests and now we are having to play "catch up". What is really causing all this "panic" and desire to harvest ALOT of does is the insurance industry is raising cane now about all the deer/auto collisions. 15 years ago it was a rare occurance, now our numbers are beginning to approach numbers seen in heavily populated northern states. So the industry is now paying game departments to come up with ways to curtail the population and hunting is the only economically feasible way of doing that.
I doubt we'll ever really catch back up. When I began hunting 20 years ago it wasn't common but not unheard of to see a doe with twin fawns in the summer. NEVER did you see one with triplets. In the last 10 years tho practically EVERY doe has twins each summer and many have triplets. One of our places in TN is 2500 acres and is surrounded by appx another 7500 acres of either no hunting at all or limited hunting on a state owned project. So there are just TONS of deer in our area. For 10 years we have been taking 100 does per season off our place. Even that hasn't seemed to help. Just when you think you have it licked and quit taking old, mature does (4.5+ year olds) suddenly another group will move in. This year we are probably going to remove about 150 does our place (with only 5 primary hunters and a few occasional guests). Sounds fun (and for the most part it is) but that's ALOT of work and time spent shooting animals that aren't trophy bucks.
LOL in most places the bucks quit coming out in daylight after a day or two of gun season, on our place it's the opposite. By the middle of December the bucks are still running around like it's summertime because we rarely shoot any of them but culls and those over 150inches but the old bottle nosed, sway back, mature does become MUCH more weary and secretive. They will bust you quicker than just about ANY buck around. I consider it a treat to "remove" these cautious old nags. They have grown up on the place and know where just about every stand is and can pick you out from 300yds away without much problem. And I am looking forward too this year moreso than ever because I get to put down my rifle some and replace it with a video camera while my oldest son (will be 10 in a couple of weeks) will man the trigger for awhile!!!
I guess it's a "good problem" to have tho, folks we carry hunting down there still refer too it as "the zoo"!
RA
