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DeerCamp said:
Removing 30 does represents 600 acres of deer based on avg deer density in Tennessee. In a similar situation, you may have negatively affected hunting for your neighbors who have different goals than you considering you only had 150 acres to work with.

Those 30 does (@1.8 offspring) represented roughly 325 potential future deer removed from the population over a 3 year period.

Lastly, of course you saw more bucks for several years after - you created a serious breeding vacuum. That doesn't mean it was a healthy choice for the deer herd (but maybe it was!).


I'm not criticizing your choice. Just offering some answers to your questions since you asked "why not?". You certainly killed more deer than could be accounted for by your 150 acres, with potentially unknown consequences to herd stability, neighbors' experiences and breeding competition for local bucks.

To reiterate, I'm not criticizing your choices.
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Really? Nope it got better for all of us. Actually, until "civilazation, schools, subdivisions, apartments, etc." took over, we hammered the does every few years, only mommas, only mature does, the neighbors around us to, and we all had the best hunting ever. Saw the best ruts, killed the best bucks we ever had, it was awesome. Once land development took over, it ended.
 
Headhunter said:
Really? Nope it got better for all of us. Actually, until "civilazation, schools, subdivisions, apartments, etc." took over, we hammered the does every few years, only mommas, only mature does, the neighbors around us to, and we all had the best hunting ever. Saw the best ruts, killed the best bucks we ever had, it was awesome. Once land development took over, it ended.
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Great. Again, wasn't criticizing. You asked "why not" and I provided some potential reasoning.

For certain, if everybody shot 30 does off 150 acres (which isn't even possible) then it would be very detrimental. Glad it worked out for you.
 
mike243 said:
W

Why should a farmer lose a crop just to support deer hunters on nearby properties? 100+ deer hitting a crop field every day will end up being lost $ to the farmer and lost produce to all the rest of us, I wouldn't care if they had to shoot 100 a night to stop it, at some point fences that are deer proof are the only solution, are you going to pay for them or pay 1/2? With property for farming shrinking and our population rising every year at some point it will be critical for every harvest to be maximized.
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I am a farmer and know what damage I'd being done. It doesn't give me right to ride roads at night shooting them wherever I find one. In my area it's turned into a sport for farmers dons
 
Headhunter said:
Really? Nope it got better for all of us. Actually, until "civilazation, schools, subdivisions, apartments, etc." took over, we hammered the does every few years, only mommas, only mature does, the neighbors around us to, and we all had the best hunting ever. Saw the best ruts, killed the best bucks we ever had, it was awesome. Once land development took over, it ended.
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Maybe it was the land development and not the taking of all the does that ended the great rut action/big bucks you were seeing? I know where I hunt it is becoming very urbanized and the more development taking place the harder it gets to see deer in the general area, and my deer taking strategy has not changed. I have also noticed in the last few years since nearby neighbors have cut down more woods and built houses, wedding venues, camps/retreats, etc it has actually led to more does coming onto our place because we have about the only big hardwoods/sanctuary area left anywhere around us. I actually killed my biggest buck last year and I think it was partially because of all the good habitat around us being removed. The does have found refuge on our property more than I can ever remember and during the rut, if you got does, you got the big boys too! Is this good for my hunting for the short term? Yes! Is it good for the deer to not have as much good habitat around? No, it's not and just keeps getting worse.
 
East TN Bowhunter said:
Maybe it was the land development and not the taking of all the does that ended the great rut action/big bucks you were seeing? I know where I hunt it is becoming very urbanized and the more development taking place the harder it gets to see deer in the general area, and my deer taking strategy has not changed. I have also noticed in the last few years since nearby neighbors have cut down more woods and built houses, wedding venues, camps/retreats, etc it has actually led to more does coming onto our place because we have about the only big hardwoods/sanctuary area left anywhere around us. I actually killed my biggest buck last year and I think it was partially because of all the good habitat around us being removed. The does have found refuge on our property more than I can ever remember and during the rut, if you got does, you got the big boys too! Is this good for my hunting for the short term? Yes! Is it good for the deer to not have as much good habitat around? No, it's not and just keeps getting worse.
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That is what I was saying, development ruined the hunting.
 
mike243 said:
W

Why should a farmer lose a crop just to support deer hunters on nearby properties? 100+ deer hitting a crop field every day will end up being lost $ to the farmer and lost produce to all the rest of us, I wouldn't care if they had to shoot 100 a night to stop it, at some point fences that are deer proof are the only solution, are you going to pay for them or pay 1/2? With property for farming shrinking and our population rising every year at some point it will be critical for every harvest to be maximized.
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I agree completely. Farmers keeping the land productive is most important.
 
killingtime 41 said:
And 2 with a muzzloader. It will be devastating for most areas I hunt.
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killingtime 41 said:
And 2 with a muzzloader. It will be devastating for most areas I hunt.
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With CWD slowly spreading I suspect they want to bring the herd numbers down to further slow the disease, I will throw this out there that when they get the numbers down they will drop to a 1 buck limit due to the decreased numbers, some folks want that to put a trophy behind every tree, I'm afraid those days will never happen as the 2 limit didn't change anything as far as I can see.
 

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