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As
hunters, we need to remember that we are one of the main tools of good
deer management. When deer populations begin to explode beyond the
carrying capacity of the land or deer begin to adapt and invade into
suburban areas many different kinds of control methods are tried such as
live capture and relocation and birth control (which involves live
capture).
Of all
the different methods tried by private and government agencies none
works as well as regulated hunting.
Whitetail
deer populations around the country are exploding due to many factors.
Population increases are causing cities to expand into the rural country
that once was the domain of the whitetail. The exceptional adaptability
of the whitetail itself is a contributing factor. They are capable of
living anywhere there is a food source. And while I have a problem
believing that any animal except a border collie is truly smart,
whitetails are very wise and able to react well under pressure. They are
able to find a chink in an environment and exploit it. Urban areas offer
no hunting pressure and plenty of food. We humans plant delicious
gardens and flowers that they see as an opportunity. Whitetails have
proven their ability to expand the population to consume a food source.
Hunters
are used to control the deer population. Anyone that thinks that a
bullet or broadhead is a terrible way to die has never seen an animal
starve to death.
The key
to population control in whitetails is the doe harvest. A whitetail buck
can sire only as many offspring as there are does. In a practical
example, let’s look at a herd of cows. If you had a herd of cows that
numbered ten head and twenty bulls, more than likely you would get ten
calves. The number of females determines the number of offspring. In a
herd of cows that numbered twenty-five females and one bull, you could
expect twenty-five calves.
In the
deer herd, in order to control the population, we must control the does.
A doe will come into heat as many times as it takes to conceive a fawn
until the day length changes enough to stop her reproductive tract. More
than likely, she will get bred by a buck and give birth to a fawn.
It has
been stated in more than one article that does must be controlled in
order to control the deer population. I think every hunter now days
knows that fact.
When we
were young and deer populations were lower than they are now, we were
all taught that it was bad to kill a doe because they were the ones that
would repopulate the woods. I guess it was almost impossible to imagine
deer numbers increasing to the point where it was detrimental to the
deer herd. The whitetail was tougher than we thought.
I have
hunted many times with people that thought the taking of a doe was
something to be ashamed of. Does were reserved for children that had
never taken a deer. Does were reserved for a three day orgy of shooting
right around Christmas. Does were sacred.
Back in
those days we were supposed to kill any spike buck that we saw and leave
the does alone.
Now days,
we have a better knowledge of the dynamics of our deer herds, antler
development as it relates to age and nutrition and land management.
The whole
point is, harvesting does is very important to the big picture. So
important that many trophy-managed clubs require that hunters harvest a
certain number of does before they can even think about harvesting a
buck. In the past a doe is what you had to settle for when you couldn’t
kill a buck. Bowhunters were allowed to take antlerless deer because it
was considered they were at such a disadvantage they should be allowed
to shoot any deer they wanted. Most bow hunters will tell you, killing a
doe is just as hard as killing a buck and they weren’t doing them any
favors. Unfortunately there are no Boone & Crockett does.
If you
are affiliated with a hunting club or have your own hunting lease or
whatever, let’s put some pride in harvesting does. Have a contest for
the heaviest doe, the oldest doe or whatever.
I
harvested a doe on my place several years ago that I hunted for two
months. Very quickly, I knew her more by hearing than by sight. She was
one of these does that snorted at everything. You could tell when she
was out in the pasture because if you went outside and slammed the door,
she ran off snorting at the top of her lungs. If you were outside and
you cleared your throat, she snorted and ran off. Anything that
happened, you could bet that that old doe would hear it and take off
snorting. She even snorted at me one August afternoon when we were
picking muscadines. I guess she had plans on harvesting a few on her own
and I got in her way.
We had a
good-sized buck living in our area and I always had hopes of getting
him. It was impossible with this old girl around. I have seen her in the
food plot watching and waiting on a razor’s edge of nerves. She would
snort and run from anything. I once saw a mocking bird scare her off of
a food plot. I watched her for 3 years and when I noticed that she never
produced a set of twins I decided that it was time for her to go. It
took a solid month to get her.
This doe
was as wise and crafty as a mature buck. She would show up at the food
plot when it was so dark you could barely see her. There were times when
the wind blew from the west and carried your scent away from the
transition area the deer used to come into my plot, only twice did it
happen there and both times, she managed to slip around me and approach
from the downwind side, she busted me both times. One time I actually
had her in my sights but it was really close to being too dark and I
knew that if she didn’t drop right where she was I would never find
her. She would stand on the edge of the woods and stare into the tree
just daring you to move while other deer were coming into the plot. You
knew that if you moved she would snort and there would soon be no
deer in the plot.
Finally,
I harvested her and she was, as my dad used to say, as old as Dick’s
hatband.
She was
as tough to take as any deer I have ever hunted. Since then, I have
never been ashamed or felt like I was taking a second-class deer just
because it doesn’t have a set of horns on its head. Besides, venison
from a doe is darn good eating and once again, as my dad used to say,
"Them horns make mighty thin gravy."
Ralph
Ricks is the manager of Quality Cooperative, Inc. in Greenville. |
