My first deer (taken in 1966) was a doe. It was taken on a ranch in south-central Montana where the rancher had frowned on anybody taking does for many years. Like many ranchers, he equated doe-killing to sending his productive Hereford cows to the slaughterhouse. Consequently on a normal hunting day you'd see 100 skinheads and one or two forkhorn bucks. He finally started letting people shoot ONE doe (two tags could be purchased) about the time I started hunting there.
I may only shoot does this year here in Montana. Last year I did, because I never saw a buck that really qualified, passing up a 170-175 mule deer and a 135-140 whitetail. Neither was an exceptional buck, so why kill them? I have plenty of antlers hanging around the place, both on mounted heads and the rafters of the garage.
Even when deer are down in some parts of Montana, there are always places that have plenty of does. It makes more sense to take them than shoot a buck that may grow up to be a truly big buck. But a lot of people still whack the first 2-1/2 year old buck they see, when there's a big doe standing right next to it.
