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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 4,349
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 4,349 |
I hunt in Northern VA. All the does in my area a "little does". A "big ol' dry doe" might weigh 80 pounds dressed and yet my .223 is a sub-.243 caliber and therefore not legal to hunt deer with...  Here is a 7 year old doe taken on MCB Quantico. (Jaw bone aged by the base biologist) She dressed under 60 pounds. ![[Linked Image]](https://i.imgur.com/OB2Bpt3.jpg) damn thats a old little doe
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 1,454
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 1,454 |
Shoot yeah!
Yearling doe is as good eating as you can get!
Done it several times. Me too. Best eating ones definitely. Yes, absolutely!
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 151,031
Campfire Savant
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Campfire Savant
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 151,031 |
I didn’t know there were little ones
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 69,164
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 69,164 |
For most of my hunting life I have preferred to shoot does. Specifically does with but one fawn because they are almost always < 3 years old. Once a doe reaches 4 years old around here she starts to drop twins annually. Generally, the 3 year old and younger does are much better eating. The last six years I have been working a neighborhood over population down and because of that, most of what I am killing have been the large older does that have (or had) two fawns. As I get into late December and with a tag yet to fill I will shoot younger does. Most of the does I shoot are wet. I hit one doe with my car a while back and guesstimating age by teeth and condition of the meat I guessed her at somewhere beyond ten years old. She was wet and but for the chops and tenderloins the meat was so coarse and tough she had to be almost completely grind meat.
A big fawn is my first choice, followed by a yearling (1.5 year old deer) followed by a 2.5 year old doe or a yearling buck. I shoot just for my table and make no apologies for doing it that way. Shooting fawns I get 100 lb deer and hardly affect the population since fully half of our fawns never see their first birthday. At least 80 % of my does have twins. And most studies conclude that 90 % of the twins will be one buck and one doe. And the older does are better mothers thus providing a higher fawn survival rate in the herd.
"Allways speak the truth and you will never have to remember what you said before..." Sam Houston
Texans, "We say Grace, We Say Mam, If You Don't Like it, We Don't Give a Damn!"
~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 69,591
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 69,591 |
Neal, I have a few twins this year, but not as many as I expected with the wet winter, and plenty to eat.
Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla!
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 15,882
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 15,882 |
Mama has a standing order every year...... a couple of young ones!
Old Turd- Deplorable- Unrepentant Murderer- Domestic Violent Extremist
Just "Campfire Riffraff and Trash"
This will be my last post! Flave 1/3/21
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 69,164
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 69,164 |
Neal, I have a few twins this year, but not as many as I expected with the wet winter, and plenty to eat. Yep. We SHOULD have had a great fawn crop this year. But I’m not seeing as many either. We’ve had the wettest year on record for YEARS. Plenty to eat. And the coyote population is down here too. Go figure.
"Allways speak the truth and you will never have to remember what you said before..." Sam Houston
Texans, "We say Grace, We Say Mam, If You Don't Like it, We Don't Give a Damn!"
~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 11,756
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 11,756 |
Not a small doe, but, made me remember this.
I was on a guided baited bear hunt in Mn 20 plus years ago.
Guide took me and another guy out to our stands.
He dropped off the other guy first.
The guy was shooting a semi auto Browning in 7mm mag, I was bowhunting.
Just at dark the guide picked me up. I had seen nothing.
Then we went to get the other guy.
We stopped on the road a couple hundred yards from his stand, and he opens up with that 7 mag, he shot I believe four rounds in rapid succession.
The guide says to me, let’s walk in and see what he shot.
Upon arriving at the stand, the guy was so excited he could hardly talk and he had shot a monster bear.
We cautiously followed a thirty yard blood trail, and found a very dead bear that might go 40 pounds, it was really small.
NRA Patron
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Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 16,951
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 16,951 |
I've never shot a doe. Illegal to kill here in California since the early 70's I think.
"Can't shoot the King's deer without permission, peasant"
FBS
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Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 2,450
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 2,450 |
Here is another from the same area that was 5 years old and dressed at like 52 pounds IIRC. ![[Linked Image]](https://i.imgur.com/R3OWgYDl.jpg)
Semper Fi
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 17,927
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 17,927 |
1-1/2 year old doe is good eating. Must be a Virginia thing.
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Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 2,450
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 2,450 |
1-1/2 year old doe is good eating. Must be a Virginia thing. Massive overpopulation... The 1 1/2 year old deer are about the same size. I take all the does I can fit in the freezer. You fill the first six tags and then pay $23 for another six antler-less tags. That is if you are not using State issued DMAP tags that do not count against your personal tags. We can take does in my county from the beginning of September through the end of April.
Semper Fi
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 57,474
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 57,474 |
I try to shoot the big does Actually, the big ole mature does are your best breeders. I try to leave them alone in my herds at the Ranch. We totally agree!
We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 18,033
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 18,033 |
On another board a guy was talking about using such and such cartridge to kill a Big Doe deer. I have heard about guys killing a Big Doe all my life. Makes me wonder, has anyone EVER killed a Little Doe? Doubtful.  I readily admit to having shot two that were so small they should have had collar on. Not very proud of it either.
molɔ̀ːn labé skýla
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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 20,883
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 20,883 |
Biggest Texas whitetail doe I killed weighed 187 pounds. Nearly broke me at the processing market.
"I never thought I'd live to see the day that a U.S. president would raise an army to invade his own country."
Robert E. Lee
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 12,116
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 12,116 |
I shoot the biggest doe in the bunch. If they come back, I shoot the next biggest doe. Self imposed limit of two per day. I'm lazy.
Generally process my own deer. Shot one the size of Haverluk's VA deer one time. Ended up with maybe ~10 pounds of boned out meat. Decided it wasn't worth the effort. I'm lazy. Not picking on Haverluk. Just try to stick with the larger doe's here in KY. In the last 26 years, have only shot a handful that were still wet when the KY rifle season opens in November.
As above, first time my wife tasted doe meat vs buck meat, I got strict instructions to only bring home does.
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 14,408
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 14,408 |
i always thought a 1 year old spike was mighty fine eating and never hesitated to drop when when we were allowed. the thing i hate about late season hunting is dropping a doe and then finding twin fetuses inside. kind of grosses me out. but around here thats the best way to control the population. it seems like almost every doe i see this time of year has twins and we're overrun around here because of the limited hunting area and everyone is a "bone" hunter.
My diploma is a DD214
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 31,601
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 31,601 |
Last whitetail I shot (Nov 2017) was a yearling doe. Deeelicious.
Shot with a well worn 1894 Win in 25/35 WCF.
Founder
Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison?
And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools,
Being native burghers of this desert city,
Should in their own confines with forked heads
Have their round haunches gored."
WS
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 13,939
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 13,939 |
Never have killed a doe of any size. Back when I first started deer hunting we had real short gun seasons --- 3 days in November - 3 days in December --- only one male deer with a minimum antler length was allowed a year, doe were illegal, and it stayed that way for several years. I guess some old habits are hard for me to break because when it became legal to kill doe I still didn't. One or at most two deer is all we could eat in a year anyway and even then we would sometimes have a little meat left over from the previous season.
My son has killed some does but no Big Ol' ones. He shot one once during muzzle loader season when he was about 12 - 13 years old that was so small I carried it slung over my shoulder holding it by the legs with one hand and my gun in he other hand. Didn't get more than 12 - 15 pounds of meat from it butchered. And, honestly to me it was the absolute worst tasting venison I've ever eaten.
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 15,640
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 15,640 |
You mean the ones that you can carry out of the woods by just throwing it over your shoulder like a coat? 😊
NRA Life,Endowment,Patron or Benefactor since '72.
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