The effects of hunting on deer populations remain a hotly debated issue. Although the detrimental effects of excessive buck harvesting are frequently addressed by those concerned with quality deer management, seldom do managers or hunters question the advisability of heavy doe exploitation.
An essential part of successful deer herd management is an adequate harvest of antlerless deer, particularly adult does. Unless natural mortality is excessive, the cropping of female deer helps maintain a healthy deer population, below range carrying capacity, in balance with available food and cover resources.
On the flip side, some scientists contend that killing too many mature does tends to remove the prime-age social leaders and disrupts the whitetail’s adaptive social system.
Will a heavy harvest of these so-called “social governors” disrupt the whitetail’s complex social organization, change deer behavior, and produce biological and genetic consequences, as some claim?
Can we really kill too many does?
Scientists have explored some of these questions, and new research techniques are now providing some interesting answers.
RATIONALE — THE MATRILINE
The basic social organization in female whitetails is matrilineal, consisting of a family group comprised of a matriarch doe, several generations of her daughters, and their fawns. Several such genetically related families share common range and associate seasonally as a cohesive clan.
In such societies, close associations between mothers, daughters, and other female relatives are maintained into adulthood. This assures that young individuals learn the location of food, water, cover, and potential dangers. For example, some deer have learned to migrate 50 miles or more between their summer and winter ranges, in order to survive harsh northern winters.
In natural (unhunted) populations, the young and very old females normally suffer the greatest mortality. Does that survive to maturity commonly exhibit high
