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Deer Fetus (warning: graphic photos)

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if you want 7lbs more meat, buy it at a grocery store! 2 lbs have to be fetuses. that leaves you with 5 pounds of meat that you are trying to gain by hunting late season does, your joking right?If you need that 5 lbs that badly, hunt it during bow season. I still agree with taking more does during the early season, if the DNR doesnt change it, good luck on harvesting that 160-180, because if you never took it early, youll never take it , and if you dont want that big buck,continue to take those late season does that have been bred by your dominate buck. because those genetics have been harvested.(by you)That just increased my odds next yr of shooting a bigger buck, because, i dont harvest those late season does, and you , well, youve just thinned your buck heard even more.im all for managing the heard, i just beleive they should be taken early if you have a over abundence of does , why take one out that may be carrying, your dominate bucks genes?With tat being said, she may not be carrying the dominate bucks genes, maybe his from last yr, are you willing to give that up?
 
I hunt late season pretty hard, and this year had around 75-80 doe's come out along with 15-20 young bucks. I'm pretty sure that the ones that we shot is not going to affect the buck populations next year (this is off of 2000 acres).

There is a whole lot more involved than just harvesting a doe late season. I don't understand that thinking that by killing the doe's early season, you are saving a buck for next year? If the doe is dead, she's not going to be bred by the dominant buck.

So if she is bred by the dominant buck, what happens when she had twin doe's? Then you have 3 doe's the next year. I don't understand.

Maybe I'm just in a high deer density location, I could kill 50 doe's a year and still wouldn't stay ahead of the breeding cycle.
 
I shot a doe in late December a few years back. She was carrying a single fetus, a male, that I saved in a jar of formaldihyde. I let the kids in my family take it to their high school biology classes from time to time. I was a little soured about shooting a doe late season for a while after that but I guess that's all part of it.

About four years later I went the entire season without a buck. I guess the deer gods evened the score. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
I am with Nanny in that I am in a high deer density area. I kill does in every season. It would be impossible for me to kill all the does that I need to kill in the early season. Myself and a couple friends harvested 40 does during bow season, 29 during second gun, and 13 during late muzzy all off of one farm. If you have a high deer population it doesn't matter what that doe is carrying in her uterus you need to harvest her. If you don't harvest her there will be too much stress on the bucks that are already on your property for them to stick around. IMO a lot of big bucks don't like the social stress of being in an overpopulated herd year round and therefore won't live there year round. So if you don't take enough does in the early season and just stop taking them because they may be bred by a giant buck you may actually be pushing that buck off the ground after the rut is over by not shooting enough does. Then when it comes to nutrition and food on my farm I look at it kind of like I look at my cow herd. You can only fit so many cows in a pasture...and when they run out of grass you better hope the electric fence is working well or you will show up to check on them one day and they won't be there. The deer population is the same way. In my situation I need to take as many does as possible and to me it doesn't matter what season it is in. I personally don't mind all of the seasons we have for does because of all the opportunities it gives me to keep my population in check.
 
nanny,
i do agree with you on harvesting does in a heavely populated area , yes , those need thinned out. what im saying is ,if i have a abundance of does, i would rather take them out before their bred, let buddies come in and hunt or whatever, because the dominate buck has already bred more than one doe to keep his genetics going.i like to take all the does i can before their bred,the surviving ones will be bred by the dominate, im thinking.your right, trying to stay ahead of the breeding cycle is tough, but if you have a abundance of does on private ground, they need taken out, if not , they just keep multiplying,the dominate buck will breed the leftovers to keep the genetics going. lets say , you hunt a small area of ground, with hardly any does, and you shoot the ones that are left during late season. some you harvested were bred by the dominate buck, whats left?i do agree , its tough on managing a herd, my thought is , if you can take as many does out before breeding season, the ones left will get bred by a decent buck, and go with it. every plot of ground is different, i know, its a life cycle, i know, but still knowing , if i shot a late season doe, and feild dressed her, and found 2 small bucks inside her, that would disturb me. even though, i know thats a life cycle, i would always wonder what they could have grown up to be , on the land im hunting on, weird , i know, just my opinion. i appreciate your thoughts nannny, they to are valid. makes me think twice about management. Happy hunting
 
I think a better point to this conversation would be evaluating WHEN these does were bred based on fetus development. Anyone have any insight as to the growth progression of a deer fetus. Might really be the ticket to figuring out when the peak breading occurred this season and if it supports or refutes long held theories on the rut.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">if you want 7lbs more meat, buy it at a grocery store!</div></div>
For the cost of that 7lbs of meat at the grocery store, I could buy another tag instead and get 30+lbs of meat.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">your joking right?If you need that 5 lbs that badly, hunt it during bow season. I still agree with taking more does during the early season</div></div>
I try to be a curteous hunter and preserve future big bucks for you guys who hunt them, but to tell me that I need to go bow hunt just to make sure the dominant bucks genes get spread makes me return your question, your joking right? #1 I have no desire to hunt with a bow, #2 I have a busy schedule that time of year and have no time to fill tags, and #3 Whitetail hunting is not ONLY about the big buck.
 
Greg,
Youre right,Whitetail Hunting is not all about the big Buck, but it is to some of us, I could care less about the meat,pure enjoyment of being outdoors and what we see means more to me than filling my freezer.I opologize. When i read your previous posts, i thought you were referring to gaining 7 lbs of meat by taking a late season doe with fetuses inside her....? what makes shooting a late doe going to gain anyone 7 lbs of meat?you may take a first yr doe late season instead of a mature doe, are you going to gain 7 pounds by that harvest? Can anyone honestly say their going to get 32 lbs of meat by taking a late doe verses 25 lbs an early doe? maybe if its what Jim roam says, shes putting on FAT, what, FAT,FAT, 1460 KXNO AM 11am-2 PM. I respect that you are a sportsman, i never said you had to Bow Hunt, i said , early season, have you ever tried early muzzel loader season? the does praobly weigh more before getting chased during the rut. Our jobs are proably similar, im a retail mgr, and you find the the time to do what you enjoy, you have to because were on call 24-7 . Greg, every sportsman have their views, i respect yours , i just felt that some on this post were making a joke out of taking a doe that held fetuses, was i wrong?
That disturbed me ,If i was wrong, i stand corrected, im glad You hold a passion for Our sport.
respctfully, IBWBGBKS.
 
Rackaddict,
my cousins a DNR Officer in Iowa, i need to call him to clarify some things.I always heard(thought) regardless of moonphase, the does always came into peak Rut the 7 th of Nov thru - the 14 th. in IA. then the second period for the late season yearlings was late December, and that there was a 6 month growing cycle which the mature does would give Birth in early May, the latter, would be the end of June , first of July. I realize cold snaps get Bucks moving but as far as does being receptive, no, they remain on their cycle.They will not let the Bucks breed them til that magic 7 - 10 day period. any insight you can bring would be helpful also.
 
BWBGBKS, thank you, I respect your response. I might try early Muzzy for 2009, I didn't know about the quota on those licenses so I missed out this year. I do however like to hunt after there is snow on the ground. I like being out in the extreeme cold. October & November is a very busy time for me harvesting Fish before the ponds freeze.

As for the weight of the does, I always weight the packages of deer meat for each deer after I butcher them. I could swear that I was getting more meat out of the deer that I took late season than I did for say early season. My dad raises goats, he says that could just have to do with when they were born too. So I would say those extra pounds I am seeing are just variations in deer themselves and not real growth.
 
Greg,
in late season, the does and bucks will go on a feeding spree, when its this bitterly cold , they need to bulk up. not saying that shooting a late season deer wont weigh more, just saying alot of that weight will be fat as they will build on that and their bodies use that to survive on during the winter.Greg, your right about about every Deer having a variation,(like a goat) thats genetics talking. But usally after the rut , the does have been ran around and have lost weight as much as the Bucks have, my advise ,if your a meat hunter, and not looking for antlers, take the biggest doe you see. I hunt late season also Greg but , i hunt Bucks, im like you , i must enjoy it to be hunting in those cold extremes, but, i hunt for meat early, then its antler time after that.you do see lots of large groups of deer late season which does make it fun.
Im with you, i love to fish, and fish hard during the summer, cant beat a great crappie fillet!, when im out, i hit the ice in my hut with my heater , you just cant beat it.Greg,everyone has opinions on these topics, i just appreciate your passsion for the sports we love, thats what keeps us doing what we do, does it get any better than that?getting back to early muzzy, you can buy that, startes early october, no limit if i recall. cant wait for spring, big gobblers are waiting , and so are the mushrooms.
 
Sooooo, when I'm driving down the road post rut and I see several does in the road, which one should I hit to preserve the superior genetic buck fetus that the other does may, or may not, be carrying? Or should I swerve into the ditch and endanger my life to preserve the mega buck potential of the hunter who created the sanctuary?

OK, this doesn’t have any bearing on the thread, well maybe some, but I haven’t made any smart butt comments in a minute or two and I couldn’t resist.

The ‘Bonker
 
Youre a nurse right, your job is to preserve life, right, What are you going to do?I would hope you would stop, save yourself, so you can keep saving other human beings and keep doing what you were trained to do.my sanctuary doesnt mean squat comparied to what you do.respectfully. Ibwbgbks.
 
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