Alright you MT R doe killers, fess up.

mtmiller

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How many doe tags (deer) do you get every year?

Me first.

Last year two muley does and one whitey. Freezer was fine, so ate three tags instead. If I needed the meat I would have killed one or two, but I have a private landowner friend that will accommodate.
 
I usually make a donation in the form of one of the Missoula/Root private land only WT doe tags in case I ever get bored enough to go sit around a BMA over here. Have never made a serious go at filling one. I also make another annual donation in the form of a region-wide WT doe tag for either R3 or R4. If I’m spending time east of the divide it’s usually in mule deer terrain so I haven’t ever filled one of those.

That said, if anyone in R2 has some land in an OTC doe unit and some pesky whitetails hanging around feel free to give me a shout.
 
Two whitetail tags this last season, one OTC and one drawn. Wound up shooting two elk and a buck my first two weekends of hunting, never attempted to hunt the doe tags. Last year, my true self shone a little brighter and I struck out on elk, so I filled two whitetail doe tags to get through the year on meat.
 
Usually buy what I can this year they changed the system into some stupid draw then after that another draw where you could buy more
 
I have not pursued a mule deer doe tag in years, and I don't think I will again. Just not worth it, though in my youth I probably shot one a year..

Every year I purchase the single region b tag for whitetail. Last year I also drew a whitetail doe permit. So I shot two whitetail does. I'll probably continue to pursue whitetail does annually.


Why in my mind, are whitetail does more acceptable to kill than mule deer does? I definitely like the meat better. They definitely seem more respectable a quarry. And unlike mule deer, there are more whitetail in the places I hunt than any previous time in my life. All of that, may very well be post hoc rationalization.
 
I don't doe hunt for mule deer does. The last one I shot was 2012.

In 2022, I killed 4 whitetail does. I actually only bought 2 tags. All on private lands that were attempting to reduce the number of deer. 2 were considered "urban/nuisance deer" taken with archery equipment. Of the 4, 2 tested positive for CWD in the known CWD hotspot and FWP reinstated my tags.
 
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I usually get a handfull of doe tags when I go back region 6. This pst season I was crunched with time, bad weather and a half broken rig. Didnt see but one muley doe….
 
I buy the R3 and 1:5 of the R309,311,312 tags every year. Last year I ate both tags.

I like to take one WT buck and one WT doe every season, if possible. Last season my wife and I shot our bucks 12 hours apart so I had no time or reason to go after a doe.
 
I like shooting whitetail does with blackpowder. Sometimes for fun, sometimes when I need meat, sometimes not at all. Haven't shot a muley doe in almost 30 years.
 
I killed a few when I was young. Didn’t really know the cards they had stacked against them. I haven’t for 20 years and won’t. Reminds me of my last cow elk tag I claimed if it’s walking down a two track I will shoot it, the guy hunting with me said there is a cow and calf walking down a two track track you better shoot it. I didn’t.
 
I apply for the same Mule Deer B tag each year in a R3 hunt district. I figure the years I get it, there'll be at least one more doe that I can keep on the landscape for another year. Sort of an "adopt a deer" type thing.
It’s not going to work like that. They are screwed.
 
I smoked one back in college. I was starving to death. Last minute of the last day A tag. It was a dream come true. That was back in 2002. I had never shot one before that and never shot one since. But if someone buys the tag and needs the meat I’m not here to judge.
 
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