Only does bedding on my property

Steve Bartylla

I don’t believe she moves in because he was shot. I believe she may be keeping bucks out (at least during spring and summer), but his death isn’t likely going to get her to relocate, as she is likely already where she wants to be or it’s another, more dominant matriarchal doe that’s keeping her from claiming a better area, not him. That’s my belief.
Now, I do think that doe bedding should be addressed in property management. What I do most times (there are plenty of exceptions….Heck, G2s was one in the last issue of QW) is setup multiple doe bedding sites near the food sources. Does are far more flexible than mature bucks in selecting bedding sites and it’s fairly easy to get them to bed relatively close to food. In fact, I believe they want to bed closer to food.

By giving doe groups multiple bedding options a barely safe distance from the food, I can stack them in a bit tighter and then have room to sprinkle smaller bedding sites for potential buck use behind them. It helps deal with those, “I only have does bedding on my property,” occurrences, while reducing social stress on the family groups.

I think we’re both almost saying the same thing, just taking a slightly different route in explaining it.