Family-dude,
I think most of the ol'timers were conservationists by nature so shooting a doe would only cut into their future food supply & secondly they wanted all the meat they could get with their tag a big body buck gave them the most smackin for the $5- tag fee.
In speaking with gramps & other old timers they got a kick out of folks (like most MM'ers) that got a hard/on over horns. Specially the type who couldn't wait to pull out there tape measurer on an animal to get B&C numbers, they had appreciated a large set of antlers, but what gave them wood was 250 lbs of food for the winter. Not setting around stroking a set of antlers.