Hi everyone, I was just wondering what your opinions are on shooting does that still have fawns with them. I realize that unless the fawns are very small they can survive on their own but do you think that their survival is hindered in the long run? My son (his first season) and I have multiple tags so we'd like to put one in the freezer as venison is our favorite meat. I've seen a lot of fawns this year, more than any in my thirty years of hunting so maybe we should take a fawn as David Peterson suggested in one of his previous articles in TBM. Just wondering what you all thought on this subject. Thanks
If without spots (most will be) they will be fine and simply join another doe group. My prime area has way too many does - I'm targeting the more mature does with 2 or 3 fawns this year. Want to take out the best breeders.
Steve
Go for it. They'll be fine.
ch
You just take extra arrows for the little ones. :)
If you don't take them they will starve otherwise from your post. Too many is a bad thing for the whole herd and the surrounding environment. .
We are targeting does this year on the ranch we hunt. In fact, the survey shows way too many does so the state has issued management permits to take them without using a tag.
We will be headed down that way on the 17th.
Take a doe and/or a fawn before you get to shoot a buck and your herd will be healthier.
Mike
The little ones a very tasty.
The young ones are "vealison..."
:)
I'll shoot the doe.
No matter if the
fawns have spots
or not.
Five members of our family applied for doe tags in Arkansas this year and we all got one. I don't know if that was just luck of the draw or if they are granting them to everyone who applied, but I do know we have seen lots of does/fawns this year. I don't know if it is the most we've ever seen, but it is at least as many. Buck numbers, so far, are about the same as prior years.
We have been targeting the mature does for about 3 years now. We definitely plan to thin them out this year - hopefully one of them by my longbow... :archer:
If its a dilemma shoot the fawn, or go for both. Most of the time when you shoot one you can get the other back in w/ a grunt or bleat call.
Shoot 'em if you want. I have passed when they are real early but shot both later in the year.
Thanks everyone, I think we're going try and put some prime venison in the freezer. Good luck to all and be safe. Rob and Dylan Dedrick.
I prefer to shoot the fawns, our herd is rebounding and I figure if I shoot a big doe I most likely kill 3 deer, not this years fawns but the ones she would of had in the spring. I say it is up to you, if ya shoot the big doe her fawns will most likely survive. Shawn
I will kill a fawn in a heartbeat, and have a shopping list of reasons why.
Killdeer :campfire: need a little smiling stomach-rubbing gremlin here!
Hey Shawn and Killdeer, I was at the bunny hunt this year. I came up with Lee Miller. What a blast that was.
:bigsmyl: :wavey:
Over the past few years my outlook on this decision has changed. Anymore, I let the old doe with fawn(s) walk, because I want her around to teach the kids. If she only has buck fawns with her I may well take her, as the boys are going sent packing soon anyway. My preferred doe target is the yearling (1.5 yrs) and will also take a doe fawn if I need to kill something. There is nothing better on the table.
There is a good article on this subject in a recent Deer and Deer Hunting mag. I'll see if I can find it. Here's a link: http://fw_deerhunter.permissiontv.com/index.html?showid=730731
I'm with Killdeer, I'll take a fawn first. In a bad winter up here they are the first to suffer from no food or coyotes, plus I like veal!!!!
I got a fawn hanging in the garage now. No spots but it woulda been easier to pick one if she had em. After I shot and trailed this fawn I called my son "Guess what I found in the woods? - What? - STEAKS!" I'm with Killy.
10 years ago, a freind hit a fawn on the road.
Brought it to me and I performed critical surgery on it. The loins were exquisite. And the remainder was saved for our annual feed on the smoker. Better than most any meat you can find in a meat market.
were are they getting the shots at these doe's at the brown Beaver inn. I hear you can have a hell of a time on Sat. night....the tale told the deer are just in Heaps or go down the road a pice to Cincy and the same thing occurs
The bigger deer have a better chance making it through a hard winter than a small fawn.
Wow, another missed thread.
Rob, If theres a lot of deer in your area a little herd management is in order. I wouldn't be caught dead hanging around that Miller guy.
SOB You got to come out of those Otsego County hills, Brown Beaver burnt down!
With the deer population here in southern CT you shoot the doe first, then find the doe, sit over the doe for a bit with an occasional bleat and then shoot the fawns.
Great topic folks, as it seems that it is a personal choice, I too prefer a 1 1/2 old doe, or the lone doe.
Although I enjoy venision, I sure enjoy watching em close...
I`ve heard if you shoot ol`mama doe the young bucks will stay around till there old bucks!!!
I'd probably shoot either or, depends on which one gives me a shot. But I think the fawns would be better because if I shoot one, I can have meat. But not too much to were I stop hunting.
I took a doe a couple years back thinking it was big sister, not mama. Her two little ones kept coming back to see what happened to her. Finally they left with the other doe in the group. Maybe I'm a sap, but it broke my heart-- won't do that again.
I do respect and understand the rationale of wanting to thin the herd, bring buck-to-doe ratio in balance, filling the freezer... To each their own. Good hunting!
The way my seasons been going,I think I'd take Momma and the fawns even if they had a milk mustache.
not to change the subject, but I remember reading years ago in Deer & Deer Hunting, a study that was done on the relocation of 1 1/2 year old bucks based on whether the mother doe was taken out by hunting the previous fall. Seems the general wisdom is/was that does will run their male fawns out of her territory before she fawns the following spring. Call it mother natures way of avoiding in-breeding between siblings. Anyway, if I remember the study correctly, if the mother doe is taken, the buck fawns were significantly less likely to find a new home territory, opting for staying in the area where they were raised.
For that reason and several others, I'll take a doe with fawns any time its offered to me. We can always use more bucks around home. :)
I look at that one from the other angle, Brent. I want that guy out so he isn't shagging his sisters and cousins. :eek: There will be another wandering young buck move in to take his place.
I let them walk, Don't need the meat that bad,,, but that's just me ....
I had the choice tonight. I took the doe. She was big and fat and I let the button walk.
Tenderloin, deer burger and summer sausage. Mmmmmmmm!