Doe or fawn?

[Zizzer59]

Ok so I ran into this problem the last day of gun season last year and I know plenty of other people who have too. If your sitting in the stand and a doe walks out with two yearlings, which do you shoot? On one hand, you take the doe and the yearlings run off and try to survive until they get adopted or take a yearling. I guess I just over think some things lol

[Scbasshunter]

Doe or fawn?

Doe.

[wtnhunt]

Here I am taking neither. I have never and would not kill a fawn. Got kids hunting that would be tickled to kill a doe. Besides that come pre rut does are the best live bait to draw in bucks and with our liberal limits too many does are getting whacked.

[Rhino]

Let's see...assuming you were hunting in MO where you're located, that would have happened on Nov. 20th last year. At that point the fawns are ~6 months old. They're more than old enough to survive on their own by then with no problem. Matter of fact, bucks are breeding some fawn does during the 2nd estrus period in Dec. there.

Like William, I'm not going to intentionally shoot fawns for any reason. I'm not saying it's wrong for anybody but I'm not going to shoot one on purpose and risk making a mistake and shoot a button buck. That doe is fair game now with fawns that old so given the options, she would be the one adding meat to the freezer.

[Strut10]

Doe.

Like Al said............ and even by the opener here in PA............. fawns are plenty capable of surviving on their own. So for me, it's Economics 101. The butcher charges the same to skin, cut and wrap a 130 pound mule as he does for a 60 pound butterball. Price per pound, baby. Price per pound.

[Scbasshunter]

Doe or fawn?

I've been told before that if a doe is giving birth to twins that she needs to be taken out of the herd to stop the overpopulation. This statement could be completely wrong but it's what was told to me when I shot my first deer. It was a doe with 2 fawns. I thought I was in trouble for shooting a doe with babies (they no longer had spots) but I was told that it was ok because of the giving birth to twins thing.

[wtnhunt]

I've been told before that if a doe is giving birth to twins that she needs to be taken out of the herd to stop the overpopulation. This statement could be completely wrong but it's what was told to me when I shot my first deer. It was a doe with 2 fawns. I thought I was in trouble for shooting a doe with babies (they no longer had spots) but I was told that it was ok because of the giving birth to twins thing.

Someone has told you some bad advice and probably just tried to make you feel good after you orphaned the fawns. The fawns were probably fine by the point they got out of spots. Most mature does will give birth to twins or even sometimes triplets, we want those does around, keeps a healthy herd to have healthy does. It is the old does that are dry or are no longer having twins that you want to whack. Predation in many places helps keeps the balance and some places states implement liberal limits to help keep the doe numbers in check, that can have a negative impact too though. Unless you are in an area where there is a very low carrying capacity and high deer density or where there are hard winters I don't see where such doe management strategies would be a very good idea to "taken out of the herd to stop the overpopulation". Good way to deplete the population by taking out as many mature does as you can.

[dbHunterNY]

Someone has told you some bad advice and probably just tried to make you feel good after you orphaned the fawns. The fawns were probably fine by the point they got out of spots. Most mature does will give birth to twins or even sometimes triplets, we want those does around, keeps a healthy herd to have healthy does. It is the old does that are dry or are no longer having twins that you want to whack. Predation in many places helps keeps the balance and some places states implement liberal limits to help keep the doe numbers in check, that can have a negative impact too though. Unless you are in an area where there is a very low carrying capacity and high deer density or where there are hard winters I don't see where such doe management strategies would be a very good idea to "taken out of the herd to stop the overpopulation". Good way to deplete the population by taking out as many mature does as you can.

Let's see...assuming you were hunting in MO where you're located, that would have happened on Nov. 20th last year. At that point the fawns are ~6 months old. They're more than old enough to survive on their own by then with no problem. Matter of fact, bucks are breeding some fawn does during the 2nd estrus period in Dec. there.

Like William, I'm not going to intentionally shoot fawns for any reason. I'm not saying it's wrong for anybody but I'm not going to shoot one on purpose and risk making a mistake and shoot a button buck. That doe is fair game now with fawns that old so given the options, she would be the one adding meat to the freezer.

I agree with both these statements. past few years at 2/3 of the doe I've taken have been older and over 140 lbs. some doe have slight characteristics that separate them from others. when running cams some of them had been continuously spotted without fawns.

[Ravin R10 man]

You said "yearling,"(meaning 1 year old), NOT fawn..big difference I wouldn't hesitate to take the doe or a yearling; " "If your sitting in the stand and a doe walks out with two yearlings," Although your thread is asking about Doe/fawns...if the fawns are have spots the doe is safe

Edited August 13, 2013 by Mathews XT Man