Doe with fawns: Shoot the doe or a fawn?

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Hey Doc nice to see that your shoulder is better. Good luck sir in all of your hunts.

Thank you jbkebert very much - that is very kind. A combination of 3 things made it possible for me to hunt at least one more year without crossbow:

1. Changing to a 50-60 lb bow, set about 1/2 way, rather than a 60-70 lb bow, cranked all the way up.
2. Weight training, and
3. When I draw, I keep my elbow low while drawing and holding - when I raise it up, it changes the joint geometry I think, such that it makes the dislocation much more likely

 

[Specialized]

Thanks, Doc!

 

[lefteyedom]

Deer are feeder animals for predators. Wolves, Coyotes,feral dog, bears and human enjoy them. Hunters make a very small dent in deer population compared to weather, predators and the roadkill.
Kill them cleanly and eat them, it is the way of the world. I shoot does because the meat is good and there is more of it.
Bambi's mother was shot and he did just fine!

 

[nathan]

For me, the doe will be good eating meat. I will take it in a second. But for those who see its not right, thats fine. Whatever is comfy to one's conscience will make that call on u.

 

[ReadyontheRight]

I agree with Balog:

I'm envious of Alabama hunters now. and a bit saddened by the "hunters" who still think fawns are Bambi and only mean nasty horrible evil people would shoot one.

Maybe you all see a lot more deer than I do during hunting season, but if it's legal, and there's not a chance of a buck to shoot behind them, I will definitely harvest and consume a doe and her fawns. Doe first. but not really too picky if I have a good shot.

I might reconsider this if I did not trust our state DNR to manage the herd well, but they do. I see way more deer than I did as a kid. If there is an over-abundance of deer - like there has been in the upper midwest for quite a few years - an intensive hunting harvest saves all the deer from starving in a tough winter.

To each his/her own, but do you have these questions with birds, beef. pork or fish?

 

[interlock]

"That's interesting. Just how harsh ARE the winters there?"

not very. but we have to remember that the animals are evolved not to have too much redundancy so they struggle without thier mums in the first winter. There is quite a lot of formal training involved in deer hunting in the uk, and we also shoot deer all year round. I am not saying we are better hunters but in our situation we have the answer to these questions. This has to be seen that this is an answer to the question using British deer, british habitat and british hunting techniques.

 

[BADUNAME37]

Back to the original question,

Can't you just shoot one while they are lined up and get two with one shot?

 

[interlock]

sometimes they dont even have to be lined up. I shot a kid last year that was stood in front of the doe with a pice of bone from the doe.

 

[content]

Hello friends and neighbors // Glad I did not read this before last Wed.

I hunted in the rain all day (my only day to hunt) 6:04PM five Doe crossed in front of me, none had spots but three were rather small. I took the largest doe (125lbs), no planning other than meat in the freezer.

We have a no spot rule here, but we do have one guy nick named dog. He harvests deer no matter how small as long as they are not spotted fawns.

I agree with harvesting older smarter Doe to get better chance at Buck and create better enironment for breeding Does.

 

[rhoggman]

I killed a doe that was a fawn this weekend. I am really looking forward to eating her backstraps wrapped in bacon and marinated in some honey teriaki.

 

[SammyIamToday]

We call them yearlings here. Not a year old, but it kinda fits. Long as we have basically unlimited antlerless deer, I'll keep shooting them.

They taste great, I do my own butchering, and there's a lot less fat to get off of them. Although in your situation, I'd shoot the big doe first unless I didn't have an ethical shot at her.