When a deer comes into range, my first thought is "Do I/will I have a clear shooting lane with a safe backdrop (i.e. no orange behind it)?"

Then I determine if it's a deer worth taking.
Since I hunt on public land and don't get to see a lot of deer, pretty much any deer that's not a yearling is up for strong consideration. If there is a mixed group of does and bucks, I'd pick out the largest one regardless of headware. At this point in life, I don't have the $ to get a mount, so the rule is fill the freezer first.


I won't even think about shooting a fawn, however a doe with fawns is fair game. By this point in life (I hunt in December in Iowa), they can survive on their own. The doe I shot this year had 2 fawns with her, I dropped her as soon as she came into a clearing and very few reservations about doing so.

The one thing that does make me a little leary about taking a doe with fawns is what happened to my dad a few years back out in Ohio. He shot a doe who had a fawn with her, spine shot and she dropped on impact. He let her lay for a half hour to make sure she was dead, the whole time the fawn was walking around her and licking her face. When he walked up to his doe, the fawn moved about 5 yards away and watched him clean the doe. Then the fawn followed him almost the whole 1/2 mile drag back to his house. Said it was the most guilty he's ever felt about taking an animal in 30 years of hunting.