shooting fawns
 

i have never thought about shooting a fawn and do not think i would unless it was to for some reason but it out of it's misarey but i had a guy tell me the bet eating meat is from a fawn is that true
i guesse veal is a ayoung cow

have any of you shot a fawn or would you

RE: shooting fawns
 

NO. [>:]

RE: shooting fawns
 

I can't pull the trigger/loose an arrow on a fawn, spots or no spots. If it's not a 1.5 year old doe or older, no go and I adamantly against shooting button bucks. I honestly think there is no excuse for it. Sorry if that offends you. I find it extremely easy to ID a fawn over an adult doe.

RE: shooting fawns
 

what we consider a fan is a young deer still with spots,and they are off limits.When the spots come off however they are fair game and all the meat from any deer is good if handled properly from kill to skillet.

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A fawn is this years deer/ a yearling up until it's first year of age. I have no problem with anyone shooting fawn does, I just can't/won't do it myself.

RE: shooting fawns
 

Ive shot some young deer before, like six month olds. WhatI consider a fawn is if it still has spots. Aint no way I would shoot one with spots. From my experiance young ones are usualy pretty good eating, but properly prepared venison is good no matter what deer it was.

RE: shooting fawns
 

i think i honestly would. havent had a chance, but think i would. and yea i have heard that there meat is much more tender, just like i hear doe meat is more tender than a old, 5 year old rutting buck lol. but who knows, deer meat is deer meat to me.

RE: shooting fawns
 

now let me say that i hunt public land, which is why pretyt much anything is game, and because im a meat hunter,but if it was my land and i was trying to raise some nice deer , i would let them walk and kill mama.

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The meat may be more tender but there is so little on the animal is it worth it? Some places have so few deer that they justify shooting whatever you see. But in doing this you complete the circle of few deer by taking the young that are supposed to replenish the stock. If it is legal, it is your choice. But, if it is my choice, I enjoy watching them more than shooting. What better way to learn how to get close then letting them get close without shooting.

RE: shooting fawns
 

let em grow.

RE: shooting fawns
 

I never tasted Fawn before, however I have eaten my share of veal. I belive that veal is raised in a smallareaso that they can't exercisemuch andtheydo not produce a lot of muscle and they are fed differently than regular beef. I would think that fawn would have some decent muscle developement with all of the exercise they get but I am not sure since I have never taken one. I don't think I would even want to shoot one unless it was injured maybe.

JMO

RE: shooting fawns
 

i feel the exact same way but my minum of a deer needs to be atleast 115ish for a doe and over 2 years. buck needs to be atleast 3 and over 175 pounds but thats in ga if i was near bigger deer my standards would go up

RE: shooting fawns
 

my first deer with a bow was a spotted fawn in the second week of sep. I actually didnt no it was a fawn i just thought it was a doe. But it is the most tender meat ive eaten thus far. Not to say im proudof it tho.

RE: shooting fawns
 

Here's what I posted concerning this a few weeks ago.

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If you'll remember....I posted some photos of a few MD deer that a memeber of another site I visit (NC Deer) took while he was working with the MD Nat resources office (Not sure of the proper name for the entity) this past summer.

He'd posted on our state site about his doe he took here, Saturday morning....and how she had a fawn with her. I've been torn on this morally.....so I inquired to him about the question I had.....

Will the fawns survive....if I take out mama, now?

I'm posting his response......along with the response I got from my NCWRC Wildlife Biologist (Sent him the same question, yesterday). The answers cause another set of questions thatI'll delve into after you see them.

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GMMAT, I actually know Chris...we went to this past year's Southeast Deer Study Group together in Maryland. As for shooting does with fawns, they are perfectly capable of fending for themselves. I will say there is a lower chance of survival for the fawns, but it is not because of nutritional deficits caused by potentially removing their mother's milk. They are simply at higher risk of blundering out in front of someone's deer stand or getting whacked on the road without their mother's guidance. The doe I shot Saturday morning was, in fact, not producing milk anymore. She still had evident teets, but they were dried up - probably in the past couple of weeks. Shooting does at the end of the season when the fawns are grown doesn't do you any good in reducing your herd ratio for the current year's rut and also wastes several hundred pounds of food to a deer that could have been killed opening week rather than 3 months later. Shoot away.

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And then....This from our Wildlife Bio., Chris Kreh.


Fawns here in North Carolina are generally born in May and June, and they are no longer dependent on nursing with the doe when they are about 10 weeks old. Though they may continue supplemental nursing into the early bow season, they are fully capable of surviving on their own if the doe is harvested. The moral dilemma is more an issue of perception or misconception, rather than biology. There is no biological problem with harvesting does, even if they have fawns present, during the early bow season. The fawns will survive. I hope that helps. If you would like to discuss further, please don’t hesitate to give me a call at the number below.

Thanks,

Chris

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The side dilemma I have is......am I "really" doing the right thing by letting does with fawns "pass"? If overall herd reduction is my goal.....why not preserve the food these does will be consuming (if passed on) by taking them out, now? Why not ENSURE they are outof the breeding pool?

These are valid questions.

RE: shooting fawns
 

buckstomper - why wouldnt you be proud of it? you took the time and hundted, just as if it was a doe or buck. you stood still, made a good shot and enjoyed the rewards. i understand and respect people who dont shoot them, but i wouldnt be ashamed of it. just my thoughts.

could you tell the difference between that meat and "regular" doe or buck meat? or was it basically just the same?

RE: shooting fawns
 

I've shot 2 so far but now that I know the diference between a doe fawn and a button buck I will refrain on the little guys. They are great eating,but I agree with Rob that we should save the little bucks!
On the other hand where I hunt noe it's called earn-a-buck so you need to shoot an antlerless deer first. The area is truly overrun with deer at around 45 per sq. mile.

RE: shooting fawns
 

Well......I'm a trophy hunter.......kinda.....I will not shoot a small or immature buck......but I have NO problem shooting a fawn that I can 90% ID as a doe fawn. Matter of fact, I try to shoot at least one every year during the late season. If you ask me, they taste great.

RE: shooting fawns
 

when i say if its brown its goin down that means all deer that aint got spots

RE: shooting fawns
 

YES! This long haired freaky person deffinitly thinks so.
I've had to to deer damage control hunting, have fed my large family with venison for many years. Even my son who has downs syndrom, is 23 and loves to eat will tell you that a young doe is the best venison. A nubber buck isn't quiet as good and any doe is better eating than most any buck. I say I got a buck, he says yummmmm sausage. I say I got a young doe, he says yummmm steak. I say older doe, he says yummmm roast. The kid knows his venison. lol
Read any history about people who hunted to live such as American Indians. The choice meat is the younger smaller deer. Choice hides were the younger smaller deer. The older the tougher the meat and hide. Bucks hide and meat both tougher than doe of the same age and season.
Unlike veal though deer get exersize and there isn't much difference between the meat of a spotted fawn or yearling except that a yearling has a lot more meat. I won't shoot a spotted fawn opening weekend but come Oct. any fawns still nursing are better off in my freezer with there mothers than becoming coyote and wolf bait. A harsh winter, they won't make it. I will shoot the doe first and the fawn if I can. I've seen coyote eat an orfinned fawn alive and won't let that happen again if I can help it. Not pretty but it's reality. If I got to kill it, might as well grill it, the smallest deer is still more meat than the largest rabbit. At least here in Wisconsin. lol I went deer hunting in Fla. and I think some of our rabbits are bigger up here than the deer are down there. I shot a 40 lbs deer down there that was 4 years old. Go figure. They must weigh about 1 lb at birth?
In an overpopulated area such as the area I hunt, taking yearlings is needed and I don't mind filling that roll. Somebody has too. I don't condem trophy hunters, to each is there own. Fact is, the younger the deer, the better the meat. Doe is better than buck at any age but old doe can be as tough as a young buck. Yearlings doe that field dress at about 60-100 lbs are absolute best eating. Any smaller makes little difference, might as well let them grow another month or two unless you're trying to prevent crop damage. Then, the smaller the deer, the more crop damage you prevent.
I heard a guy say he shot a bambi and let it lay after shooting the mother. What a waist and disrespectful. More human than coyote but still a waist. Put a $15 tag on it and call it a big tasty meal. I've got a lot more respect for a hot meal than any set of antlers hanging on the wall. If my sausage meat happens to also have a nice rack, then maybe, but I don't hunt just to put antlers on the wall. That would be disrespectfull to the deer. I'd rather the best looking bucks get a chance to breed the most, if I have to take a buck, I try to take an ugly young one. Knowing I stopped that bloodline is my trophy. My favorite rack is an ugly 6 pointer with a perfect 4 point side and an ugly 2 pointed hook on the other. Now that he's gone and the pretty buck rules, the yearling bucks have gotten better looking racks, the doe are closer to numbers with the bucks and all is well in the woods.
It takes all kinds to make the world go around, even long haired freaky people who hunt deer for venison for him and his family to live on. Yes, people still actaully hunt deer for meat, call me a wack but, that's just me.

RE: shooting fawns
 

I will reiterate and say that under GMMAT's circumstance with too many deer, I would shoot doe fawns. Any doe out of the herd is good under that circumstance.

RE: shooting fawns
 

I have made it a practice of mine not to shoot fawns. I see no fun in killing a fawn. Lets face it fawns are young and easier to kill. I myself would rather kill a mature doe or buck. Im sure that I could kill as many fawns as I wanted. Their way to easy. But thats my 2 cents...

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Thanks, Rob....and I will add that I won't be posting "success" photos if I ever do so. I won't be ashamed of it....but I'm cognizant of others.

RE: shooting fawns
 

I have only shot one fawn. I am not ashamed of it. It was years ago during a cold season. My brother shot her mother and she wouldn't leave. I figured if she was that dependent onher mother that she probably would not make it. I agree that it is totally necessary to kill any doe in a poor doe to buck ration situation.

RE: shooting fawns
 

I get pumped up no matter what I'm shooting at, other than that the killing isn't the fun part to me no matter what size or sex it is. If hunting was all about fun I would never hunt. It's not fun killing, not fun field dressing, not fun dragging, skinning, butchering.....fact is meat is meat and they're all made of meat and some meat is better than others. If you're hunting for the challenge, all the more power to you. I too enjoy the hunt, just choose to end more hunting days with meat for the freezer. Bow hunting allows me to do that. Once the freezer is full, I can go after the big one. As I get older, the kids are moving out, maybe someday I can trophy hunt too. Until then, yearling doe are number 1 on my hit list.

RE: shooting fawns
 

Iam kinda in the same thought as you wack.BUT Itry to keep it at 1 1/2-3 yr old doe's...someday I will start trophy hunting but Iam only 46 yrs young...when I start to go for the wall hangers it will be for BIG one's i.e..buck,elk,moose,bear,sheep,goat.But for now I will just help the deer heards and take out doe's..

RE: shooting fawns
 

NO, never have and never will.

RE: shooting fawns
 

I have no problem with and see no problem with it.I draw the line at spots(personally) but with as many deer as I can put in the freezer with my kids and I hunting.I can get alot of good eating out of them.I also feel they taste better.

Not to mention population controll,it is needed where I hunt.


Heck,my stepdad has on more than one occasion,passed on bigger deer to shoot the small ones.

RE: shooting fawns
 

you havent had tasty deer until youve had a whole smoked fawn......delicious! lol

my friends stepdad killed a spotted fawn last year on bow seasons opener, skinned it and froze it whole. then we smoked it allllll day, and had a spicy barbeque rub for it with a little louisiana hot sauce dippin sauce and we picked that sucker to the bone.

i can see where some of you dont want to shoot one, but i personally would after tastin that little bugger. other than the possibility of it being a buck fawn, there is no difference between a doe fawn and a year older doe, except tenderness;).

RE: shooting fawns
 

The only thing that will happen when you shoot fawns and yearlings is, YOUR DESTROYING THE FUTURE OF YOUR HUNTING!!!!. If you want to screw up your hunting in future years go for it, just dont do it around my neck of the woods, yes there would be words!. Personally in the early season Ill only go after mature bucs and does that have no fawns with them, they need to come out of the heard. By mid October the fawns will make the winter so I will go after most mature does. Keep one thing in mind when you think about shooting a fawn or a yearling, was his daddy the pope&young that you have been after for years!!!!, maybeeeee!!!.

RE: shooting fawns
 

You could be destroying your hunting future by NOT shooting them.If the deer are overpopulated,they need to be taken out.

Come around my neck of the woods and come see the dead deer laying in the woods from disease.

RE: shooting fawns
 

how so?:eek:

i see no difference between killinga fawn and killing a doe. if your talking about population control, they are equals are they not?

enlighten me rather than go off ranting about mature bucks and your hunting agenda.

RE: shooting fawns
 

devil dog, I don't understand your reasoning either. I have to agree with Tembry and TFOX.

RE: shooting fawns
 

taking a fawn instead of a mature doe is actually going to produce more deer (maybe) most young does have one baby on the other hand a mature doe will usually have 2 or more.

there was a ted nudget show where he stalked two fawns and shot them and then talked about guys not shooting small ones or white deer or any particular deer, and he was right about it, if your not looking for something to put on the wall (most people dont put there does on it) what is the difference deer is a deer and 2 years ago that big doe was a fawn. the meat for sure tase better and saves your back on the drag out and lifting it up etc. as long as im sure its a doe ill take it. ive only once shot a button buck and it was on the last day of the season i mixed it up with the doe fawn that was with it, wish it was the doe but the people i gave the meat to were really happy since the father had lost his job and was unable to afford much for his family.

RE: shooting fawns
 

Where I live and hunt a dead deer means I burnt a tag.
I'm not going through that for the amount of meat on a fawn.

RE: shooting fawns
 

two words for you on fawn meat.........tasteless mush![:'(] in my opinion..sorry

RE: shooting fawns
 

WORDS??? Words for a hunter taking a legal deer?
Someone needs a life.

RE: shooting fawns
 

Here in lower Michigan on the properties I hunt, the deer are overpopulated. I agree people here that a fawn (IMHO) has spots. In the late season when the spots are gone, we consider them yearlings. Anything with spots is never shot. The yearling does we try and take out of the heard. The button bucks are always given a free pass. The meat is very tender like eating butter.
We also take out any does unless they have a button buck with them. Hopefully, the button buck will stay with the doe longer and have a better chance for old age. Might just be wishfull thinking though. Unless the buck you shoot is worth mounting or has bad genetics, we pass on our lands. To many does here to start shooting 1.5 year old bucks.

RE: shooting fawns
 

I shot a fawn years ago and I never felt so guilty in my life. But I will have to admit something, that was the most tender meat I have ever had.

RE: shooting fawns
 

I generally do not. I would never shoot one with spots, but have shot this years deer in the past. It all depends on the season and if I have a deer down or not. If I have a deer, I always let them walk.

RE: shooting fawns
 

I must make myself clear, I grew up hunting in Pa., we had some pretty harsh winters, and low populations in my area, I spent most of my time out rambling around the woods instead of on the gameboy!. What I saw every winter for the most partwas older deer dead from sickness, what I learned then was if you take the young out of the heard and the older die off from sickness, just what are you going to have in the future!, that is why hunting sucked in Pa thirtyfive years ago. Also, if you use the overpopulation as an excuse, someone already made the comment about older doe breading twins and younger only haveing one offspring, well use some common sence, three taken out of the heard takes more out than two!!!. I also posted that durring the early part of the season I just target the doe without fawns, well if she isnt able to breed for any particular reason she needs to come out of the heard, later in the season is when I target does in general when their offspring are old enough to make it in the not so harsh winters down here in Ga. You can make any argument you want, when it comes down to it, the future of your hunt will tell if you made the right desission or not!, my area, were for most of the hunters practice this, our numbers are pretty good, and we have healthier deer, so this is a practice Ill stick with for now!!!, there is a science to management not just killing numbers!!.