Tough thing to watch
 

Last night I hunted a new stand on the far NW corner of my farm. Within 10 minutes of being up in the tree a button buck comes through, feeds around me, and goes back off to the north.Later 2 adult does and a fawn doe came right under me as well. While they were directly under me that button came back bleating at the lead doe. He approached her cautiously like a cowering dog and then I saw why. She charged at him, running him back off to the north. He came right back, and this time she let him get close as he circled around to her rear. He attempted to nurse form her, which surprised me, but she rose up and beat him on his back with her front hooves. He torn off to the north and did not come back. She stood there quartering away at 15 yards and I found myself actually upset at her.I thought about shooting her to be honest, and my opinion of deer was actually altered last night due to witnessing an event I know happens all the time for great reason.Those deer then continued to feed around me well past dark, and although I did not see a buck last night it was sure a great experience to get to see that event.

RE: Tough thing to watch
 

That must havebeensomething to see.

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You old softy, You sound like me..here is ansmall piece of my post from not long ago.


............The young one is trying to get back to momma. The little yearling button buck mills around on the downwind side of my stand for quite a while. He can smell something (me) but he's virtually right under me..eventually he goes back the opposite way of momma. Well a few minutes after he disappears..I hear something behind me..tree side. I peer around the tree over my shoulder..deer! coming right to my tree. Doe..momma?.. she pauses under my stand. Walks off giving me numerous shooting opportunities. But being the kind hearted, wuss, I am I let her walk. I say to her silently, "free pass, don't come back here!" And so I sit alone again..20 minutes pass..a doe blows, same area she walked too, a while ago.. What? I give you a pass and your gonna sit there and blow..and blow again??I pull out my never used fawn bleat and give two short bawls. She comes in on a string, even after she blew. Again, she is in my shooting lane, again I let her go. But I listen to her "Mews" as shecalls for her lost little buck. This scenerio plays out again later and again I call her right in.....

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What actually made this worse & more interesting at the same time is that I have seen those 4 deer (well I am guessing it is the same 4 since it was 2 adults and 2 fawns)in that corner of my property for the last month or so. They are actually the reason I put a stand there.

Yes, I am a softy. That poor little guy had no idea what was going on other than momma now hates him. Tough existence that they lead. That is for sure.

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I would have killed that doe....it is exactly the chance I've been waiting for.
Brian

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Ive seen the same thing , those does are crule

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I call that "tough love"

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Maybe that is why the bucks are in a pissy mood when the rut starts. Pay back time!!

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That’s why I shoot those big ol’ child abusing momma does every chance I get. :DOnly problem this season is I haven’t gotten many chances. :(

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I thought the exact same thing:D

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My problem is that I live in a one deer county. I could use an antlerless tag, but I am trying to increase the # of deer around.

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i HOPE i see that here in a couple hours:D

i AM doe hunting...:) i wanna join the nanny whacker club:D



would be different to actually witness that. we KNOW it happens, and like you said, for great reason...but watching it take place would be different.

they say if you shoot the doe before they kick the button bucks out of the area, the button buck is REAL likely to stay in the area...

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That is a sight. Just think what a mature, ruting buck will do to that little guy if the does allow the buttons to stick around. Nature is all about the school of hard knocks.

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Yep, the momma does run the little boys off. I would want to shoot her too but understand your circumstances as well.

Back at the end of may I witnessed a new momma doe do that to my bassett hound after she jumped the fence into my back yard. She had a fawn that hadn't been on the ground more than a few days and like any other hound, he heads over to investigate. She wasn't having any of that and commenced to stomping the tar out of my dog. Worst howling I ever heard, bassetts aren't too fast, you know. He just couldn't get away from her. It took me a few seconds to get her distracted from the dog...then she looked at me like she wanted to give me some too. Good thing I was elevated on the back deck above her.

Put a six inch gash inmy dog's belly. Cost over $900 tosew him upat an after hours animal hospital.[:@]

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I've witnessed that many times. I've also seen big doe thump other doe where food is involved, so it's not exclusive to her button.

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RE: Tough thing to watch
 

huntingson, I'm right there with ya and it pulls the ole heart strings. It's mother nature at it's best and worst. Last year I had a button on his own like that. I could count on him to come to the food plot looking for companionship. I could call him in from 100's of yards with bleats...he'd come in bleating his poor little heart off. I wonder if any of the 1.5 yr old bucks I see this year are him? I don't know if he was in his home range or came from another?

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I guess it makes me a hypocrit, but I feel sorry for the young ones. Now if he was 3 years older...

I have seen adult does fight each other and that didn't get to me at all. I guess it was just getting abused by his own mother who 2 weeks ago did everything for him and now he is thinking "WTF Mom?".

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Just consider yourself fortunate to have witnesses nature, lots of folks will never see or understand this part of what we experience when we are out. Thanks for sharing, its cool to hear the behavior of the game we hunt - we all see different things in our parts of the country. I havent had deer meat in a few years, so I may have shot her like rybohunter. Thanks

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Like others have said, we know it happens, and we know why, but it still hurts to watch it. But nature really is cruel at times. What is interesting to me though, is what would all of those animal activists say about it if they were to watch the same thing? They sit there and want a young child to die a painful death from cancer for wanting to shoot a black bear (thread from yesterday), but what would they think about mama doe beating up her baby and running it off? Would they want to save nature from itself, in the end destroying that which they profess to love? To hear them talk all the animals live in a quiet little meadow where nothing bad ever happens untill man shows up. At least we hunters spend enough time in the woods to understand reality, even if it is difficult to watch at times. They need to lay off the hallucinogenic mushrooms.

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I'd have shot mom too (I understand why you didn't). But in my area, I'd have shot her. Then the buck would have stayed in your area and grown into a BOONER!!!

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Exactly! It's Mother Natures wayto keep him from inbreeding.

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Its more than likely her fawn, this is the time of the year when mamma will start pushing their young ones away to go join other herds for genetic reasons. i see it all the time this time of the year.

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Jim, reminds me of what a big bull did to a small cow he was tending too 2 seasons ago.. Rybo, Bowhnt and J all got be a part of it. J was the closest to the big herd bull we were trying to kill. J said that bull would run up to the young cow and just hammer her with his antlers in the side to move her where he wanted her to go..

Definatley like Diesel said.. TOUGH LUV!

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i would have shot mama and put some meat in the freezer. They will push the young males away when they are old enough to be on there own

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Troubled childhood?

I don't know why but laughed so hard.

Tom

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I find it amazing that so many of you guys have seen this so many times. Neither my father nor I have ever seen this before. He has been deer hunting for over 35 years, and I have been at it over 20. That is neat that you all have been able to see it before. This being my first was an eye opening experience. I honestly thought it was less physical and was just sort of an instinctual thing on both sides to part ways.

Troy, that is amazing. You would think that a 600 pound bull ramming a cow with his antlers could really injure her. My goodness animals are tough. I guarentee I would have been crippled by one of those blows.

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The doe was trying to chase the buck out of her area, does do this so there is no in breeding in there family groups. Natures way of making for a strong herd.

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ida shot her

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X2 ;)

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I've seen it several times and it never bothers me. I remember one year I was hunting a stand on an oak flat and watched a doe and a pair of fawns come in and bed about 60 yards from stand. I watched them for over an hour. I was fascinated by how the groomed each other and generally seemed content for the time they were bedded there. I noticed after I retreived my binoculars, that the larger of the two fawns had buttons on his head. About 3 weeks later, I'm in the same stand and this doe walks in with a single fawn. They're about 75 yards away this time and I wondered if it was the same group I'd watched before and something had happened to one of the fawns or if it was a different group....about 10 minutes behind them comes another fawn. It was the buck and his momma wouldn't tolerate him being anywhere near them. She jumped up and charged down the flat toward him and by the way he turned tail and ran, this wasn't the first time. She returned to her other fawn and started crunching acorns. About a half hour later, the doe fawn tried to nurse momma.......bad move! Talk about gettingmule kicked! The fawn shook it off, and decided acorns were allright to eat too!;)

It's just nature. I don't get upset when I find a fawn the coyotes killed, or the remains of a rabbit that a hawk had for dinner. It is what it is.

GH

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If you are hunting bucks, that event should get you fired up. They do run them off for inbreeding purposes- which is usually triggered by her approaching estrus...... meaning that thumper will probably be more intrested during daylight hours which means you'll be in your stand this weekend and she will saunter by with no button buck pup tagging along trying to suckle that teat- which means you'll pummel the mack daddy that is trying to deliver the goods- Then you'll resize your pictures and post it here and say, "I'm glad I didn't whack the first doe that was starting to feel sexy" and we'll get to see you with your one tag filled and a grin holding a drop tined monster.